Colts: 3 reasons Peyton Manning is clearly better than Tom Brady

1. Career Efficiency

First of all, a hearty congratulations to Tom Brady for passing Peyton Manning in career yardage and touchdowns — and I’m sure he did so in the same exact amount of games!

(Checks earpiece) Oh, really? He’s just barely edged past Manning, and has already played 19 more games? Got it, that seems important.

Over four years after his retirement, Manning is now third all-time in yards (71,940) and touchdowns (539), sitting ninth in quarterback rating (96.5). Brady is now second in yardage (74,571) and touchdowns (541), fifth in QBR (97.0), and, most importantly, is still on the field, well past the age of 40.

Hold Manning’s physical breakdown against him all you want, but the man gutted through a potential career-ending surgery only to rear back with a vengeance for a second life in Denver. Retiring at 39 only looks premature in Brady’s wake.

We don’t know what that man does to stay limber, but all those excess reps have only narrowly edged him past Manning’s career totals. And we’d bet Peyton got to enjoy the occasional eggplant on occasion, too, during the meaty part of his career.

If you’d like to say Brady’s playoff success trumps any argument, that’s fine. That’s your prerogative, and there are a number of factors at play. If Brady had been conditioned to play in a dome all season until the one game the world chose to judge him on, his reputation might be different, too. If Peyton Manning had been schemed by Bill Belichick, or had a defense like Romeo Crennel’s behind him, who knows?

All in all, this one’s as close as it gets, but like Kevin Faulk on fourth down, Brady’s short by a hair.