Tom Brady in Tampa Bay already surpassed Peyton Manning in Denver

Tom Brady’s goal in Tampa Bay was to match Peyton Manning in Denver. He’s already done better.

It’s that downtime in the NFL calendar in between the Super Bowl and the start of free agency. As such, there isn’t much to report on other than outlandish rumors and why each team needs to re-sign every potential free agent. One report that came out though didn’t have anything to do with the offseason, and everything to do with the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady.

Brady became the greatest quarterback of all time, and arguably the greatest player of all time because he is also the most competitive human being on the planet, so this “bombshell” doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. What may come as a surprise to some is that Brady not only achieved his goal but surpassed it, after one season.

It’s true, not only did Peyton Manning win a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos in 2015, his final season, but that in 2013 he also broke Drew Brees’ record for most passing yards in a season by a yard with 5,477 as well as Brady’s record for touchdown passes in a season with 55 en route to an MVP season at the age of 37. That can not be ignored. What also can not be ignored, however, is what happened in his two Super Bowls whilst in Denver.

In 2013, Manning’s Broncos were the victim of the most vicious defensive beatdown in a Super Bowl since the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and until the 2020 Buccaneers courtesy of the Seattle Seahawks. In 2015, Manning was still the quarterback of the Broncos, but their Super Bowl championship came more in spite of Manning, not because of him. Manning was a shell of himself, and that Broncos defense was legendary. It’s also easily forgotten that Manning had been benched earlier that season for Brock Osweiler.

Brady, on the other hand, was the catalyst needed for the Buccaneers to reach the pinnacle of the football world. Yes, the defense played a huge part in the actual game of the Super Bowl, but Brady was also the MVP, at the age of 43. It honestly can’t be talked about enough what Brady did at 43. Take this into account.

So yes, while Manning has more Super Bowl appearances and more passing records with his second team than Brady, numbers don’t tell the entire story. While Manning and Brady are the only two quarterbacks to start and win a Super Bowl with two separate franchises, what Brady has accomplished with the Buccaneers is already greater than what Manning did with the Broncos. The scary thing to consider as well is, Brady is not even close to being done.