SAN DIEGO — You can’t connect the dots … not when it comes to quarterback comparisons.
Comparisons are for saps, fodder for sports talk shows and the memory-impaired media and fans who can’t see anything past last year having any bearing on what goes on now.
Quarterback comparisons are incomparable. You simply cannot say any great quarterback of today is better than the great quarterbacks of the past.
They are not playing the same game of football their predecessors had to battle through. It’s not different eras with quarterbacks. It’s different game.
The rules totally eliminate comparisons.
Modern quarterbacks are diapered. They can throw the ball away without penalty. They get hit and there are penalties. Receivers run freely, can’t be touched beyond five yards down the field. Before rules changes, they were manhandled.
This, as told to “The Eye Test for Two” podcast, by receiver Drew Pearson, new senior inductee into the Hall: “How was I supposed to run a pass route when I’m getting tackled at the line of scrimmage? Then they bump you all the way downfield.”
I remember a highlight film the day of linebacker Chris Hamburger’s senior player Hall inclusion. It showed several sacks, and on every one, he smashed the quarterback around the head.
Tom Brady now has won seven Super Bowls. Could he have done it in the day of Drew and Chris?
I say no.
There’s a reason why quarterbacks didn’t play until they were 43. They weren’t given police escorts, and when they got hit too much they didn’t demand a trade. Took it and lumped it.
Today’s top QBs basically are playing seven-on-seven skeleton drills.
Why did the best quarterbacks have so many interceptions back then? Because they couldn’t throw it straight, or was it due to their pass catchers — and themselves — getting beaten to hell?
A week ago, a national talk show host actually asked: “If Patrick Mahomes’ career ended now, would he be a Hall of Famer?”
Answer: Not a chance in hell.
The Athletic actually is asking: “Is Tom Brady the greatest athlete of all time?”
Answer: No. Brady?
Dan Orlovsky is far too bright to actually say: “Brady is the greatest team sport winner of all time.”
Ah, Dan, Bill Russell won 11 NBA titles with Boston in 13 tries. He won two NCAA championships with San Francisco. And an Olympic gold medal.
Stop comparing. Football absolutely reinvented itself. And not necessarily for the better.
