Matt Ryan wants what Tom Brady has; Brady wants what no one has

They are beginning to line up behind Tom Brady. Jim Harbaugh, Jimmy Johnson, Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, Ray Lewis all are believers that the New England Patriots quarterback is the greatest of all time.

“You start looking at it,” Aikman said. “What is it? Eleven AFC Championship Games? Six Super Bowl appearances, and now it’s seven. The number of playoff wins (24). I think you’d be hard pressed not to name him as the greatest now regardless whatever happens on Sunday.”

Who’s to argue?

Brady owns or will own almost every postseason and Super Bowl record by a quarterback.

“I think Tom Brady’s the greatest quarterback to ever play in the league,” said former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, now a Fox analyst. “If you look at the records, they back it up.”

Super Bowl LI offers an intriguing quarterback matchup – the greatest of all time vs. the best of this season. Matt Ryan and Brady finished 1-2, respectively, in passer rating this season, but Brady missed four games for his Deflategate suspension.

Thus, Ryan was the favorite to win the MVP award Saturday night. He led the league in passer rating (117.1) and in yards per pass attempt (9.26). He completed 69.9 percent of his passes for 4,944 yards with 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

“Matt is having an incredible year,” Brady said. “Obviously, they’re here for a reason. They’ve got great quarterback play, great leadership from him.”

Ryan didn’t come out of nowhere, even though it might seem that way. He has played nine years, with six winning seasons and 37,701 career passing yards, most ever for a first-time Super Bowl quarterback. Until this season, Ryan might have joined the conversation for the most underrated player in the league.

“He’s not a guy that’s like, ‘Hey, look at me,’ ” Falcons receiver Julio Jones said. “As a quarterback, he’s a guy that’s never really in the spotlight. They talk about quarterbacks a lot, and Matt is not one of those guys that you hear a lot from. He’s just a hard-working guy, and he’s had a consistency over the years that he’s been in the league.”

Ryan and the Falcons already have earned comparisons to Kurt Warner and the St. Louis Rams’ Greatest Show on Turf team. The Falcons scored 540 points in the regular season, tying them with the 2000 Rams for the seventh-most in NFL history.

But Ryan has never played in a Super Bowl. This marks Brady’s seventh, breaking a tie with Mike Lodish, the former Buffalo and Denver defensive lineman, for most by a player. A Patriots’ victory would tie Brady with Charles Haley for the most rings in history.

Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw are the only other quarterbacks with four rings, like Brady.

“I think it’s special just because it’s special. It’s hard to do,” Brady said. “The fact that I’ve been able to do it before, it just means I’ve been a part of some really great teams, and this team is trying to be one of those really great teams that finishes a job, not one of those teams that comes up short. That’s what we have to finish. We have to go out; we have to play our best game. ... We’ve been in six of these games, and every one has come down to basically the last play, less than a 3-point win. It’s a tight game. It’s a tough game. It’s a lot of buildup. It’s a long day. Hopefully it’s our best game.”

Brady usually is at his best in the biggest game. In six previous Super Bowls, he completed 164 of 247 passes for 1,604 yards and 13 touchdowns with four victories and three MVP awards.

“He’s certainly one of the greatest of all time, for sure,” Ryan said. “There have been some great quarterbacks, and Tom’s in that one, two or three category. He’s in the mix – 1A, 1B, 1C – and I’ve got a ton of respect for him. He has had such an incredible career and longevity.”

Ryan wants what Brady has, and Brady wants what no one has.

This story was originally published February 3, 2017 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Matt Ryan wants what Tom Brady has; Brady wants what no one has."