Tom Brady and Bart Starr

[PatsFanSince74]

I know they are from different eras, but, until last night, Brady had to share the distinction of winning the most NFL Championships with Bart Starr, who won the first two "Super Bowls" after the 1966 and '67 seasons and the "NFL Championship" for 1961, '62 and '65.

Brady and Starr also have one other seldom-mentioned "achievement" in common: Starr was drafted as the 200th pick in the 1956 NFL Draft, just one spot behind the now immortal 199th pick that brought Tom Brady to New England.

 

[Star56]

Starr was terrific. I am old enough to have watched him and Unitas. Unitas was my GOAT as a kid.

Of course TFB now transcends them both.

 

[Simpelton]

Sorry, and I know this is going to sound foreign to a lot of old ears, but the NFL is a much tougher place to play today than it was in the 60s. Physical training is treated with a methodical scientific seriousness today in a way it just was not back then. Even with the rules changes for player safety players run faster, are stronger, hit harder today than they did back then. At a certain point you literally can't compare players from two completely different eras. At least Montana was relatively fresh in everyone's minds when Brady kicked off his career, there is just no way to fairly compare Brady and a guy like Starr.

 

[Family]

The both played for pretty good coaches.

 

[Deus Irae]

orry, and I know this is going to sound foreign to a lot of old ears, but the NFL is a much tougher place to play today than it was in the 60s.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Sorry, and I know this is going to sound foreign to a lot of old ears, but the NFL is a much tougher place to play today than it was in the 60s. Physical training is treated with a methodical scientific seriousness today in a way it just was not back then. Even with the rules changes for player safety players run faster, are stronger, hit harder today than they did back then. At a certain point you literally can't compare players from two completely different eras. At least Montana was relatively fresh in everyone's minds when Brady kicked off his career, there is just no way to fairly compare Brady and a guy like Starr.

The OP wasn't trying to compare level of play. Just draft status and accomplishments.

With that said the counterargument to your position is back then NFL players didn't have the same quality of training, nutrition, medical treatment and travel luxuries as today's players do. They also didn't have the kinder, gentler rules of todays NFL both during the game and in TC (two a days, Oklahoma drills, etc)

 

[bormio]

Starr and Brady were both great team leaders, competitors and both loved by their teammates. And both great champions. Those similarities transcend the different eras that they played in.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Back in Untitas and Starr's day a QB got credit for their calls at the line ...
The good ones called their own plays ... it was part or not of their excellence.
Now it seems one only gets credit for their stats when comparisons are made in the media.

So why don't we ever talk about how watered down the media is?

 

[RobertWeathers]

Back in Untitas and Starr's day a QB got credit for their calls at the line ...
The good ones called their own plays ... it was part or not of their excellence.
Now it seems one only gets credit for their stats when comparisons are made in the media.

So why don't we ever talk about how watered down the media is?

Just think about this:

Bart Starr played QB for Vince Lombardi. Arguably the most demanding and successful coach in history.

It takes someone real special to earn that position and status on those teams.

Which is why Starr is one of the greatest QBs to ever play the game.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Starr was terrific. I am old enough to have watched him and Unitas. Unitas was my GOAT as a kid.

Of course TFB now transcends them both.

Ditto for me too.

 

[patchick]

Sorry, and I know this is going to sound foreign to a lot of old ears, but the NFL is a much tougher place to play today than it was in the 60s. Physical training is treated with a methodical scientific seriousness today in a way it just was not back then. Even with the rules changes for player safety players run faster, are stronger, hit harder today than they did back then. At a certain point you literally can't compare players from two completely different eras. At least Montana was relatively fresh in everyone's minds when Brady kicked off his career, there is just no way to fairly compare Brady and a guy like Starr.

Any given play, and any given game plan, is certainly VASTLY more difficult. Most of today's JAGs would have been physical marvels back then, and the complexity of both offenses and defenses is at a whole different level. (Would anybody like the 1961 Packers' chances against last night's Rams team?) But the kinds of training, resources, safety precautions and medical assistance available today also would have been marvels in Starr's day. And today's players don't need offseason jobs to pay their bills.

So it's all a matter of your definition of "tougher." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[TB_Helmet]

Sorry, and I know this is going to sound foreign to a lot of old ears, but the NFL is a much tougher place to play today than it was in the 60s. Physical training is treated with a methodical scientific seriousness today in a way it just was not back then. Even with the rules changes for player safety players run faster, are stronger, hit harder today than they did back then. At a certain point you literally can't compare players from two completely different eras. At least Montana was relatively fresh in everyone's minds when Brady kicked off his career, there is just no way to fairly compare Brady and a guy like Starr.

Yeah, your take isn't gonna be popular to people who like the physicality of football from previous eras, but there is something to be said for the mental complexity of today's game that places higher demands on the ability of a QB to diagnose coverage and make quick decisions, which are the two areas where our guy has no peer in history.

That gets lost in the "Brady isn't the GOAT because he plays in an era where you can't touch the QB" narrative. There are aspects of today's game that I bet some of the old-time greats would fail miserably (However I started watching football in the 80s so I can't say for sure).

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Sorry, and I know this is going to sound foreign to a lot of old ears, but the NFL is a much tougher place to play today than it was in the 60s. Physical training is treated with a methodical scientific seriousness today in a way it just was not back then. Even with the rules changes for player safety players run faster, are stronger, hit harder today than they did back then. At a certain point you literally can't compare players from two completely different eras. At least Montana was relatively fresh in everyone's minds when Brady kicked off his career, there is just no way to fairly compare Brady and a guy like Starr.

Starr still had to beat the best players of his day consistently throughout the regular season and then come out on top in a Championship Game against another strong team.

The teams he beat for those five titles had on their rosters, as players or coach, many future HOFers including George Blanda, Len Dawson, Billy Shaw, Emmitt Thomas and Hank Stram. Starr played in an era when "kill the Quarterback" was the mantra and the rules protecting that position and all players' make today's game look like flag football.

The game is played differently in every era, for sure. But, the eras all have two things in common: the players are still the best of their day and only one team is standing after the final game. Starr led his team to wins in five of those games. If that was easy, whatever the era, someone else would have done it in the '60's and it wouldn't have taken over half a century for one Tom Brady to break his record.

In my mind, surpassing Starr is one of Brady's greatest and least acknowledged accomplishments, the latter largely out of ignorance.