Kurt Warner Doubles Down On Defending Tom Brady From ‘System QB’ Claim

There is one surefire way to rile up New England Patriots fans — slighting Tom Brady in any way, shape or fashion.

And boy has Chris Simms riled some folks up. Simms revealed his list of top quarterbacks in the NFL, and Tom Brady rang in at No. 9. If that seems low for the six-time Super Bowl champ, well, you and Kurt Warner might get along.

Warner voiced his disagreement with Simms on Twitter, which caused Simms to try to explain the reasoning behind the ranking.

And Tuesday, Warner joined WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni & Fauria,” to further defend Brady from claims of being a “system quarterback.”

“The problem I have is I am not saying (Simms) doesn’t do his work or have reasons for it, I just find it hard to give someone credibility when they have Drew Brees, who set a record in completing 73 percent of his passes, and then Tom Brady who won the Super Bowl, having them way down at nine or 10 on the list,” Warner said, as transcribed by WEEI.com. “It’s hard for me to understand. I am not a big fan of, ‘Well, if they were in another system,’ …If all of us were in a different system or with other players, our careers could look completely different, but we have no idea and no way to know that.

“I hate that argument. ‘Well, if you put Patrick Mahomes in that offense, then they would have won the Super Bowl, too.’ I don’t know. To me I don’t like that part of the argument so you have to give me a little bit more than he doesn’t do enough in the system, or the system helps him a great deal. I am not a fan of those types of things.”

Now, no one is sitting here making the argument that, at 42-years-old, Tom Brady is on the up and up. But it’s also hard to argue there is another quarterback you rather would have right now in a must-win game. And it’s understandable that Warner doesn’t think quarterbacks should be ranked based on a hypothetical.