The Consistency of the G.O.A.T
People have been calling Tom Brady the greatest quarterback of all time for a few years. Successful year after each successful year, that chorus has gotten louder and louder. And who can blame them? All the guy does is win. After leading the Patriots to the biggest comeback win in Super Bowl history, the debate is close to being over; Terrific Tom has cemented himself as ONE of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. In my humble opinion, he is the greatest quarterback of all time; but that’s not the purpose of this article.
Why do people hate the Patriots? Because they win so damn always. And why is that? Is it Bill Belichick, a solid system of developing talent, deflated footballs, Divine Providence, Tom Brady, or some combination of them all? I submit that the reason for the Patriot’s success has been the incredible consistency of Tom Terrific. The man has a Hall of Fame career, that’s indisputable, but I want to focus on the last five years. These years are supposed to be the over the hill years of Brady’s career. This is supposed to be when he starts to fade. This is supposed to be when we joke about how miserable his life will be without football. I mean without football, all the guy has is glory, millions upon millions of dollars, legions of fans, and a supermodel wife.
But here we are- Tom Brady is still winning Super Bowls and putting together great seasons. When looking at average fantasy points per game going back to 2010, Tom Brady has finished as a top 10 fantasy football quarterback five times. Furthermore, four of those years he was a top five quarterback. If that is not consistency, I don’t know what is. In 2016, he averaged 24.7 fantasy points per game; which was good enough for the fifth highest quarterback. In 2015, he finished as the second highest quarterback with 25.4 points per game. Tommy finished just outside of the top ten at 11th in 2014 with 21.4 points. His only real down year came in 2013 when he finished 14th with 19.9 points per game. But keep in mind that 2013 was when one of his biggest receiving targets was arrested for murder a few months before the start of the season. Prior to losing Aaron Hernandez, Brady was dominant as the third best quarterback in both 2011 and 2012. During those years he posted 25.6 and 27.9 points per game respectively. In 2010, he scored 21.8 points per game; good enough to rank as sixth.
When Tom Brady is not losing a dangerous receiving weapon (umm poor choice of words perhaps but I’m going to go with it) to a murder charge, he is one of the most productive quarterbacks in the league even, at this point in his career. He is not going to be the first quarterback on the draft board this Fall, but he will the most consistent when it’s all said and done. When you gather in your war room for the 2017 draft, do not forget about the G.O.A.T.
