Favre/Brady statistical comparisons

[Ring 6]

To my football knowledge, the most important stat of all is INT/ pass attempt, assuming quarterbacks are close in yards/attempt. Touchdown passes are basically just a direct correlation to yards/attempt and how many passes they've attempted. The INTs are the key because show how many mistakes a quarterback makes and assuming you have two guys with around 7 yards per attempt (Brady is actually a little higher than Favre), the INTs are the meat and potatoes. If you look at wins/losses and their correlation to quarterback stats, it's staggering how great interception percentage becomes, right up there, and in fact above completion % and yards/attempt. That's why Josh McDaniels wanted Matt Cassel over Jay Cutler and Kyle Orton over a lot of other choices. If a guy can get you 6.5 per attempt, meaning he is solid if not great, and keep his INT % way down, he is way more valuable than a guy who averages 7.5 per attempt with a high interception percentage, like Favre.

Actually, I doubt there are many stats that you could find that make Favre better than Brady... unless you are talking about longevity, or quantity over quality. And I don't think the Dilfer comparison is fair because one game is a tiny statistical pool of data. When we're talking about Brady and Favre, we are talking about a combined 24 football seasons and over 12,000 passing attempts. I think it's fair to look at some MAJOR differences in quality that can be fairly judged. Neither of these players have been isolated by a single game and these stats account for their entire career, or career in the playoffs, which is still 26 big, crucial games.. Now, if you want to take Dilfer's career stats, I doubt you could make him look that great.

you make great points but the implication that you win by getting certain stats is a poor conclusion. regardless of stats you win by making plays, and making clutch plays. I think its a better correlation that QBs who win have similarities in stats than that QBs with similarities in stats win. I think being a winner more the cause and the stat similarities are more of the effect. Pat of the int difference in Brady and Favre are the positions they put their teams in consistently that cause Favre to take risks and Brady to be in a comfort zone.

 

[patsfan-1982]

Since Favre has played for much longer, I broke down a comparison of their statistics based on int/attempt and td/attempt. Even though I figured Brady would be the better quarterback, I was shocked at how staggering the difference was. You'll see that, although these stats don't always appear staggering at first glance, when broken down over many, many games they are really amazing.


Playoff Wins
Brady- 14 in seven seasons
Favre- 12 in seventeen seasons

If Favre retired today, and Brady played for ten more seasons without winning another playoff game, Brady would still have more playoff wins than Favre, in as many seasons.

Win/Loss percentage
Brady- 101-27(.789)
Favre- 181-100(.647)

If Favre won his next 193 consecutive games, with no losses, he would still trail Brady.

If Brady lost his next next 28 consecutive games, with no wins, he would still lead Favre.


Interception rate
Brady- INT/43.48 att
Favre- INT/29.9 att

If Favre avoided throwing an interception in his next 3,880 pass attempts, he would still trail Brady.

If Brady threw an interception in his next 37 consecutive pass attempts, he would still lead Favre.

Playoff Interception Rate (the most reliable indicator of w/l in playoffs)
Brady- INT/49 att
Favre- INT/25.8 att

If Favre avoided throwing an interception in his next consecutive 650 playoff pass attempts, he would still trail Brady.

If Brady threw an interception in his next consecutive 11 playoff pass attempts, he would still lead Favre.


TD rate
Brady- TD/18.5 att
Favre- TD/20 att

If Favre threw a touchdown pass on each of his next 37 attempts, he would still trail Brady.

If Brady failed to throw a touchdown pass on his next 285 attempts, he would still lead Favre.

thats like comparing a lawyer (brady) to a truck driver (Favre) they both get the job done but brady dose it by the book Favre dose it hes way not all ways perfact but he got it done and had fun doing it as far as playoff wins go ill say this about Favre he had to play the 49er and cowboy dynasties in the playoffs if it was not for that he would of had at lest one more ring

 

[efin98]

thats like comparing a lawyer (brady) to a truck driver (Favre) they both get the job done but brady dose it by the book Favre dose it hes way not all ways perfact but he got it done and had fun doing it as far as playoff wins go ill say this about Favre he had to play the 49er and cowboy dynasties in the playoffs if it was not for that he would of had at lest one more ring

Favre had to play the Cowboys and 49ers...fine. Brady had to play the Steelers and Colts.
Favre lost every time he went up against the Cowboys in the playoffs. The 49ers team he faced wasn't the dominant 49ers teams that were around in the 80s.

 

[patsfan-1982]

Favre had to play the Cowboys and 49ers...fine. Brady had to play the Steelers and Colts.
Favre lost every time he went up against the Cowboys in the playoffs. The 49ers team he faced wasn't the dominant 49ers teams that were around in the 80s.

i never said i would take favre in his prime over brady right now i do think brady is the greatest QB of all time i just think favre is one of the best QB to ever play

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

You can do a similar analysis of playoff production of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and come up with some interesting numbers.

Peyton: Peyton Manning Gamelogs and Game Logs - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Tom: Tom Brady Gamelogs and Game Logs - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Peyton Manning (7-8) would need to win 31 playoff games in a row to match the winning percentage of Tom Brady (14-3), if Tom never played in another playoff game or if he simply continues on his career pace.

Manning (22 TDs, 17 INTs) would need to throw 15 TD passes with no interceptions to match the playoff TD/INT ratio of Tom (26/12), if Tom plays in no more playoff games or if he simply continues his career pace. Alternatively, Tom would have to throw 9 INTs with no TDs to fall below Peyton's level, if Peyton never plays in another playoff game or simply continues his career pace.

Now I know the mantra, Tom has more help, better defenses, yadda yadda yadda. Interesting how their fortunes divert in playoff games, though, often playing against the same teams faced in the regular season. If Peyton can carry his teams to wins in the regular season, why doesn't he also beat those same teams in the postseason? Does he have different teammates in the postseason? I think not.

Manning drops from 117-59 (0.665) in the regular season to 7-8 (0.457) in the playoffs. His regular season record is hurt by the 3-13 rookie year. After that, he won 71% of his regular season games (114-46).
Brady rises from 87-24 (0.784) in the regular season to 14-3 (0.824) in the playoffs.

 

[Patsmaniac]

I am telling Peter King you dared to compare any mortal to Lord Favre. Peter will want to have words with you!

 

[ScottieC]

you make great points but the implication that you win by getting certain stats is a poor conclusion. regardless of stats you win by making plays, and making clutch plays. I think its a better correlation that QBs who win have similarities in stats than that QBs with similarities in stats win. I think being a winner more the cause and the stat similarities are more of the effect. Pat of the int difference in Brady and Favre are the positions they put their teams in consistently that cause Favre to take risks and Brady to be in a comfort zone.

Winning Percentage
Total SB's
4th Qtr Come Backs

Take those 3, blend them up and you get the winner....Brady.

 

[ScottieC]

I am telling Peter King you dared to compare any mortal to Lord Favre. Peter will want to have words with you!

Kings hates Farve and has said as much many many many times.

 

[Number 2]

Re: Favre/ Brady statistical comparisons

Isn't it obvious?

NICE RESPONSE

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Re: Favre/ Brady statistical comparisons

...

I will say, however, that Favre's numbers include the natural decline of time and getting older. It's very hard to compare two players at different moments of their careers like that.

...

Good point. Here's a comparison of Brady (2001--2007) and Lord Favregard (1992--1998) over their first seven full seasons in the NFL.

Bottom Line for me: Their personal stats are very close, but Tommy comes out ahead on nearly every statistical measure and ahead on team performance in both the Regular and Post Seasons, but I wouldn't have kicked "the other guy" off of my team.

We can speculate as to why Favre is such a media darling and why TB is less so, with many good reasons presented by other posters. However, if Brady is able to put together a "next four or five years" that are nearly as strong as his first seven and puts another Ring on his fist, I don't see how he isn't regarded as the greatest QB of all time hands down; he's already part of that discussion if he never plays another game.

Regular Season Games Started: Brady 110, Favre 109
Regular Season Games Won: Brady 86, Favre 74
Regular Season Win Pctg.: Brady .782, Favre .679
Attempts: Brady 3,639, Favre 3,752
Completions: Brady 2,293, Favre 2,318
Completion Pctg.: Brady .631, Favre .616
Passing Yards: Brady 26,364, Favre 26,803
Yards/Attempt: Brady 7.24, Favre 7.14
TD's: Brady 197, Favre 213
TD Pctg.: Brady 5.4%, Farve 5.7%
INT's: Brady 86, Favre 116
INT Pctg.: Brady 2.4%, Favre 3.1%
Pass Rating: Brady 92.9, Favre 89.4
League MVP: Brady 1, Favre 3
SB MVP: Brady 2, Favre 0
SB Appearances: Brady 4, Favre 2
SB Wins: Brady 3, Favre 1
Pro Bowls: Brady 4, Favre 5
1st Team All Pro: Brady 1, Favre 3

 

[Ring 6]

You can do a similar analysis of playoff production of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and come up with some interesting numbers.

Peyton: Peyton Manning Gamelogs and Game Logs - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Tom: Tom Brady Gamelogs and Game Logs - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Peyton Manning (7-8) would need to win 31 playoff games in a row to match the winning percentage of Tom Brady (14-3), if Tom never played in another playoff game or if he simply continues on his career pace.

Manning (22 TDs, 17 INTs) would need to throw 15 TD passes with no interceptions to match the playoff TD/INT ratio of Tom (26/12), if Tom plays in no more playoff games or if he simply continues his career pace. Alternatively, Tom would have to throw 9 INTs with no TDs to fall below Peyton's level, if Peyton never plays in another playoff game or simply continues his career pace.

Now I know the mantra, Tom has more help, better defenses, yadda yadda yadda. Interesting how their fortunes divert in playoff games, though, often playing against the same teams faced in the regular season. If Peyton can carry his teams to wins in the regular season, why doesn't he also beat those same teams in the postseason? Does he have different teammates in the postseason? I think not.

Manning drops from 117-59 (0.665) in the regular season to 7-8 (0.457) in the playoffs. His regular season record is hurt by the 3-13 rookie year. After that, he won 71% of his regular season games (114-46).
Brady rises from 87-24 (0.784) in the regular season to 14-3 (0.824) in the playoffs.

What may be the most remarkable # in the history of statistics is that Tom Brady has the best winning % in the regular season of any QB in NFL history, but his playoff winning % is higher than his regular season winning %.
In other words, when it is not clutch he is better than anyone and when it is clutch he is better than himself too.

 

[Ring 6]

Winning Percentage
Total SB's
4th Qtr Come Backs

Take those 3, blend them up and you get the winner....Brady.

Oh, I think there is no question that the game is about winning and all of the other stuff is irrelevant.
I will take the winner over the guy who lost but had an excuse 100% of the time. Many people try to use the excuse as a replacement for the win. (i.e. saying Marino didnt have a running game is used to give him credit that he would have won SBs with a running game, and that if false logic. Esp in Marinos case when most of his playoff losses were directly due to him playing poorly)
Winners lead their teams to wins. Winners win, therefore the obstacles they overcome appear to be less severe than the obstacles the loser didn't overcome, which again, is false logic.

IMO, Brady is in the conversation as G.O.A.T. and the only people that deserve their name in the discussion are Montana and Brady. By the time Brady completes his career there will be no question.

 

[Dirk3601215]

does anyone think brady was hurt in a way because of cassels good performance last year? people say "well, a high school qb can throw for 400 yds in this offense then anyone can do it!" i totally disagree but i sort of wish the patriots won games last year but they won in spite of cassel and not because of him. why? because i'm a brady guy and i wish the patriots DEFENSE won those games last year but cassel didnt play so good.

then it would be like that ravens thing where they win alot of games but it isnt because of the qb. now it makes it look like brady is unimportant which is so untrue.

i dunno i jsut wish we were a defense first team last year and the offense just didnt screw things up ala the ravens.

 

[Ring 6]

does anyone think brady was hurt in a way because of cassels good performance last year? people say "well, a high school qb can throw for 400 yds in this offense then anyone can do it!" i totally disagree but i sort of wish the patriots won games last year but they won in spite of cassel and not because of him. why? because i'm a brady guy and i wish the patriots DEFENSE won those games last year but cassel didnt play so good.

then it would be like that ravens thing where they win alot of games but it isnt because of the qb. now it makes it look like brady is unimportant which is so untrue.

Not at all.
The Patriots season was a failure because Brady was not there. They did not even make the playoffs. Cassell put up decent numbers. Brady is the best ever.
What did you expect 0-16 with 4 passing yards all season?
You seem to imply there was no difference at the QB position, and the difference was night and day. 50 TDs to whatever Cassell had is night and day. 16-0 to 11-5 is night and day.
If Brady were simply good, and the 2007 Pats were 11-5, then Cassell played decently and the team was 5 games worse at 6-10 do you see the difference there?

 

[Dirk3601215]

Not at all.
The Patriots season was a failure because Brady was not there. They did not even make the playoffs. Cassell put up decent numbers. Brady is the best ever.
What did you expect 0-16 with 4 passing yards all season?
You seem to imply there was no difference at the QB position, and the difference was night and day. 50 TDs to whatever Cassell had is night and day. 16-0 to 11-5 is night and day.
If Brady were simply good, and the 2007 Pats were 11-5, then Cassell played decently and the team was 5 games worse at 6-10 do you see the difference there?

i didnt want 0-16. i wanted the pats to still win 11 games but i wanted the defense to be first in all categories and the offense to be just middle of the pack. what if cassel sucks in kc then people will say he is only good because he was on the patriots and this is what would happen if brady was on another team! pisses me off.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

You can do a similar analysis of playoff production of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and come up with some interesting numbers.

Peyton: Peyton Manning Gamelogs and Game Logs - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Tom: Tom Brady Gamelogs and Game Logs - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Peyton Manning (7-8) would need to win 31 playoff games in a row to match the winning percentage of Tom Brady (14-3), if Tom never played in another playoff game or if he simply continues on his career pace.

Manning (22 TDs, 17 INTs) would need to throw 15 TD passes with no interceptions to match the playoff TD/INT ratio of Tom (26/12), if Tom plays in no more playoff games or if he simply continues his career pace. Alternatively, Tom would have to throw 9 INTs with no TDs to fall below Peyton's level, if Peyton never plays in another playoff game or simply continues his career pace.

Now I know the mantra, Tom has more help, better defenses, yadda yadda yadda. Interesting how their fortunes divert in playoff games, though, often playing against the same teams faced in the regular season. If Peyton can carry his teams to wins in the regular season, why doesn't he also beat those same teams in the postseason? Does he have different teammates in the postseason? I think not.

Manning drops from 117-59 (0.665) in the regular season to 7-8 (0.457) in the playoffs. His regular season record is hurt by the 3-13 rookie year. After that, he won 71% of his regular season games (114-46).
Brady rises from 87-24 (0.784) in the regular season to 14-3 (0.824) in the playoffs.

In addition, Brady would have to retire at least 3 more times to catch up to Favre, who owns that stat.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Not at all.
The Patriots season was a failure because Brady was not there. They did not even make the playoffs. Cassell put up decent numbers. Brady is the best ever.
What did you expect 0-16 with 4 passing yards all season?
You seem to imply there was no difference at the QB position, and the difference was night and day. 50 TDs to whatever Cassell had is night and day. 16-0 to 11-5 is night and day.
If Brady were simply good, and the 2007 Pats were 11-5, then Cassell played decently and the team was 5 games worse at 6-10 do you see the difference there?

Wasting your time Andy...your either trying to reason with an attempted stealth troll or someone who has a serious love/hate relationship where Brady is concerned.