It was never easy to win against Tom Brady. After all, the guy holds just about every record there is to have in the history of the game.
The 44-year-old officially called it quits on Tuesday, retiring as the NFL’s most thorough victor of all-time. No player has seen more regular-season wins (243), postseason wins (35), Super Bowl appearances (10), Super Bowl wins (seven), Super Bowl MVP awards (five), postseason game-winning drives (14) and postseason fourth-quarter comebacks (nine).
*wipes brow*
A few men, however, have seen themselves come out on the winning side over Brady more times than not during the G.O.A.T.’s 22-year career. And one of those men is the Carolina Panthers’ own G.O.A.T. in Cam Newton.
Newton is one of just 10 quarterbacks, through multiple matchups, to lead his team to more victories than defeats over Brady’s. Or, for the “QB Winz” crowd, Newton is one of just 10 quarterbacks to have played Brady more than once and come out of it with a winning record.
Over their three meetings, Newton led his Panthers to a 2-1 mark over Brady’s squads. The first win came in a Monday nigh thriller back in 2013, where Cam tossed for three touchdowns while rushing for a game-high 62 yards in a 24-20 triumph. The second came four years later in another nail-biter, with Newton passing for 316 yards and scoring four total touchdowns in a 33-30 win.
The lone loss, which is tough to swallow considering the circumstances, came this past year in Week 16. As per the unofficial “QB Winz” rules, Newton got saddled with the 32-6 defeat since he started against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers despite playing in 18 fewer snaps than teammate Sam Darnold.
Had Newton not been charged with the loss, he’d have finished as one of only three quarterbacks to go undefeated in multiple outings against Brady. The two men that hold that honor are Jake Plummer (3-0) and Brian Griese (2-0).
For housekeeping’s sake, here are the other seven quarterbacks with those winning records (postseason included) over No. 12:
- Drew Brees: 5-3
- Eli Manning: 3-2
- Matthew Stafford: 3-2
- Alex Smith: 2-1
- Russell Wilson: 2-1
- Kyle Orton: 2-1
- Nick Foles: 2-0
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