It doesn’t matter if he wasn’t trying to say that former Tennessee football quarterback Peyton Manning was better than Tom Brady. Former New York Jets Pro Bowl linebacker was able to make it very clear why Manning was the superior quarterback.
Speaking on ESPN Radio, Scott made clear that he would much rather face Brady than Manning. His explanation was based on the way Manning called the game week in and week out and how hard it was for defenses to prepare for him.
Simply put, when you faced Peyton Manning, you had to prepare for him. When you faced Tom Brady, you had to prepare for his team, notably Bill Belichick during his New England Patriots days. Here’s a full explanation from Scott.
.@BartScott57 talks about the difference between playing Tom Brady vs Peyton Manning:
— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) June 16, 2022
"I'd rather play against Tom Brady every day of the week than go against Peyton Manning!" pic.twitter.com/aq2ZVE3JuZ
If fans can take off their ring-obsessed glasses, this is clear. Brady has been part of systems with New England and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If it wasn’t Belichick’s defense delivering, it was Charlie Weis, Josh McDaniel and Bill O’Brien running a system ahead of the curve. Bruce Arians remains an offensive genius.
On the other hand, Manning worked with Tom Moore to develop a system in 1999 that was ahead of the curve, but it was based on what Manning could do and how he could specifically read defenses. That system was unbeatable for a decade.
One of the reasons quarterbacks like Brady have been able to extend their careers and so many other quarterbacks have been able to compete with Manning on the stats front is that the NFL began to change the rules so other quarterbacks could play like Manning. You can’t ignore that.
Now, you can bring up rings, but so much more goes into that, from how defenses perform to who has the better kicking game to, honestly, who just has more luck. For instance, Manning teams were 0-3 on overtime coin tosses. Brady teams are 3-0.
If you want to discredit Scott, as was mentioned on ESPN Radio, he beat both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in the playoffs, doing so in back to back weeks in 2010. As a result, he has plenty of credibility on this matter. That makes what he said even more legitimate, and honest defenders would agree.