I have to agree with ESPN on this pick, and so do almost all of the posters at Indystar
I think the consensus opinions of the ESPN experts in regards to the best QB and coach represents a double standard.
I believe Belichick is the best coach, but I'm going to play devil's advocate to prove a point here:
Tony Dungy, like Manning, is statistically better than his counterpart (except for playoff performance of course). Dungy's reg season winning percentage career-wise is better than BB. His win pct in Indy is better than BB's in NE. They both have 4 wins against each other all-time. However, as I said, Belichick has clearly outperformed Dungy in the playoffs (13-3 record vs. 9-8, 3 titles to 1, 2-1 record). The consensus opinion (even in Indy) is that Belichick is a better coach, even with Dungy finally winning a ring.
Now take Manning and Brady. Manning, like Dungy, has been statistically better in the regular season. But as far as playoff performance and statistics, it is clear who is the better QB in the postseason (Brady). However, Manning is getting praise because he has finally won a ring.
Here's the double standard: it seems that Belichick gets credit for the "whole body of work" with emphasis on postseason performance, while Manning gets the credit for one successful playoff run out of seven, while still not performing all that well in the playoffs (7 picks anyone?). Why isn't Brady credited for his "whole body of work" like Belichick?
I know why this has happened too - the media is so obsessed with Manning's career that Dungy's accompishments have completely flown under the radar. Every Colts win/loss is on Manning, while every Pats win/loss is on Belichick.
It seems that Dungy and Brady aren't the key figures on their respective clubs, so they won't get the recognition for their performance.
