Who is better Tom Brady or Peyton Manning?

Answer 1

Tom Brady. By all objective measures Brady reads defenses better and elevates the play of his team, whereas Manning inherited a superb offense and worked with the likes of Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark for virtually the entirety of his career - Brady has seen his team undergo repeated turnovers in his roster to where he took three different rosters to Superbowls.

The argument for Manning is based on a flawed reading of the two quarterbacks' careers.

"He's practically the smartest quarterback to ever play the game. Brady has something in common with other quarterbacks, he takes forever to get the play ready and spends to much time in the pocket, and they might end up getting sacked." This is a strange criticism in that what Brady is doing is reading the opposing defense more thoroughly where Manning has generally spent more time with pre-snap chatter (shown repeatedly in retrospectives on his career). His football intelligence has proven to be more illusory than real in his 9-10 playoff record.

"Manning is a master mind in getting plays together and is quick to throw the ball and get the yards he needs to win games." This style of play regressed noticeably for Manning in 2010 as his quick throws were more haphazard, reflected in his surge of interceptions thrown.

"Brady is also not the reason he won those Superbowls. Vinatieri won those super bowls for him with his last second filed goals." This is a repeated criticism of Brady and it is dishonest because Vinatieri's field goal kicking in those games required Brady to lead the only two walk-off scoring drives in Superbowl history; Brady's 2003 win over the Panthers was a direct case of Brady rescuing Vinatieri, who'd blown two FGAs in that game. The "Snow Bowl" kicks against the Raiders required Brady to lead three scoring drives in the fourth quarter and overtime to win the game. Nowhere has Brady been rescued by his kicker in a comeback win.

"Manning beat the Bears in the Super Bowl 29-17, Manning won by 12 points. All the points in all of Brady's super bowls, is 9." The Superbowl win over the Bears came because of the inept quarterbacking of Rex Grossman; Grossman cost the Bears a chance at winning the game. Manning's play was far less relevant to the game's outcome than Grossman's.

"Manning is a better quarterback than Brady, and Manning is also the greatest quarterback of all-time." All false. Brady has outplayed Manning for virtually the entirety of their careers.

Answer 2

Peyton Manning. Manning won 4 NFL MVP awards, a Super Bowl MVP, and a Pro Bowl MVP. He is the greatest quarterback ever and the greatest at 4th quarter comebacks. Brady has just 2 NFL MVP awards, and he got them using a little thing called the spygate scandal.