“He’s the greatest quarterback ever to live on this Earth. He’s won four SuperBowls in the modern-day era with a salary cap. He’s been to six. I’m a huge Joe Montana fan, I love him to death, but Tommy’s No. 1.” These are the sentiments that the New England Patriots’ star wide receiver, Julian Edelman stated in a recent interview to the NFL network. Super Bowl XLIX has just concluded with Tom Brady, the game’s MVP, lifting the trophy for a fourth time in his decorated career tying Hall of Famer and largely considered one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Joe Montana.

Despite his significant on-field achievements, Brady and his team are always heavily scrutinised and are commonly amidst controversy in the NFL. This year’s “Deflate-Gate” incident before the biggest American sporting spectacle dominated the headlines with more being discussed about it than any other aspect of the game. For those who may not be up to scratch in their NFL controversy, the aptly named “Deflate-Gate” was a case where Brady’s New England Patriots were found guilty of deflating 11 out of the 12 balls the team supplied to the conference championship, where they annihilated the Indianapolis Colts. Whilst this may not sound like an advantage, it is said that deflating the balls can assist in throwing and catching in cold conditions such as those in Foxboro, Massachusetts, home
of the New England Patriots.

Many believe that this controversy and previous others surrounding the Patriots will tarnish Tom Brady’s four Super Bowls so far, or as I like to say “asterixcize.” Hall of Famer Charles Haley is one of these people. “I’ve lost all respect,” Haley said. “When your integrity is challenged in the game of football, to me, all his Super Bowls are tainted. You have to say this just didn’t happen overnight. It’s going to come back and haunt [Brady] one day. Nobody believes it was by accident. I’m not going to take any of his Super Bowls away from him. But it’s that it has to be tainted like it is right now.”

I’m not even a Patriots fan, but I truly believe that purely based on the fact that the Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots were the accused that it became a nationwide controversy. Deflated balls or not, the 45-7 score-line of the conference championship would not have been reversed.

Like him or not though, the facts don’t lie, he is one of the greatest, and the most recent Super Bowl demonstrated this. With 12:10 left in the fourth quarter of the game, the Patriots were down to the Seahawks 24-14. No team in the history of the Super Bowl has recovered from a 10 point deficit in the fourth quarter to win, but Tom Brady does what he wants. It’s the mentality that has stayed with him his whole career after being overlooked by NFL scouts in his draft, with six quarterbacks, and 198 other players being drafted before him leaving Brady to be team-less until the sixth round. Brady has a burning desire within him to prove everyone wrong even when he has nothing yet to prove. In the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIX, Brady was immaculate, and as a fan of the sport, you could not help but be honoured to have watched this man work. In the final quarter of the game, he threw for 13-15, 124 yards and two touchdowns to lead his team to a victory over the “Legion of Boom” defence of the Seattle Seahawks. At the conclusion of the game, Brady become the record holder for most touchdowns thrown, most completions and most first downs in a Super Bowl. Couple that with the fact that he has led his team to the Super Bowl on six separate occasions, more than any other quarterback to have ever graced the sport, it is hard to argue against this man’s accomplishments.

Tom Brady, from 6th round pick, to greatest of all time. Nothing can take that away from him.