New England Patriots: Why Tom Brady is the league's best QB

Tom Brady is easily the most well known New England Patriots player. The former Michigan Wolverine has become one of the greatest of all time, and at 39 years old, he is still the best signal caller in the league.

Tom Brady is not the best quarterback because he has the most eye-popping stats every year, neither is it due to him being the most athletic (David Ortiz could probably beat him in a foot race). Brady is truly the best in the league due to his consistency, and the New England Patriots are very thankful for it. He usually is unarguably a top 5 quarterback every year. There are plenty of reasons why, too.

90 percent mental

Yes, as the heading states, Brady’s success is mainly due to his mental toughness. He will always stay in the game, even if he has thrown 3 interceptions, and the Patriots are down by three scores going into the final 5 minutes of the game. Tom Terrific will still go into the next possession ready to make a big play. Very few quarterbacks in today’s league can keep that level of confidence.

Tom Brady also recognizes looks he has already seen, making Bill Belichick’s job a little easier. If you give Brady a look two times in a row, it is almost guaranteed that it will backfire. Brady may very well score off of it. /

Rings do matter

Brady has five rings, while leading the New England Patriots to seven Super Bowl appearances. We all are well aware of that. He isn’t the best signal caller in the league because of the hardware. He has consistently lead his team to their prosperity. This past year, he became the player with the most passing yards in a Super Bowl game (466), the most career passes attempted in the Super Bowl (309), the most Super Bowls played (7), the most career passing yards in the Super Bowl (2,071), the most career Super Bowl touchdowns (15), the most pass attempts in a Super Bowl game (62), and the most passes completed in a Super Bowl game (43). Those records pretty much prove my point.

The little things

When you watch Tom Brady in the pocket, you begin to notice what he does prior to the throw. Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about.

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When Brady drops back, he will always keep his body moving. He will normally shift his body from side to side, always surveying the field, and keeping the defense guessing in the process. When he goes through his reads, given the time, he will perform a few throw fakes. He is one of the best at these. The fakes will allow for another receiver to get a little more open if he’s playing against a zone. You can think of it like basketball. When you are playing a zone in basketball, your defense shifts according to where the ball is at. If you can fake a pass and make the defense shift in the process, then a few players are probably more open than before. Using these fakes, Tom Brady can find the best option as opposed to the first option he sees.

Just in time

Tom Brady is probably the best in the league when it comes to knowing when to throw the ball. You have a better shot of seeing Adrian Peterson fumble the ball than you do seeing Brady throw a football way too early or way too late. This is all due to his dedication to Belichick’s system and how many routes and schemes he has committed to his memory.
Brady will put the ball exactly where a receiver needs it. This is knowing your personnel. If you have a height advantage over your matchup, then Brady is just going to lob it over the top. That’s why he loved having Moss and loves having Gronk.

Decisions, decisions…

Tom Terrific is not one to take many risks on the football field. He plays very conservatively, and that is a big reason why he is so efficient. Over his career, Brady has completed 63.8 percent of his passes.
Brady’s decisions are usually very wise, even if they are incomplete passes. For instance, Tom Brady will throw the ball away. You will never see him try to throw the ball as he is being hit. If he doesn’t think he can get the throw off in time, he will never hesitate to throw it away.

You will never see Tom Brady throw a deep pass when a slant route or a curl route is wide open. He actually seemingly uses plays with deep routes so he can clear the field for the dump down pass.

Selflessness

Tom Brady will never pad his stats. Any stat he accumulates was done in the course of the game. He will never mind handing the ball off to the tailback if he is having a great game. For Brady, winning is always first. That’s why he has stayed in New England this long.

HOUSTON, TX – FEBRUARY 05: Tom Brady /

The stats he already has

If you look at Brady’s career stat line, you realize that he is an all time great without any of his five rings. Over the course of his career, he has completed 5,244 passes for 61,582 yards. He has 456 passing touchdowns, and has only thrown 152 interceptions. Tom Terrific’s longest pass is a 99-yard touchdown (we all know he didn’t throw it that far), and his career passer rating is 97.2, which is crazy good for the time he has played.

’07 Pats

Tom Brady was a key player in the New England team that almost went 19-0. A big reason why that team was so successful was because of its offense. Yes, Tom Brady had weapons galore, but he still had to throw extremely well for that offense to prosper as much as it did. He threw for 4,806 yards and 50 touchdowns, those fifty touchdowns being a record for most touchdown passes in a single season until Peyton Manning broke it in 2013 with 55 touchdowns.

He stays healthy

If you look at his stats for every year, you will notice that, except for 2008 and 2016, Tom Brady is consistently healthy and ready to play, which means that instead of getting his production for 10-12 games, you get it for all 16. This is something that should be considered when breaking down Brady’s greatness.

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Well, there you have it. These numbers and observations are just a few reasons as to why Brady is still the best signal caller in the league. His legacy is something to behold, and hopefully he can build off of it. He could truly be called the G.O.A.T one day. And to think the New England Patriots are getting all of this out of a 6th round draft pick. Talk about a steal!

Credit to espn.com for Tom Brady’s career stats

The list of records broken in Super Bowl 51 can be found here

I dedicate this article to my Uncle, Jeff Wiggins. Keep fighting, champ. Boston Strong.

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New England Patriots: Why Tom Brady is the league’s best QB

By Tre Wiggins | Jul 18, 2017