No. 1 – Tom Brady (21-8)
As painful as it is for folks in Denver to admit, there’s no denying that Tom Brady is the gold standard of playoff quarterbacks, certainly in the current era and perhaps of all time. With six Super Bowl appearances, four Super Bowl wins and three Super Bowl MVPs, no one playing right now even comes close to matching Brady’s playoff pedigree.
Only twice in 12 trips to the postseason has Brady left without winning a game. Terry Bradshaw had three one-and-dones in his career; Joe Montana had four.
Half of the time Brady has made it to the playoffs, he’s made it all the way to the big game. Only Bradshaw (four in nine) can boast a better percentage.
Brady owns the career record for completions, yards and touchdowns and would pass both Bradshaw and Montana for the most career wins with a victory this year.
This year’s Patriots have struggled of late, but secured the AFC’s second seed despite having 14 players on injured reserve and having been without their top two receivers for a big stretch of the season. The scary thing for the rest of the AFC is that they are starting to get healthy and should have key players like linebacker Dont’a Hightower and wide receiver Julian Edelman back in the lineup against the Chiefs in the Divisional round.
The biggest threat to Brady’s fifth ring is his patchwork offensive line and the ferocious front sevens that await them, the first being Kansas City. After that could be Denver, with Seattle and Carolina lurking on the NFC side. This could very well be the toughest run of Brady’s career; but given his pedigree, would anyone doubt he could do it?
