Longtime New York radio host Mike Francesa just so happened to be on the ESPN airwaves the same day legendary quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL. And after years of dismissing all that Brady had accomplished, Francesa couldn't help but stand by one of his most laughable takes regarding the Super Bowl resume of the seven-time champion.
While there's something to be said about Francesa on Wednesday confirming that Brady is, in fact, the greatest quarterback of all-time, he wasn't willing to call Brady the best regular-season or Super Bowl signal-caller. Those are sentiments Francesa has shared in the past, as well.
After boasting about how Brady "made himself great" while being "the most competitive person," Francesa then included both Joe Montana and Peyton Manning in his anti-Brady remarks.
"Now I'm gonna throw a little oil on the ceremony," Francesa said on ESPN's "First Take." "He's not the best regular-season quarterback I've ever seen, Peyton Manning was. He's not the best Super Bowl quarterback who ever lived, Joe Montana is.
"What he is, though, is the guy who played the longest and he won the most games," Francesa continued. "He won the most Super Bowls so he will be remembered because nobody's going to play 23 years and nobody's probably ever going to have a chance to win that many Super Bowls. It's almost impossible to do. He was in the right place with the right coach, and he was that competitive.
"But, let me say this, in the Super Bowl, just take the Super Bowl performances, nobody ever has competed on the level Joe Montana competed on. Not even close. And in the regular season, I watch every game in the regular season, the best down-to-down, Sunday-to-Sunday quarterback I've ever seen regular season was Peyton Manning."
As it pertains to Montana, the longtime San Francisco 49ers signal-caller went 4-0 in Super Bowls but 12-7 in other playoff games. The Hall of Famer was dealt a loss in his playoff opener in four different seasons. Additionally, Manning went 186-79 during his 265 career regular-season starts. Brady concluded 251-82 in his 333 career starts.
ESPN's Stephen A. Smith questioned whether Francesa had a problem with those who view Brady as the greatest of all-time. Francesa said he didn't, which is not what he had said in recent years.
"No, because longevity matters and that means records. And winning all those Super Bowls matters because that's how we keep score," Francesa said. "But if you ask me, you have one game to win, I'm picking Joe Montana. Joe Montana Super Bowl quarterback rating was 127.8, Brady's was in the 90s. Brady was great in the Super Bowl, but let's be honest, he got a lot of breaks in the Super Bowl too. Montana never made a mistake in the Super Bowl, never threw an interception and he never lost. I thought he was the best Super Bowl quarterback, I thought Manning was the best.
"But when you add it all up, and you add in all the games and all the years, and you have 23 years and seven Super Bowls, nobody is going to surpass that."
One thing we can all agree on is that Brady is on his way to joining Montana and Manning in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
