Tom Brady and Peyton Manning provided arguably the greatest quarterback rivalry in NFL history, and as a result, their greatness probably will be compared and debated until the end of time.
While Brady’s fifth Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LI led many to view the New England Patriots QB as the greatest to ever play the position, it’s certainly not a unanimously agreed upon notion. And former NFL coach Norv Turner made that abundantly clear in a recent ESPN story that has the football world abuzz.
Turner was one of 10 current and former coaches surveyed by ESPN’s Mike Sando, who tasked each of them with ranking the 10 best NFL quarterbacks since 1978. Brady was the cumulative winner of the experiment, but Turner couldn’t help but gush over Manning, which included an interesting take.
“If you’re going to create a quarterback in a lab, this is your guy,” Turner said of Manning, per Sando. “He was in complete control of what they did. The numbers are incredible. If Peyton Manning had New England’s defenses, he would be at the top of this list and he would be 5-2 or 6-1 in Super Bowls. People were critical of Peyton for the playoff losses — the interception against New Orleans or whatever — but his teams were not good enough on defense.”
A stronger defense probably would have brought Manning more success, but Turner’s hindsight projection of the former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos QB seems like a bit of a stretch.
Turner’s take hardly was the hottest of the survey, though. Manning’s former coach in Indianapolis, Tony Dungy, ranked Brady as just the sixth-best NFL signal-caller in the modern era.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports Images
