Brian St. Pierre feels Tom Brady is arguably having the best season of his legendary career.
Yet even with the New England Patriots' trigger man playing at such a high level, St. Pierre warns that the space between Brady and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is a lot smaller than most people believe.
St. Pierre, a Danvers native who starred at quarterback at both St. John's Prep and Boston College before enjoying an eight-year National Football League career as a backup QB, knows the position well and his opinion shouldn't be taken lightly.
Brady and Manning are the headline players for the Patriots and Giants, respectively, and many believe the winner of Sunday's Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis will directly coincide with which quarterback plays better.
"Tom is probably playing at the highest level of his whole career. Maybe 2007 was slightly better, but he's been as good as I remember him in the last 10 years. He's one of the all-time greats," said St. Pierre, who was playing for the Arizona Cardinals when they went to Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.
"Most teams that play the Patriots, even if their quarterback plays well, if Tom plays a good game then they're in trouble. But with the Giants, Eli's good enough to beat him.
"It's a great matchup. Tom is definitely in the upper echelon, No. 1 or 2 (among current QBs), but Eli is creeping into the top five."
What Manning has in his favor, noted St. Pierre, is a more complete team. The Giants have a good running game with Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs, three fantastic receivers in Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham, and a dangerous pass rush on defense that could really bother Brady and the Pats.
When the Giants stunned New England in Super Bowl XLII four years ago, Brady was rattled by the pressure New York applied.
St. Pierre, who played for Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Arizona and Carolina during his NFL career, expects that to be a huge factor once again.
"Looking back on it, the Giants have a lot of the same guys and the Patriots couldn't block them then and they didn't block them in Foxborough (earlier) this season," St. Pierre said. "I don't know how much that's going to change."
St. Pierre does think the Patriots' running game could be the X-factor.
"Teams have been able to run on the Giants. Believe me, (Giants' coaches) are telling that defense to rush the passer and play the run on the way to Tom," St. Pierre said. "The Patriots always seem to go away from the run, but if they stick with it that gives them the best chance to win. Tom's at his best when they're balanced."
St. Pierre just doesn't seem to believe the Pats will stick to that game plan.
"I just trust my eyes and I don't think the Patriots can beat them. I think it will be tight and a great Super Bowl," St. Pierre said. "If you look at each team's 53-man roster and made one team, you'd have more guys from the Giants.
"I think it's going to be a 34-28 type game. I just think they'll get to Tom, but maybe not as much as a couple years ago."
