A few questions about the Patriots as we contemplate the Zen of 59-0 and consider the severity of the international thrashing the winless Buccaneers are going to suffer in London on Sunday:
Question 1: Is Tom Brady the best cold-weather quarterback of all time?
With all due respect to Cold, Hard Football Facts favorite Bart Starr, the answer is yes, absolutely.
Admittedly, answering this question with truly empirical data is probably impossible — there are no official records of any kind in this category, other than the kickoff temperatures that appear in NFL game books, and those only go back to 2001.
But let’s just say there’s a preponderance of evidence in Brady’s favor, and Sunday’s snowy six-touchdown performance against the embarrassment called the Titans is just the latest example.
The first piece of evidence is that Brady’s 93.3 career passer rating is the fourth-best mark in history — and easily the best of any cold-weather quarterback.
No. 1 on the list, Steve Young (96.8), played in the perpetual autumn of San Francisco's Candlestick Park and he rarely dipped his toes into a cold-weather game, let alone a playoff blizzard. No. 2 Peyton Manning (95.3) and No. 3 Kurt Warner (93.7) have spent their entire careers coddled inside windless, air-conditioned domes. And, as Manning has shown, dome quarterbacks don’t do well in the elements.
(Brady, for his part, boasts a career passer rating of 100.3 indoors).
The No. 5 spot on the career passer rating list, just behind Brady, belongs to Philip Rivers (92.8), who plays in San Diego and can go surfing right after each playoff loss in January. Joe Montana (92.3), another perpetual-autumn QB from San Francisco, is No. 6.
Specifically, though, Brady has a critical mass of clutch performances in the snow and in some of the most frigid games on record that truly stand out in football history.
Remember, snow games in general are rare — the Patriots, playing in one of the snowiest markets in the NFL, had hosted just three snow games in their history (1960-2000) before Brady arrived on the scene. And he’s already played in eight snow games. The extraordinarily high number is one part pure coincidence and one part a function of the fact that the Patriots rarely played in January before Brady became the starting quarterback.
Whatever the reason, the results are indisputable. Here are 10 frosty outings, five from the playoffs, where Brady has set himself apart as the best snowy, cold-weather quarterback in history.
Jan. 19, 2002 — Patriots 16, Raiders 13
People remember the controversial “tuck rule.” But what they should also remember is that Brady, in just his 15th NFL start and first postseason game, was called upon to carry his team through a blizzard and was nearly flawless in the clutch, leading the Patriots to scores on three of their final four drives, including his own touchdown run. Rich Gannon and the Oakland offense could do nothing after taking a 13-3 lead into the fourth.
Brady: 32-of-52, 312 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Gannon: 17-of-31, 159 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Dec. 7, 2003 — Patriots 12, Dolphins 0
Hours after a Nor’easter nearly shut down Massachusetts, neither offense could get much going. Brady and the Pats put just a single field goal on the board. But Brady also avoided the critical mistake, while Miami quarterback Jay Fiedler threw a pick from his own end zone that was returned for an easy score by Tedy Bruschi that sealed the game and sparked an iconic wave of snowy fireworks around Gillette Stadium.
Brady: 16-of-31, 163 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Fiedler: 13-of-31, 111 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
Dec. 14, 2003 — Patriots 27, Jaguars 13
The Jaguars tried to go pass-for-pass with the Patriots behind the spirited effort of Byron Leftwich. But, ultimately, he made the critical picks that always cost games, while Brady did not. The Jaguars scored just two field goals and trailed 27-6 before scoring a late touchdown in trash time.
Brady: 22-of-34, 228, 2 TD, 0 INT
Leftwich: 21-of-40, 288 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Jan. 10, 2004 — Patriots 17, Titans 14
It wasn’t snowing at Gillette in this divisional playoff game — but it was the coldest game in franchise
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