Yep, I've been saying this for years.
I don't have many pet peeves, but one of them is around this time of year this stupid conversation always erupts about the greatest QB ever - and the starting point is always team success! Always about counting rings. Brady - any QB - doesn't rush the passer, doesn't run block or pass block, doesn't catch the ball or defend the pass or punt or kick or cover punts or kicks. Football is always touted to be the ultimate team sport, and it may be. So why give one guy, one position, all the credit. It's like in baseball they used to compare won/loss records as the real measure of a pitcher - until finally someone figured out if you play for the Yankees you're likely to have a better record than someone who pitches for the Cubs. And it doesn't mean you're a better pitcher.
How many players, coaches and front office types have excelled in New England and floundered elsewhere? The players list is forever long, and add Charlie Weiss, Romeo Crennel, Josh McDaniel, and several other coaches, and Scott Pioli, at least, as a front office exec. All of that is Belichick. He is the epicenter of everything that happens in Boston. Everyone else, including Brady, "just does his job". Now, Brady is a great QB, but he's a piece of a system. Same way I always thought about Montana. If Montana doesn't have Walsh designing his system, doesn't have the pieces around him, he's just another QB. Team/system dependent. I always said Manning and Marino were the 2 best I ever saw, they just played for bad teams, coaches, defenses, etc. I think the season Manning won with the Colts he had the worst run defense in the history of modern football. So think about that....And now, you can make the case that Rodgers is better than any of them. But he plays for Mike McCarthy. Which has nothing to do with his abilities as QB. I heard Mike Greenberg the other day say Aaron Rodgers is playing QB better than anyone who ever lived. Then later, in the discussion of best ever, he said he couldn't rank Rodgers in the top 5 of all time because he doesn't have enough rings. And that is the problem in a nutshell. It's stupid. If Rodgers is playing better QB than anyone ever, he's number 1. Period, end of discussion......
Have I mentioned this is a pet peeve?.......