Quarterbacks Tom Brady and Joe Montana are often synonymous with one another. It’s a compliment, of course, being dubbed two of the greatest of all time.
However, that doesn’t appear to be the case when it comes to how Montana personally feels about Brady.
The two possess one another’s phone numbers, but they don’t use them as ESPN’s senior writer Wright Thompson explained in the “Joe Montana was here” article.
He writes:
Brady praises Montana as “a killer” in public, but Joe’s friends feel like he’s made little effort to get to know the older player in real life. They have each other’s phone numbers. Something about Brady specifically seems to irritate Montana — friends say he’d be happy if Patrick Mahomes won eight titles — but the truth is, the two men are similar, driven by similar emotions to be great. Ultimately Montana may not care about a ring count, but watching himself get knocked down a spot fires deep powerful impulses and trips old wires even now.
Brady’s sung the praises of the Hall of Famer, referring to him as being “in a league of his own,” and coming from the Bay Area, he idolized Montana and Steve Young. The praises are more of which take place perhaps when a microphone and camera are around. Behind closed doors, Montana’s friends say he never hears from Brady.
That didn’t stop Brady from telling the world when he was young, Sundays were for him, Montana, and Young.
Young, who spent 13 years as the 49ers quarterback himself, was asked by Thompson if he knows Brady takes up space on Montana’s head.
“I think anybody that traffics in this space knows exactly what’s going on,” Young said. “But everyone has to recognize and appreciate that’s how you get there. Joe is not immune.”
Montana has been asked plenty of times about the “GOAT’ conversation and Brady’s name was introduced recently to the 49ers legend on ESPN’s “First Take.”
“I think Tom is taking his place on the top up there, a long time ago,” Montana said in March 2021. “Everybody always contests over that, but when you take a look at what Tom’s been able to accomplish in the time that he’s played, I think it puts him definitely up there at the top of the list.”
Montana’s wife, Jennifer, made it a point to mention these two come from different eras of football. He was hit more in the pocket during his golden days at Candlestick Park than perhaps Brady could handle, which might show how deep the rivalry runs between the two generational quarterbacks.
[ESPN]
