Peter King And Tom Brady: A Timeline

Wednesday, September 17, 2008


Okay, I'll admit it....I'm fascinated by Peter King. No, not because I think his writing is amazing, or that he has virtually the whole NFL in his cell phone. None of that. It's really the fact that he just doesn't care. He'll write an article that contradicts something he wrote a day ago and isn't even fazed. He's like Derek Jeter in that Gatorade commercial, "but for me the next article begins when the last one ends."

Well that brings us to some stellar research that reader PW put in regarding the relationship between Peter King and Tom Brady. In PK's latest article, he posted the following email exchange about Brady and Matt Cassel....

From Brian Maxwell, of Minneapolis: "I know it's early but if the Pats win the Super Bowl this year with Matt Cassel, does it reflect negatively on Tom Brady's legacy? I think if that happens, we can stop the "greatest of all-time" talk.''

PK: Not sure I've heard anyone call Brady the greatest of all-time. But you're right. Cassel has made one start. Brady has made 128, has won 79 percent of them, is 14-3 in the postseason, is 3-1 in Super Bowls. I understand your point -- that if the Patriots go far into January, then it takes some of the shine off Brady's star. But we're not even far into September.
Now it struck both PW and I, very odd that Peter King would say that he has , "never heard someone call Brady the greatest of all-time," when King himself has probably written those exact words about a million times in Brady's career. Let's take a look shall we....
October 5, 2004
Patriots QB Tom Brady is as cool as a man can be when the rush is on (Sports Illustrated)

"Playing like this is the biggest reason why the Patriots are poised to set the all-time record for consecutive wins Sunday against Miami. Tom Brady is simply an unflappable player, one of the greatest pressure players I've ever seen."

December 19, 2005
Brady, Pats are back; Bolts end Colts' perfection bid (Sports Illustrated)

"I was in the Brady-for-Sportsman crowd, probably as a leader of the pack. This morning, I'm not here to say he's better than Peyton Manning, worse than Peyton Manning, the same as Peyton Manning, because, let's face it, they're both all-timers."

October 23, 2007
Pats-Colts, Brady-Manning ... let the arguments begin (Sports Illustrated)

"Tony Kornheiser asked Ron Jaworski Monday night on ESPN who he thought is better right now -- Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Jaworski looked like he'd rather answer this question: "Which of your daughters is your favorite?'' The answer is simple. We're living in an era with three of the best 10 quarterbacks (Manning, Brady, Brett Favre) ever to play. We'll have years to debate what order you'd put them in, and more great ones will be added as time passes."

November. 6th 2007
Personnel chiefs Scott Pioli and Bill Polian are behind the success in New England and Indy (Sports Illustrated)

"Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are already among the alltime greats."

January 14, 2008
Observations from a nearly perfect NFL weekend (Sports Illustrated)

"Tom Brady was a ref's buried whistle and a stunning drop by Mr. Hands Wes Welker from being 28-for-28 the other night. Are we watching the best quarterback of all time in mid-career? Are we watching, maybe three of the best five or six of all time?"
And all of that research was done in the matter of about 10 minutes using Google. I can understand forgetting certain stances or predictions that you've written in over twenty years of Football reporting, but come on! He's devoted entire articles to that same "All-time Greatest" debate about twenty times since Brady's been in the league. The guy is either like Guy Pearce in "Memento" and he's working backwards and sideways, or he's just messing with everybody. Either way, he continues to blow my mind.

10 Comments:

No offense but in none of those examples does King say "Brady is THE greatest of all time" He always says one of the greatest. So King wins this argument.

Rahul said...
Sep 17, 2008, 11:39:00 AM  

Agreed. There's a big difference between flat-out stating THE greatest and "one of the" several greatest. I understand it's easy for people to pick on Peter King - he's got kind of this idealized life that he's not afraid to allow readers into, plus he's sort of dorky and cheesy about some things - but his articles in the magazine have always been good, and his MMQB feature is, I'd say, one of the few pieces of online, mainstream sports journalism that I still find captivating and compelling.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 11:54:00 AM  

I think both of you are defending King on a technicality here. The guy flip flops more than John Kerry.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 12:02:00 PM  

Non post of the year... nobody has declared Tom Brady the greatest ever, as we usually wait till the end of careers for those kind of statements, but plenty (including King) have already put him AMONG the greats. Big difference. You are making a mountain out of mole hill.. not, not even a mole hill, out of a nothing.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 12:29:00 PM  

"Now it struck both PW and I, very odd that Peter King would say that he has , "never heard someone call Brady the greatest of all-time," when King himself has probably written those exact words about a million times in Brady's career. Let's take a look shall we...."

You then proceed to quote 5 passages where he never uses those exact words. Bravo.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 12:31:00 PM  

I would have to agree with the peaunt gallery. Peter King never did call Tom Brady the best ever. Right now that statement rests with three quarterbacks and they are Joe Montana, Terry Brawshaw, and Troy Aikman. Some could argue that Steve Young should be on this list as well, but he shouldn't because he lost two NFC Championships to Dallas in his prime.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 1:37:00 PM  

I don't care about Tom Brady, I want to know more about coffee!

GMoney said...
Sep 17, 2008, 1:58:00 PM  

*cringe*

It's "Memento." Major grammar/movie pet peeve for me.

Jay said...
Sep 17, 2008, 2:32:00 PM  

You know what the definition of Peter King is? Schlepper.
A total joke........

Anonymous said...
Sep 18, 2008, 1:52:00 AM  

I agree with everyone that King never called Brady THE greatest of all-time. You're way off base here. There are a lot of things to criticize King for, this just isn't one of them.

btw, whoever said the "greatest" argument rests with Montana, Bradshaw and Aikman is high. Bradshaw and Aikman rank top 20, not top 3.

Anonymous said...
Sep 18, 2008, 10:16:00 AM  

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