Joe Namath: 'No one's ever been better than Tom Brady'
New York Jets legend Joe Namath has been around the NFL since the league merged with the AFL in 1967, and says Tom Brady is the best player of all time.
Namath's reputation grew to near-mythical status after successfully guaranteeing that his New York Jets would defeat the 18-point favorite Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
The Jets won 16-7, and Namath captured Super Bowl MVP honors.
The 71-year-old recently spoke to Monday Morning Quarterback's Jenny Vrentas about Brady's historical status, the ending of Super Bowl XLIX and the Joe Namath Neurological Research Center.
"No one’s ever been better. No one’s ever been better than Tom Brady, I don’t believe," Namath said. "One of my first heroes was Otto Graham. Come on, 10 straight title games in Cleveland. He was just spectacular. Bobby Layne was a unique quarterback, really terrific.
"Getting into the modern era, Peyton Manning has had his wonderful performances. Don’t tell me anybody is better than Aaron Rodgers, either. Better than, better than, better than. The best, the best, the best. To each his own.
"But I will say, no one has ever played the game better than Tom Brady. You start looking at numbers, and sometimes statistics tell a story, and sometimes they don’t tell the whole story. It’s such a team game. But Tom has answered the bell. He has answered every challenge. He’s great. He’s great. No one has ever done it better."
Namath also spoke about his troubling experience with concussions and the neurological center bearing his name.
"It was a matter of knowing I had been hit in the head, my head had hit the ground, I had seen gold flashes and not remembered what was going on until I was somewhere else," he said. "Ball players in my generation, we didn’t know about concussions. We knew we got our bell rung, and the trainers and doctors always had some smelling salts with them when they came onto the field, and that’s basically how we were able to get up and over to the sidelines.
"This is an area that is exciting to me, having visited with the doctors, because traumatic brain injuries aren't limited to athletes."
Thirty-eight years have passed since Namath retired, but he continues to be an important figure in the game with salient critiques on how the league treats its players.