Brady No. 1 QB by AP NFL panel; gets 9 of 11 No. 1 votes
There is little doubt the QB any NFL coach or player would want leading the way to win a big game right now is Tom Brady.
So it makes sense he was a nearly unanimous choice as the No. 1 quarterback in the league by an Associated Press panel.
Brady received nine of 11 first-place votes and was second on the other ballots for a total of 108 out of a possible 110 points in the rankings released Friday.
”Brady isn’t just No. 1 on this list of active players. He’s probably No. 1 on a list of all-time QBs that you’d want to start a game that you needed to win,” said the AP’s Dennis Waszak Jr., based in New York. ”The likes of Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre and John Elway might have something to say about that, but it’s tough to argue against Brady.”
Still going strong at age 40, the New England Patriots superstar won by an even greater margin than he did back in September, when he was overwhelmingly voted No. 1 in the first of the weekly AP position rankings for this season.
QB is the only position being surveyed twice.
This time, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints was the runner-up with 81 points in the voting done by Pro Football Hall of Fame member James Lofton and 10 AP football writers on a 10-points-to-1-point system.
Showing zero signs of slipping, Brady heads into Week 16 with his Patriots at 11-3 and already having clinched a record ninth consecutive AFC East title.
”Nobody is better when the game is on the line,” said the AP’s Teresa M. Walker, based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Brady leads the NFL with 4,163 yards passing, is tied for second with a 104.0 rating, and has an impressive margin of 28 touchdown throws to only seven interceptions.
Brees…