Let's Remember Some "Let's Remember Some Games:" Brady vs. Brees edition

Submitted by Hensons Mobile… on January 15th, 2021 at 11:16 AM

ESPN is understandably losing its shit about Brady vs. Brees this weekend.

Back in July/August 2020, Ace did a two-parter on Michigan vs. Purdue 1999, a.k.a. Brady vs. Brees Episode I.

Part 1

Part 2

Spoiler: We won!

bluebyyou

January 15th, 2021 at 1:28 PM ^

From your lips to God's ears! 

I hope Tampa Bay beats the Saints but having watched the two earlier games, notwithstanding that it is hard to beat someone three times in a season, the matchup would seem to favor the Saints.

My only hope is that Brady and his receivers are much more on the same page than they were several weeks ago.

Brian Griese

January 15th, 2021 at 11:42 AM ^

I've always wanted to do an experiment on this blog (though it's hard to get people to own up to it, even if you can stay semi-anonymous) to figure out what percentage do not like Brady.  I personally do not fall into that category, but I have found three Michigan fans (this ranges from generic fan to alumni) that absolutely hate Brady, so I have always been kind of curious.  

taistreetsmyhero

January 15th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^

My fantasy football league has 10 Michigan grads and 2 Ann Arbor natives. Of the Michigan grads, 3 of us do not like Brady, 5 are huge fans, the other 2 don't really care. Neither of the 2 Ann Arbor natives like Brady.

It's a combination of many things, mainly because I hate Boston sports so I'm just a self-admitted hater, partially being Manning (because we think he is the more skilled QB) and Colts fans, partially things outside the scope of the blog.

mi93

January 15th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^

I think Manning had more years as having to win games vs Brady.  He also walked into a much worse situation in Indy.

I like them both, always want to see Brady do well, but I do think, on the average, he was surrounded by the better team overall.

They both belong in the HoF, first vote, 100%.

Tex_Ind_Blue

January 15th, 2021 at 1:47 PM ^

Marvin Harrison, and Reggie Wayne were way better than the rag tag group TB had in Patriots in his early days. I would posit that Manning got better skill players compared to TB between 2000 and 2006. 2007 was a fantastic statistical year for TB, but his team wasn't much better than in 2006. 

Gronk showed up way late in TB's career to be counted on as a legit threat. Yes, there were Welker and other slot bugs, but they weren't really the weapon QBs dream of. 

mi93

January 15th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^

I think Manning had more years as having to win games vs Brady.  He also walked into a much worse situation in Indy.

I like them both, always want to see Brady do well, but I do think, on the average, he was surrounded by the better team overall.

They both belong in the HoF, first vote, 100%.

EDIT: So nice, it posted twice.

Phaedrus

January 15th, 2021 at 9:31 PM ^

Brady has less interceptions but worse stats otherwise than Manning because he knows to change a play to a run. Manning knew when he should change a play to a run, but he would usually just change it to a different pass instead because he was a stat hog.

Manning was busy trying to catch up to Dan Marino and Brett Favre while Brady was focused on catching up to Joe Montana. Manning is extremely lucky to have won a Super Bowl, let alone two. Likewise, Manning would usually throw passes when they were close to the goal line whereas with the Patriots a defense never knew if it would run or pass.

I don't have any stats to quantify any of that. Maybe I'm full of shit. But that's the way I remember things.

xtramelanin

January 15th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^

man, tough crowd.  brady is without question the GOAT, went to michigan, lives (AFAIK) a decent life, has a super model wife who actually might out-earn him, loves our school and seems to be loved by his teammates.  and since he's left boston, maybe it's okay to like him now?  

Hensons Mobile…

January 15th, 2021 at 12:03 PM ^

Reasons to hate Brady:

  • Petty sports jealousy
  • Politics, in which case, one would hate a lot of the NFL and MLB (but probably single out Brady due to petty sports jealousy)
  • A personal experience in which he wronged the offended individual, a grudge held onto due to petty sports jealousy

If Brady is not on your team it’s easy to see why someone would hate him. But here we generally consider him one of ours.

taistreetsmyhero

January 15th, 2021 at 12:15 PM ^

I feel personally attacked. End of the day, it is mainly petty sports jealousy. One of the guys in our fantasy league intentionally drafts every Pats player he can, and he's the most obnoxious troll in the league. It's not fair or rational, but it soured me to Brady ever since. Another reason is I watch a lot of big games with my best friend and his dad, who is another ultimate troll. He is a huge Brady stan, and has this annoying sense of humor whenever the Pats are down but are obviously going to come back and win.

Carpetbagger

January 15th, 2021 at 12:35 PM ^

I'm not a big fan of teams not from Michigan that win all the time either. Cowboys, Patriots, Yankees, 'Bama, USC, Miami etc. I especially don't like them when someone I associate with is a huge fan of those teams for no other reason than they like winners.

You are a 'Bama fan but you are born and raised in Tennessee? I bet you like the Patriots too? I'm so surprised!

The Brady thing gets me that way sometimes. I'm sure I would dislike him if he didn't play for Michigan. Instead I'm just ambivalent.

Phaedrus

January 15th, 2021 at 9:36 PM ^

  • Politics, in which case, one would hate a lot of the NFL and MLB (but probably single out Brady due to petty sports jealousy)

I know people got upset with Brady because of the Trump hat, but I'm pretty sure Brady knows nothing about politics and only had that because the guy who owns the golf course he plays at gave it to him. Brady seems genuinely clueless about all things in life except for football. That's probably why he's so damn good—he expends so much energy into football that nothing else is left.

sharklover

January 15th, 2021 at 12:40 PM ^

I support your anti-Brady stance for 2 reasons: 

1. He not only holds reprehensible political views, but he has chosen to insert himself in political conversations by attending state of the union speeches as an invited guest and by holding personal meetings with politicians.

2. He has fleeced his fans by using his fame and position to personally endorse and profit from companies that make false claims about supplements and diet plans.

I understand that your distaste for Brady is in no way related to mine, but we can form a big tent anti-Brady party to encompasses multiple view points.

taistreetsmyhero

January 15th, 2021 at 1:02 PM ^

I mean...I tried to keep these things out of the discussion for a reason CUMONG!!!! The only thing I'll say is that my grasp of reality on the supplement promotion is slipping. Dude is 5,000 years old and still dominating the league. Ray Kurzweil plans to live forever and he takes 100s of supplements a day. I don't want to believe in the hype but, I mean...???

sharklover

January 15th, 2021 at 1:28 PM ^

There are a number of substances that help the human body to recover from injuries and pain, which tend to be some of the biggest limiting factors that lead to the decline in physical performance of elite older athletes. Most of these substances are banned by the NFL, the WADA, and other major sports organizations. They are also widely used by what is likely the majority of players in the NFL and top tier college football (and other major professional sports). Despite the lip service that the governing bodies of professional football and other sports pay to controlling access and banning these substances, they do little to control the use of them. These substances are not present in the supplements that Brady has been promoting. 

Perkis-Size Me

January 15th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^

There certainly haven't been any great editions of that matchup this year. Brady has gotten thumped twice by the Saints this year. 

I do expect a much closer game this Sunday, but its tough for me to see Tampa coming out on top. Their defense has really slid back the past few weeks of the season and made a third string QB who was taking online classes at Old Dominion like a month ago look really stinking good last week. I know they had some guys out due to COVID that they get back this week, but I think that is grossly offset by the fact that are going against a much more potent, competent offense. 

I say 41-34 Saints. We get the kind of game from these two QBs that everyone was expecting the last two games, game of the year potential, and Brady always finds an extra gear in the postseason. But the Saints defense is just so much better right now, and Tampa's defense is going in the wrong direction. That is a bad thing to have happen when going up against Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara. 

That all being said, if Brady gets the ball back with two minutes to go and is down by a TD or less, all bets are off. In that situation, you'd really have to worry about New Orleans entering into an "oh no, here we go again" mindset after the way their seasons have ended the last three years. 

tybert

January 15th, 2021 at 12:05 PM ^

I was at that game. It was a chilly wet day, but Brees was pretty much kept under control except for one big play. I remember the play in my EZ where he muffed the shotgun snap and got leveled but still got up. 

At the time, felt Brees was a "program/system" QB who may be good but not great in the NFL. Brady seemed like a guy who was underrated but didn't expect him to be more than a Charlie Batch type backup who could step in and win some games.

Glad I wasn't an NFL scout - cause I would have missed on these two!

 

brose

January 15th, 2021 at 12:17 PM ^

Great game - I was there!  The 'actor' who played Purdue Pete partied with us the night before - good times, now the game in 2000 that I attended in W. Lafayette - not a good time

stephenrjking

January 15th, 2021 at 12:18 PM ^

This game was one of my favorites from the word go. A classic college football game, top 25 matchup, perfect football weather, underrated uniform matchup, and Michigan winning by multiple scores. 

Of course, it has only grown in my estimation due to the hall-of-fame pro careers of its QBs. I have done zero checking into this, but there probably isn't a game in college football history in which the two QBs had more productive pro careers combined. And even the number of games that are even in this neighborhood are pretty limited (logical starting points for research would be to see who guys like Marino and Elway and Montana played in college, and none of those lists are likely to be that impressive). 

Whenever Mahomes and Mayfield play people talk about the time they played in college, which of course was a singularly spectacular game. But this was an excellent game that, to the surprise of literally everyone, turned out to be a preview for two of the four great QBs of this generation. 

WolverineHistorian

January 15th, 2021 at 1:19 PM ^

It only took a couple games the prior season for Brees to become a media darling.  But he had the luxury of not playing either Michigan or Ohio State that entire season.  This was his first game against one of them and it was not pretty.  But very awesome for us.  Really, the final score should have been 38-6.  Purdue was able to kick two field goals off of A-Train fumbles deep in our own territory. 

DakotaBlue

January 15th, 2021 at 1:28 PM ^

I was at that 1999 game. Rainy day, but a big win. Of course, nobody had any inkling that we were watching two quarterbacks that would be NFL greats,

That they are still competing against each other more than 20 years later is just crazy.