Yesterday, Brad Oremland’s great series on his top-ranked QBs in Total Statistical Production concluded. You should give that a read today, especially if you missed it because of the holiday.One thing that Brad wrote about in the Manning section was how Manning was nearly always better than Brady during the ’00s. It’s easy to forget about that now — Brady has been the much better QB for each of the last three years, and for most years in the ’10s. But during the ’00s, the only year that Brady was clearly better was ’07.I decided to make a graph of the Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt for Tom Brady (in red with blue dots) and Peyton Manning (in blue with white dots for his Colts years, and orange with blue dots for his Broncos years) for each of the last 20 seasons. Brady missed all or nearly all of the ’98 (college), ’99 (college), ’00 (backup), and ’07 (injury) seasons, while Manning missed all of the ’11 (injury), ’16 (retired), and ’17 (retired) seasons. They each get a zero for those seasons, even tho Brady threw 14 passes combined in those years. The thin black line represents league average ANY/A each season. You can break this down into a few categories.1998-2000 (Three Years): Brady was not playing, while Manning was already a good quarterback.

2001-2006 (Six Years): These are the years where the Brady/Manning reputation was built. Brady won three titles and began his career with a 10-0 playoff record. Manning’s Colts already lost two playoff games as favorites in ’99 and ’00, and would lose in Foxboro in ’03 and ’04 before losing as the #1 seed in ’05. Manning, though, was the better quarterback each regular season, with the possible exception of the 2001 season. Manning was arguably the best player in the NFL in ’03, ’04, and ’05, winning a major publication MVP award each season and was named as the AP’s first-team All-Pro each season. In ’06, Manning was the second-best quarterback to Drew Brees, and then Manning led a historic comeback against the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game before winning his first Super Bowl. This did not seem to change any narratives for Manning, however.

2007: Brady’s best year, of course. This was his Manning 04 season, and the first time he was clearly better than Manning.

2008: Brady missed the season with a torn ACL. Manning won another MVP award.

2009: Along with ’07, this was just the second time both players eclipsed 7.0 ANY/A. Statistically, this one was very close — Manning edged Brady 7.51 to 7.38 — but all the honors went to Manning. He was the overwhelming MVP choice, while Brady finished behind not just Manning but Brees and Philip Rivers in All-Pro and MVP voting. A big reason? Manning set an NFL record with 7 fourth-quarter comebacks, and his Colts began the year 14-0 and earned the #1 seed before Indianapolis began resting for the playoffs.

2010-2011: Brady is now the better quarterback, with injuries beginning to take their toll on Manning. He declined in 2010 and missed all of 2011, while Brady was magnificent with an 8.25 ANY/A both years, winning MVP honors in ’10.

2012-2014: Brady was still excellent these years, but Manning — now with the Broncos — was something else. He was perhaps the best player in football in ’12 and ’13 — winning the AP MVP award in ’13 and losing the AP version to Adrian Peterson by a vote of 30.5 to 19.5. In 2014, both quarterbacks were very good, although neither could credibly argue that they were the best quarterback in football.

2015-Current: In ’15, Manning began to fall apart, and he retired after the season. Brady? He improved in ’15 and then again in ’16, and then won the AP MVP in 2017. This has been the second-best stretch for Brady, with only ’09 to ’12 being superior.Now, this will obviously be the final word on all topics Brady/Manning. In all seriousness, this is probably the most favorable way to look at things for Manning: arguments for Brady include him having a worse supporting cast during the ’00s, played in worse weather, and that ANY/A is more favorable to Manning than to Brady. For their careers, Manning has a 7.17 ANY/A average to Brady’s 7.12, while Brady has a 97.6 passer rating to Manning’s 96.5 rating.