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Here is a very simple stat line that compares only the passing numbers of Brady and Manning. This doesn't account for winning percentage (which Brady has won by something bigger than a landslide), environment (where Manning has had a huge advantage playing much of his career in a dome), or supporting cast (which again Manning has a huge advantage with all his first round talent around him.)
If you take the averages of Brady and Manning for their careers during the regular season, that is by TD %, INT %, completion %, and yards per attempt...that is the four main categories to determine passer rating, you can see that even though the passer rating formula shows them as roughly equal, Brady is much better than Manning.
Let's apply their career percentages to a model season in which each throws 600 passes, which is a about the maximum range of today's NFL quarterbacks.
Peyton Manning - 392-600, 4608 yards, 35 TDs, 16 INTs (+19 TD differential)
Tom Brady - 382-600, 4482 yards, 33 TDs, 11 INTs (+22 TD differential)
Here is where Manning's slight leads in completion percentage (65.4 to 63.7) is exposed as virtually irrelevant, as this leads to a mere 10 completions over a full season or less than a completion per game, and Manning's slight edge in yards per attempt (7.68 to 7.47) leads to a paltry 126 yards over a season, or 7.88 more yards per game, and 2 TDs over a season is also negligible. In other words, those supposedly superior numbers lead to the zilch, an amount so small and with such tiny correlation to winning more that you might even say those categories are a statistical wash.
So, would you take a quarterback who, over a full season, gets you an extra 10 completions, 126 yards, and 2 TDs at the cost of 5 interceptions???
The interceptions demonstrate why Brady is a much better quarterback than Manning, and this isn't a 1a/1b debate in any way, nor would Manning "have won more Super Bowls with the Patriots." Imagine how many more losses the Patriots would have if Brady threw FIVE more interceptions on average every season! FIVE! If approximately once every three games, Brady turned was picked off an additional time, he would then have the same value as Peyton Manning, or if Manning were to reduce his interceptions by nearly 32%, he would then have the same statistical value of Brady. That is right. Manning throws interceptions almost 33% more than Brady, a huge factor in wins and losses. If Brady threw 5 more INTs per season and Manning threw 5 less INTs per season, their winning percentages would likely flip flop, or at least it would be close. This factor has far more to do with their gap in winning percentage than coaching, defense, luck, system, etc.
For anyone to claim Manning is better than Brady during the regular season, or to say that "Manning has the stats, Tom has the rings", that claim has no basis in reality. Statistically, Brady has been much more valuable than Manning.
If you take the averages of Brady and Manning for their careers during the regular season, that is by TD %, INT %, completion %, and yards per attempt...that is the four main categories to determine passer rating, you can see that even though the passer rating formula shows them as roughly equal, Brady is much better than Manning.
Let's apply their career percentages to a model season in which each throws 600 passes, which is a about the maximum range of today's NFL quarterbacks.
Peyton Manning - 392-600, 4608 yards, 35 TDs, 16 INTs (+19 TD differential)
Tom Brady - 382-600, 4482 yards, 33 TDs, 11 INTs (+22 TD differential)
Here is where Manning's slight leads in completion percentage (65.4 to 63.7) is exposed as virtually irrelevant, as this leads to a mere 10 completions over a full season or less than a completion per game, and Manning's slight edge in yards per attempt (7.68 to 7.47) leads to a paltry 126 yards over a season, or 7.88 more yards per game, and 2 TDs over a season is also negligible. In other words, those supposedly superior numbers lead to the zilch, an amount so small and with such tiny correlation to winning more that you might even say those categories are a statistical wash.
So, would you take a quarterback who, over a full season, gets you an extra 10 completions, 126 yards, and 2 TDs at the cost of 5 interceptions???
The interceptions demonstrate why Brady is a much better quarterback than Manning, and this isn't a 1a/1b debate in any way, nor would Manning "have won more Super Bowls with the Patriots." Imagine how many more losses the Patriots would have if Brady threw FIVE more interceptions on average every season! FIVE! If approximately once every three games, Brady turned was picked off an additional time, he would then have the same value as Peyton Manning, or if Manning were to reduce his interceptions by nearly 32%, he would then have the same statistical value of Brady. That is right. Manning throws interceptions almost 33% more than Brady, a huge factor in wins and losses. If Brady threw 5 more INTs per season and Manning threw 5 less INTs per season, their winning percentages would likely flip flop, or at least it would be close. This factor has far more to do with their gap in winning percentage than coaching, defense, luck, system, etc.
For anyone to claim Manning is better than Brady during the regular season, or to say that "Manning has the stats, Tom has the rings", that claim has no basis in reality. Statistically, Brady has been much more valuable than Manning.
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