Is Tom Brady one of the league's most overrated players?

SI Writer Bashes Brady
Calls Pats QB `Overrated'

So this hack for CNNSI.com writes a 'blog' saying that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is overrated.

This puts me in a very difficult position, because I want to say that "It looks like they'll let any clueless yahoo write a blog," but, I, evidently, have a blog. On the other hand, I don't paid by Sports Illustrated. The obvious problem is that Andrew Perloff does.

Perloff begins one of the most ridiculous discussions I've ever read with "If the Patriots hadn't drafted Brady .."

"If," he says. "If."

As my drill instructor used to say, "If? If? If grasshoppers had machine guns, birds wouldn't #@&% with them!"

What if John Elway had honored the NFL draft and played for the Colts instead of demanding a trade, how would that have turned out? What if Atlanta kept Brett Favre? What if Joe Namath never guaranteed the Jets would win? What if Andrew Perloff was qualified to write for SI?

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is considered
one of the NFL's most overrated players by a writer from SI.com.

Photo Courtesy: NFL.com

"..[H]is elevated status has a lot to do with the incredible Patriots system," Perloff wrote.

No way! Really? And here I thought that every "properly rated" quarterback in history was a man unto himself! I thought Johnny Unitas (Perloff spells it "Johnnie") was the only player on the team! I thought Joe Montana was surrounded by a bunch of second- and third-rate receivers like David Patten and Fred Coleman, and hardly mediocre running backs like Antowain Smith!

He writes, "the world has anointed Brady the unquestioned King of the NFL." I'm not sure which NFL he's talking about, but I apparently missed the coronation, deserved or not. I haven't come across to many national "experts" who have said Brady is the undisputed ruler of the roost.

He says that people tend to overrate players who win championships, and he offers Derek Jeter, Luis Sojo and Matt Light as examples. First, Jeter and Sojo play baseball. Apples and oranges, and I'll discount that comparison as nonsense. Light might be a good example, except no one says he's so great in the first place. More than that, Brady has a body of exemplary work that extends far beyond championship games. I don't know that I've ever heard anyone say Light played great in the Super Bowl games or that he plays great on a regular basis. So I have no idea what point Perloff is trying to make.

This all stemmed from some ludicrous poll of the players on "Who is the most overrated player in the NFL?" Terrell Owens, quite rightfully, topped the list. Peyton Manning was on it too, and Perloff agreed. With Brady and Manning completely overrated, I wonder who Perloff thinks isn't overrated? Ben Roethlisberger, maybe?

But we in New England have been hearing this tripe from ignorami like Perloff for 5 years.

"Brady has had one of the best o-lines in football his entire career," someone wrote in a comment. Must have been one of Perloff's relatives or Ron Borges.

We heard that after Brady had won four or five games in 2001. "The line knew they had an inexperienced quarterback, and they pulled together to protect him." Meanwhile, Drew Bledsoe has had one of the league's worst offensive lines no matter where he goes, right Tony Romo?

The fact is that Brady has that "intangible" quality known as "pocket presence." When the pressure comes, when the line breaks down, more often than not, Brady doesn't just crumble like a like a desiccated cookie.

Unfortunately for Perloff, he published his blog before Brady shredded Minnesota's defense for 372 yards, where he hit 10 different receivers, four of them for touchdowns. "It's the system." How laughable.

The win made Brady 10-0 in games played in a dome. Imagine if his home stadium was domed like someone else I've already mentioned. Imagine if more than half of all the games in his career were played in domed stadiums. And for all you people clinging to the Adam Vinatieri days, when he would have to make 2 or 3 kicks in the snow in a game, remember that Brady would have about 50 to 60 snaps in those games.

And none of this is to say anything about leadership. I'm sure Perloff doesn't even know what that is. I wonder if he's ever been in a situation where he needed to possess it, or at least by subjugated by it? Probably not, because it doesn't seem to have a role in his discussion.

In fact, Perloff doesn't back up his argument with anything at all. It's not even an argument. It's an uninformed opinion, devoid of rationality. Why would SI allow themselves to be represented this way?

Perloff tries to save himself by saying that Brady is a great quarterback, just not that great. That sounds like a politician trying to cover up after saying something incredibly stupid. Just that Perloff isn't a politician (that I know of).

Sorry, Andy. You can't vote for it after you vote against it. That's called "having your cake and eating it too."

I've considered that Perloff wrote this simply to create controversy or get a rise out of people. As a former journalist, that sickens me. But that's the way of the world these days. It's just not something I expect from SI.

One of Brady's greatest assets as a quarterback is his intelligence. He's smart. Very smart.

Perloff? Is not.