NFL Debate: Peyton Manning or Tom Brady?

Peyton Manning has always been the golden boy wherever he has gone. As the son of Archie Manning, he has always been expected to be the best quarterback wherever he is, whether it be in high school, college or the NFL.

Tom Brady on the other hand has had to work through adversity to make it to where he is. Tom Brady was never a star. At the University of Michigan he had to fight for time with Drew Henson, and he was never really "the guy" for the Wolverines. Also, Tom Brady was the fourth string quarterback in a league where teams usually don't carry that many. He sould have been cut, but instead he fought his way up the depth chart until he took his opportunity and never looked back.

In the NFL, success is meaured by winning. If you look at the stats alone, you would have to say Peyton Manning is better, but Brady is the better quarterback. I have no doubt that Manning's skills as a quarterback are better than Brady. He is more accurate, throws better and has a more sensational game than Brady, but there is more to football than that.

Tom Brady's leadership skills are second to none in the NFL and even in all of sports/ Brady has done so much with so little. Troy Brown, David Patter and even rookies like Deion Branch and David Givens have been the best that Brady has had to work with. Manning has future hall of famer Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne.

Brady's ability to make the players around him better, no matter what their original talent level, and his ability to not be pressured in the big game situations makes him the better quarterback. Peyton Manning finally won his first Superbowl, but until he has two more, Brady is the better quarterback.

Take last season for example. The Patriots had a horrible offensive team on paper, but Brady gathered them together enough to make the playoffs. That would have been nice in itself, but Brady managed to beat the best team in football in the playoffs, the Chargers, and he also took the Patriots to the brink of beating the Colts in the AFC Championship game before the horrible offense showed who they truly were, capped by Reche Caldwell's egregious drop. Manning deserves credit for winning the game like he should have, but Brady deserves credit for managing to get such a sorry team that far.

Sure Manning has more Pro Bowl appearances than Brady, and they will end their careers that way, but Brady has been overlooked for several Pro Bowls. He is not the flashy kind of quarterback that Manning is and he does not put up the record-setting touchdown and yardage seasons that Manning does, but at the end of the year the Patriots are usually still playing while the Colts sit at home. Maybe this trend is changing after last year, and if it does on a consistent basis than my opinion might change, but until that day the choice is clear.

The Brady/Manning debate is not about who is more marketable and who you see on television more. Everything is about winning in the NFL and that is where this debate should end. Brady has three Superbowl rings and two Superbowl MVPs. He is by far the better quarterback.

To make it simple, all things being equal do you think that Indianapolis Colts fans would trade Peyton Manning and one championship for Tom Brady and three? No matter what your opinion on the quarterbacks the main joy in watching a team is seeing them win a championship. The Colts fans would make this trade in a heartbeat, and that is the point of the debate.

This debate will never have an end because both the Colts and Patriots fans are loyal to their quarterbacks. This, of course, is my humble opinion and each is entitle to their own. Either way both quarterbacks will go down as two of the greatest in NFL history and that is where they both deserve to be.

No matter who you think is best, the Brady and Manning rivalry is great for sports and the NFL. We need more rivalries like this in sports where both teams respect each other and come to play and leave it all on the field.