Mike Francesa reunited with former longtime broadcast partner Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on ESPN’s First Take today and he came out with a fiery take that has social media divided.
On the heels of Tom Brady announcing his retirement this morning, Francesa asserted that Brady is neither the best regular season quarterback nor the best Super Bowl quarterback he’s ever seen. He believes that Peyton Manning was better in the regular season and Joe Montana was better in Super Bowls.
“(Tom Brady’s) not the best regular season quarterback I’ve ever seen. Peyton Manning was. He’s not the best Super Bowl quarterback who ever lived, Joe Montana is. What he is though, is the guy who played the longest and he won the most games,” Francesa said.
Francesa explained that Brady’s greatest accomplishment was being able to play for as long as he did at the level he did and that the record-setting seven Super Bowls were a byproduct of that. Stephen A. Smith was getting ready to tear Francesa a new one but conceded that from a pure production standpoint, he might have a point.
As you might imagine though, Francesa’s statement was extremely divisive on social media. Many are calling him a hack who would have said this no matter how many Super Bowls Brady won, while others think he may have a point:
There’s certainly a case to be made that while Tom Brady is the greatest winner of all-time, he wasn’t the most talented to ever play the game.
One can also make the case that he isn’t even the best Super Bowl performer of all-time despite winning seven Super Bowls.
It’s a debate that will rage forever.