Deflate-Gate
Deflate-Gate
Just because I'm bored waiting on the SB to come around (Granite, don't read this, it contains spoilers) two takes:
Take One, Deflate-Gate
Jack Trudeau: "Somebody who throws the ball every day knows the difference, trust me. It appears somebody did it on purpose. Because you would know. Anybody who touches a ball on a regular basis is going to know."
Drew Brees: "If you just gave me two balls right now and you said, 'Feel these balls and tell me if there's a difference in the weight or how much air is in them,' I could say yes, I could tell a difference..."
Montana: “I mean, it’s easy to figure out who did it. Did Tom do it? No, but Tom likes the balls that way, obviously, or you wouldn’t have 11 of them that way without him complaining, because as a quarterback, you know how you like the ball. If it doesn’t feel like that, something is wrong.”
Troy Aikman: "It's obvious that Tom Brady had something to do with this. For the balls to be deflated, that doesn't happen unless the quarterback wants that to happen, I can assure you of that."
Fran Tarkenton: "Tom Brady knows exactly what was done to the ball or what wasn't done with the ball as every other quarterback in the National Football League is...”
John Madden: "That would have to be driven by the quarterback. That's something that wouldn't be driven by a coach or just the equipment guy. Nobody, not even the head coach, would do anything to a football unilaterally, such as adjust the amount of pressure in a ball, without the quarterback not knowing. It would have to be the quarterback's idea."
Mark Brunell: “I don’t believe there’s an equipment manager in the NFL that would on his own initiative deflate a ball without the starting quarterback’s approval. I just didn’t believe what Tom Brady had to say.”
Tom Brady: "They felt fine to me."
That said, it's a stupid rule that began because idiot kickers were monkeying with the ball too much to gain a kicking advantage. Give every quarterback the option of lowering the number and you'll make foul weather games more entertaining for the fan.
Take Two: the not so great debate over greatness
Does Deflate-Gate tarnish/put in question Tom's greatness as a quarterback? Tarnish? Sure. A little. And more if people see a longer pattern. Put in question? No, he's played out of his mind great in many a dry, warm day too. So he would have been great regardless. And so would Barry Bonds... But comparing Tom with Montana and the "Is he better/he's better" media nonsense remains a homer's absurd and losing fight.
Collin Cowherd, one of the leading ESPN Brady talking head fans, has argued Brady's numerous appearances trump the four Montana wins...good news for Jim Kelly, whose unprecedented four straight appearances in the SB must have him right there in the mix.
To me it's simpler: the first Patriots' SB win is tainted and Tom only contributed 157 yards to it anyway. Like Bradshaw or Big Ben in their first, he isn't so much responsible for winning the game as not losing it.
Montana, on the other hand, was arguably MVP of every SB he played in and literally was in three.
But, Collin argues, Montana was home watching the SB more than Tom, who is a set to appear in his 6th. Okay, and if you don't think an untraded Montana, who beat his understudy and made the KC Chiefs a contender in his first year with them, wouldn't have taken that Niners team to his fifth you're not really paying attention. Not to slight Steve who was the logical, Andrew Luck like choice (and one cemented by Joes retirement shortly after his Chief's last gasp) by then and for similar reasons.
Six to make four over a four and four that could easily have been five?
Joe Montana was the greatest quarterback to ever step onto a championship field. Tom is just the next generations best challenger for the throne, as Kobe was for Michael once.
~fini~
