By Ed Morrone

Tom Brady is good.

No, seriously, Tom Brady is really, really good.

And this is not good in terms of explosive talent, say, like Peyton Manning or Donovan McNabb good. No, this is a different kind of good. Brady’s slightly above average in terms of actual talent, but man oh man does he know how to win. And really, isn’t that what matters most? Ask fans of the Colts and Eagles what they would rather have-Manning and McNabb’s awesome stats or Brady’s three championship before he turned 30? As an Eagles fan, I can certainly tell you the answer to that, but I’m guessing I don’t have to.

And a lot is made about Brady not really wowing anybody with his statistics, but if you take a look at them, they are about as consistent as consistent gets. He has completed at least 60 percent of his passes every year since 2001 (his first as a full-time starter), thrown for at least 3,600 yards in every season since ’02 (he led the league with 4,110 last year), a quarterback rating of 85 or better each year and a career touchdown/interception mark of 137/70. He’s also incredibly durable, as he has started in every New England game since he stepped in for an injured Drew Bledsoe in Week 2 of the 2001 season. Manning has played in more consecutive games, and of course Brett Favre is approaching the 250 mark, but neither of those two have done so much with so little.

This year is no different. In seven games, Brady has thrown for 1,598 yards and 14 touchdowns to just four interceptions (he hasn’t thrown more than one interception in a game yet this year) while his QB rating is a very Brady-esque 92.2. In Monday night’s 31-7 win at Minnesota, Brady hit 10 different receivers and picked apart a solid Vikings defense for four touchdowns. Point taken.

What makes Brady so special is he came from absolutely nowhere, completely out of left field. When Bledsoe went down for the season back in 2001, every Patriot fan simultaneously groaned in disgust. After all, how could they expect a sixth-round draft pick to do anything?

But Brady quickly showed he belonged as he engineered a stunning season for the Patriots that culminated in an even more stunning Super Bowl win over the heavily favored Rams. After missing the playoffs in 2002, Brady and the Pats posted back-to-back Super Bowl wins over Carolina and Philadelphia. They bowed out early in the divisional round last year against Denver as Brady has an uncharacteristically bad postseason game.

Still, Brady’s supporting cast has worsened each year and he’s still maintained this unfathomable ability to outsmart every team that has stepped in his way. Some of New England’s receivers this year include journeyman Reche Caldwell, rookie Chad Jackson and the ageless Troy Brown, and yet the Patriots stand at 6-1 and are again running away with the crapshoot that is the AFC East. But it doesn’t matter who Tom Brady’s receivers are-after all, this is the guy who, in the last two Super Bowls, has thrown a touchdown pass to Mike Vrabel, who in case you forgot, is a linebacker. It doesn’t matter who lines up in front of him, Brady will still beat you.

And a lot of people ask the question: after three Super Bowls, what does Tom Brady have left to prove? Well, the answer is simple: nothing. What’s left out there to accomplish for a man who has accomplished everything? Again, the answer is nothing.

But to Brady, winning never gets old. He’s kind of like Tiger Woods in that he knows he’s better than everyone else, but he’s still out there competing because he loves to play, and more importantly, he loves to win.

Tom Brady is a one-in-a-million type of athlete, a real diamond in the rough, and whether you love him or hate him, you ultimately have to respect him. And just in case you’ve been living on Mars or under a rock for the past few years and haven’t witnessed all he’s done, don’t you worry, because the Tom Brady show isn’t over yet. Heck, it’s so good that it’s just getting started.