Joe Montana Rips NFL GOAT Debate Amidst Tom Brady Worship: “Go Back And Look At Otto Graham… Watch Him Play And How Do You Compare Him To That Era”

The recent retirement of QB Tom Brady has kicked off the GOAT discussion among fans. But NFL legend Joe Montana had his say on the debate, and it was with a very valid argument. A former 4-time Super Bowl champion, he was viewed by many to be the greatest of all time. He did not go after the fans who supported Brady in the debate but only asked them to widen their horizons.

He suggests to fans that the league has been around for almost a century and has seen so many players. Montana believes there are different eras and comparing them all is no easy task. During a recent interview with the Spun, he states, “There was a guy way back, Otto Graham, who won 11 championships before there were Super Bowls. I mean the game was just so different, the ball might not have even been the same shape back then. If you watch him, it’s just had to compare guys.”

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The answer from Montana raised some eyebrows with people diving into the annals of history to find Otto Graham. The NFL legend had called Brady the GOAT following his 2020 Super Bowl victory with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Tom Brady is ‘one’ of the greatest, but not ‘the’ greatest

Brady is widely viewed by every modern-day NFL fan to be the greatest QB. But the QBs from the past like Montana raise genuine questions about the classification of being the greatest. While Brady is the greatest from the modern era, past eras of the NFL have also had great players. Otto Graham is one such player who played for the Cleveland Browns franchise.

Graham was the yardstick from the past that every QB was measured in American football. He was part of the Browns franchise created in the nascent All-America Football Conference (AAFC). The conference was part of the NFL, and Graham made the 10 championship games appearance record before Brady ever played. The forgotten legend managed to win 7 championships in his 10-year professional career.

The argument has some validity if the accolades get drawn for comparison, but both played in two different eras of the league. It is important to remember there have been past champions who deserve the same attention and appreciation as Brady. The play has only gone and evolved every year, and there have been changes in its formats. Unfortunately, it has buried what is a lesser-known yet equally astonishing legacy like Tom Brady.

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