4 x Super Bowl winner gives verdict on whether Patrick Mahomes can do what he was never able to do

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This era of the NFL that the new generation are being presented has a greater consideration for the well being of the players, rewind 40 years and it was almost an anything goes mentality.

American football across The States has overseen a rapid development in the technicality aspects of the game. Decades ago; pitches were not laid with state-of-the-art field grass, the footballs thrown and caught were not created with the best material to maximize grip, most stadiums did not have the finances to invest in roof tops to nullify the elements and many more areas of the game had not yet experienced the effects of football evolution.

The ever-changing game

Through the globalization of this historical sport spreading across the world, branding and marketing has generated money that would be unfathomable during the 1970/80s.

Old-school football was a treacherous landscape, it was a battle of wills and only the strongest survived.

Terry Bradshaw won a mind-blowing four Super Bowls during this exact era of football with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaking very passionately on The Rich Eisen Show about how the standard of the sport has progressed so far since the days he laced up his cleats.

Reminiscing of the days when he took the field, Bradshaw stated boldly about what type of player you had to be: “Hey, you better be a big boy or you would get your *** handed to ya. It was no faint of heart boy, it was a different football game completely.”

Survival of the fittest

Bradshaw was under center in a brutal period where there were no late hits on the quarterback or roughing the passer penalties, like what we now see. Players were given license to tackle opponents in any way they saw fit.

Although, the two-time Super Bowl MVP recognizes that the players today would have no problem producing similar numbers if competing in his era.

He said: “If Mahomes played for Pittsburgh his number I don’t think would be any different. As when you are averaging 19 passes per game, they are not going to be any different. They do 19 passes in the first two series now. It’s a different era.”

Bradshaw is totally right, because the historical game plans in the NFL saw a heavy reliance on the running backs. Quarterbacks are more involved in the modern strategies, with workloads shared between the backs and passers.

He added that he ‘loved’ the strategy of the defenses in the Super Bowl, and felt both Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy acquitted themselves well.

Take Mahomes over Brady

Bradshaw added he would take Patrick Mahomes over Tom Brady, and believes he can go on to win the Super Bowl again next year, but warns it will not be easy.

He said: “I would put Mahomes up there right now, he reminds me of Brady, he is so fiercely competitive, so amazingly confident at everything he does. He’s a great leader.

“In the modern day of football, I would probably take Mahomes, because of his athletic ability. It’s hard to say when the other guy has seven Super Bowl titles.

“Patrick is about to experience, he thought this year was tough, wait until next year. Everybody will be after him.

“I tried to go for three Super Bowls in a row twice, it’s exhausting. Everybody wants a piece of you, everybody plays above what they are capable of playing. You feel the pressure.

“All you want to do is get to the playoffs. People are saying ‘what’s wrong with Kansas City?’, there’s nothing wrong with Kansas City, they are bored.

“If they make the playoffs next year I think they will be the first team to win three Super Bowls [in a row], I don’t know who can beat them in the NFC.”

The old guard vs the new guard

To put it into context, over the course of Bradshaw’s career – 13 years – he threw 3,901 times and completed 2,025 of those attempts. Now, the Chiefs three-time Super Bowl MVP, in only seven seasons, has completed more passes (2,386) in a lesser number of attempts (3,590) – accurate as of week 18 in the 2023 season.

Bradshaw went a step further and said they he would have liked to play in the current state of football to demonstrate his stats do not reflect his ability.

He said: “I wish I played in this era, so I could have proved that I am not a 52% completion guy, that I would be much higher with the offenses they run. I could throw for all the yardage and have all the touchdowns.”

The NFL’s 1978 MVP envies the development of the game but appreciates that he was highly successful in his prime.