National Football League

Pats owner: Brady better than Montana

Published Aug. 31, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Robert Kraft has made it clear: He sees Tom Brady as a fifth son. So with that in mind, take a guess as to where he thinks Brady ranks among the NFL's all-time quarterbacks.

Clearly forgetting that guys like Tim Tebow, Sage Rosenfels and Rex Grossman are still destined for greatness, Kraft immediately compared Brady to Joe Montana recently. The Patriots owner is hardly the first person to make that little comparison, but Montana is considered in many football circles to be the gold standard in terms of quarterbacks. Yet, while Montana boasts one more Super Bowl ring than Brady, Kraft isn't sold that Golden Joe is better than his main squeeze.

"I think that Tommy, with all due respect, is better than Joe Montana," Kraft told NFL.com's Albert Breer. "I know that's a leap, but I really think he might already be the best of all time. I watch how involved he is, how driven he is. He's like [Patriots head coach Bill] Belichick, he's into the details. And he's got a skill that makes him so special, he can process all of it so quickly. ... And then, he's just got that quality. Certain people have that sincerity. He's a very genuine guy. People can relate to him. People can trust him."

Patriots fans have certainly learned to trust Tommy Touchdowns throughout his NFL career, because, well, that tends to happen when a guy brings you to five Super Bowls. The "greatest of all time" debate is one that really has no beginning and no end, though. (It's like a circle.) But even the biggest Brady haters (assuming one or two do actually exist) don't really have much of a case when it comes to denying Brady's greatness.

An excerpt from Breer's recent feature on the New England quarterback really says all that needs to be said. He writes:

"Brady enters his 13th season as a pro with a resume already unlike any quarterback who has played the professional game. Four quarterbacks have won multiple Super Bowl MVPs. Four have won three Super Bowls. Two have made five Super Bowl starts. Seven have won multiple regular-season MVPs. Seven have averaged 300 yards passing per game over a season. Seven have thrown 40 touchdown passes in a season.

But the kid from San Mateo is the only one to make every one of those lists."

Now, you can be the judge as to whether that makes Brady the greatest quarterback of all time, but arguing otherwise is becoming harder and harder.