One of my criticisms of the NFL is that it generally tries to pretend that the pre-Super Bowl era doesn't count, even as it celebrates a 100 year anniversary last year, 46 years of which were pre-Super Bowl era.
This handsome fellow is Otto Graham. He played ten seasons in the All-American Football Conference and then the NFL once it absorbed the AAFC, all for the Cleveland Browns. The AAFC played football on par with the NFL, as shown by the Browns winning the NFL championship in their first year in the league (1950).
Why is Otto Graham relevant to Tom Brady?
Tom Brady: 10 championship game appearances, 7 wins.
Otto Graham: 10 championship game appearances, 7 wins.
However, Otto Graham retired after ten seasons. So he was in the championship game every year of his career!
In Major League Baseball, with its love of history (maybe TOO MUCH love), Graham's accomplishments would be celebrated when someone else approached them.
In the NFL, Graham is just a footnote.
And I can't help think that it's partially because he played for Cleveland...
Also, Graham did all this while chucking around a football that looked more like a medicine ball.
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