Tom Brady’s Career: Is he the G.O.A.T.?

The New England Patriots had an amazing first half of the 2019 NFL season. They were on pace to set defensive records and perhaps go down in history as the best defensive unit ever, not just in modern history.

Well despite a couple of stumbles, they are still the No. 1 defense in the NFL, allowing just 14.06 points on average. An incredible stat that is only marred by their four losses. The Pats were on track to get a first-round bye and even home-field advantage, but they lost a couple of key games late and were relegated to playing the Tennessee Titans in round one. 

The Patriots have had some offensive struggles late in the 2019-2020 season. A lot of people attribute the offensive woes to an aging Tom Brady. But still, the Patriots are coming in as five-point favorites on the NFL odds boards. This is thanks to a great defense and a clutch QB who has more postseason experience than anyone currently in the league.

So, let’s start there.

Postseason Records

Tom Brady is heading onto the 2019-2020 playoffs with the most postseason passing yards, and most postseason touchdown passes, 11,179 and 73 respectively. He has the most playoff games played and most playoff games as a starter at 40 apiece. He also has the most playoff games won by any starting QB at 30. He has the most consecutive playoff wins, the most consecutive wins to start a career, the most consecutive home wins by a starting QB, and the most career home wins by a QB. 

He also holds records for the most postseason passes completed, 1,005, the most attempted, at 1,589 and the most times intercepted at 34 – I guess you’ll earn that stat too when you started 40 postseason games. Brady has the most 300+ passing-yard games in the postseason, the most conference championship appearances by a QB and conference championship wins at 13 and 9. And there are more postseason records we could list. 

When it comes to the Super Bowl he has 17 records, many of which will probably never be broken. 

• Most Super Bowl appearances
• Most Super Bowl wins for a QB at 6
• Most Super Bowl wins for any player at 6
• Most TDs at 18
• Most Yards at 2,883
• Most completions at 256
• Most passing attempts 392
• Most passes completed in the first half of a Super Bowl with 20
• Most completions in a Super Bowl with 43
• Most passes attempted in a Super Bowl with 62
• Most passing yards in a Super Bowl 505
• Most pass attempts without an interception in a Super Bowl at 48
• Most game-winning drives in the Super Bowl with 6
• Most consecutive completions at 16
• The oldest player to win Super Bowl MVP at 39 years, 6 months
• The oldest to play in a Super Bowl at 41 years, 6 months
• The oldest to win in a Super Bowl at 41 years, 6 months

Regular-Season Records

Ok, so we have established that there is no other player in the history of the game who is better in the postseason but what about the regular season? 

Well, Tom Brady currently holds 16 regular-season records. He has the most regular-season wins by any QB a 2019. Most touchdown passes to different players at 77, most two-touchdown-plus games at 173, most career yards with one team, most career touchdowns with one team, oldest All-Pro player ever at 40, oldest NFL MVP ever at 40, most road wins by a QB with 98 and most home wins by any QB at 121. He also has the best single-season passing to interception ratio at 28:2, oldest player with multiple rushing touchdowns, and the list goes on. 

If he plays another season he could break the all-time regular-season passing record. Brady is currently in second with 541 TDs. Drew Breese holds the top spot with 547. He could also pass Brett Favre’s record for the number of stars (298), and perhaps beat Manning’s record for most 4th quarter comebacks, which is an impressive 45. 

Tom Brady holds so many records that it’s quite clear that whether you love him, hate him, or you just don’t care, he’s the greatest QB of all-time.