I think it's ludicrous that the best Super Bowl I've ever seen has been lost in the flurry of the halftime hijinks, the ruling on Maurice Clarett's eligibility, ESPN's decision to cancel Playmakers, and other off-the-field crappola. So for one week, I'm going to keep the memory of that great game alive.

I want to write about how fortunate this league is to have Tom Brady. And, more specifically, how lucky the Patriots are for building their around a guy who "gets it."

Brady is a rising star who understands his good fortune. He knows there's been a harmonic convergence of situation and talent and coaching in New England, the same kind of harmonic convergence Joe Montana experienced in San Francisco a generation ago. Brady is what happens when a cool customer gets blended with an accurate but not rocket-like throwing arm, good football brain, superior coaching and winning talent.

Last Wednesday, when I talked with Brady via phone for a few minutes while he was in Pebble Beach, he was still exhausted from his travels and the post-Super Bowl excitement.

"I'm the beneficiary of a lot of stars aligning just right," he said, the surf pounding behind him. "I know that. I know how fortunate I am. If I get drafted by the Arizona Cardinals, who knows what would have happened to me. Who knows what kind of career I'd be having. What the Patriots ask me to do is contribute, not be an all-star for 75 plays a game. They ask me to be a leader, to make the throws I can make."

Brady doesn't try to make the game bigger than it is. When I asked him how incredibly clean his offensive line kept him this week (make sure to read Paul Zimmerman's spot-on analysis of the Patriots' superior Super Bowl blocking.), he rightly praised the Pats' front five to the heavens. In the postseason, Brady dropped back to pass 126 times. He was never sacked. Matt Light, Russ Hochstein, Dan Koppen, Joe Andruzzi and Tom Ashworth aren't household names in their own households, but they played huge in the playoffs.

"Any quarterback and his line have to have a special relationship," Brady said. "I can tell you there's no way we get to the Super Bowl if those guys don't play as great as they did. I know everyone says this about their linemen, but for the scheme we play, our linemen just don't get enough credit."

I think something else has been lost in this Super Bowl post-mortem. So many people seem to think it's sacrilegious to compare Brady to Montana, as if comparing them means you're saying: Brady is Montana. No. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying Brady at this stage of his career sure looks like a young Montana. The parallels are eerie. Montana was a third-round pick who got devalued entering the draft because of an average arm. He was the ultimate team guy who was selected by a brilliant coach (Bill Walsh) who knew the Notre Dame QB would fit well in his offense and Montana was the beneficiary of getting drafted into a cutting-edge organization.

The real reason, however, that it's fair to compare these QBs is because of how they play in the fourth quarter -- and, more significantly, how opponents fear them in the final quarter. I don't know if you caught the NFL Films stuff from Super Bowl XXXVIII Inside the NFL over the weekend, but the most telling thing from the on-field sound the Men of Sabol gathered came in the fourth quarter, while the Panthers were on their bench celebrating the touchdown that gave them a 22-21 lead with seven minutes to play. Muhsin Muhammad, who caught the 85-yard score, was heard saying to Steve Smith: "It ain't over ... Not with that dude at quarterback."

Montana vs. Brady: Tale of the Tape Montana   Brady Regular Season 117-47 (.713) W-L 34-12 (.739) .632 Completion % .619 273-139 TD/Int ratio 69-38 92.3 Rating 85.8 Post-Season 16-10 (.615) W-L 6-0 (1.000) .627 Completion % .605 45-21 TD/Int ratio 6-3 95.6 Rating 81.4 28 Age at time of 2nd Super Bowl win 26 Photos by Rob McMahon/Allsport; Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Two years ago, Brady drove the Patriots 53 yards in 72 seconds to the winning field goal. Last week, he drove them 47 yards in 64 seconds to the winning field goal. No, it wasn't Montana taking the 49ers 92 yards to beat the Bengals on the TD pass to John Taylor in Super Bowl XXIII. But it was clutch. In his two fourth quarters on the big stage, Brady was 20 for 32 for 211 yards. The one thing I can't do is defend his awful, horrible, ridiculous interception to Reggie Howard midway through the fourth against Carolina. Inexcusable. You just can't do that in the Super Bowl, or any game for that matter.

But one major mistake out of 32 throws in the two biggest quarters of his life is not bad.

And Brady did it with a different cast than the one he had two years ago. One amazing thing about the Patriots is their ability to make so many interchangeable parts win. Of the eight wide receivers and tight ends on New England's roster in its 20-17 Super Bowl win over St. Louis, only two men -- Troy Brown and Antowain Smith-- were on the 53-man Super Bowl roster last week. Look who caught passes in the fourth quarter against the Rams: Marc Edwards, Smith, J.R. Redmond, Brown, Jermaine Wiggins. Look who caught passes in the fourth quarter against the Panthers: Deion Branch, Brown, Daniel Graham, Kevin Faulk, David Givens, Mike Vrabel.

Again, I don't know if Brady's imitation of Montanta will last. You never know what will happen season to season. But I do know that the numbers in the chart above don't lie. The most significant figure: Montana won his second Super Bowl at 28. Brady is 26.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who talked to me Friday for a Sports Illustrated Scorecard piece that appears in this week's issue.

MMQB: What would you have been doing this week had not all heck broken loose?

Tagliabue: Skiing in Vermont.

MMQB: Is it safe to say that every halftime show from know on is going to be produced by the NFL?

Tagliabue: The key is that it will be controlled by the NFL and the network televising the game. We have to use our own production companies for the most part, except in that rare instance when you might have a network that is in the family entertainment business, like Disney. You don't want to exclude a Disney kids production just because of what MTV did. We have to be much more explicit as to what our standards are to whoever we retain [to producer the show]. It's a product of the NFL and the televising network, not some other entity or affiliated company.

MMQB: It seems to me the Clarett decision is very hurtful to the NFL. Do you agree?

Tagliabue: I look at it in two steps. First of all, it's not yet a decision. It's an interim ruling. It's subject to appeal. It's not final. Until you have a final decision, you worry about the short-term implications more than the long-term implications. There are many things we are going to have to do in the interim period. There is a hearing Wednesday before the judge. I still have very strong confidence in our position [and believe] that we'll eventually win. That's step No. 1. If we get to the longer term and are dealt a negative decision, then it's certainly not positive for our clubs or our league. It's not positive for college football players or for college football. It's not positive for young athletes, in general. We're a long way from being there. We're still working with an interim decision. It's not final. And we ultimately feel this will be overturned.  

"We were in the locker room, so we missed that. Nobody kept us abreast of that."

--Patriots coach Bill Belichick, asked by David Letterman last Wednesday if he had any knowledge of the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" during halftime of the Super Bowl.

The Rev. George Foreman will officiate the marriage of Boston Herald columnist George Kimball and his lady friend on the first Saturday in April. Nuptials will take place in a poets cafe in Manhattan's East Village.

I am getting clobbered over my "no" vote on Bob Hayes for the Hall of Fame. Let's take a couple of body blows on that subject.

THREE VIEWS ON DALLAS AND THE HALL, AND MY RESPONSE. From John Brinegar of Grand Prairie, Texas: "The Pro Football Hall of Fame no longer exists to me. The anti-Cowboys bias can no longer be denied. I hold you, as a part of the process, partially responsible for what has gone on over the years. This looks like a payback for the 'America's Team' tag, and it stinks. The Baseball Hall of Fame doesn't exclude Yankees because the rest of the league is jealous of the team's success. The Hall in Canton does. I will never visit there and I will no longer read stories or watch reports on the fake Hall of Fame in Canton. The 39 old men on the HOF committee should resign."

From Charlie Hankins of Arlington, Texas: "Thanks for having the decency to publicize your Hall of Fame voting. I appreciate your points regarding Hayes, but the overall gripe I have with the process is that some teams (specifically the Steelers) have an inordinate amount of players enshrined while Tom Landry's Cowboys -- a franchise that had 20 consecutive winning seasons -- have so few (five) in the Hall."

From Ryan Shelden of Dallas: "You need to explain yourself a little further on Bob Hayes. Because of this man's skills, NFL defenses had to change the way they played the game, and that is just one of the points you conveniently forgot about. His touchdown-to-catch ratio was 5-to-1. His averaged 20 yards per reception, which would leave him in sixth place all time. I never used to believe in an anti-Cowboys bias but you have clearly shown your true colors. I think it's writers like you who have enabled this to happen."

Regarding the "Cowboy bias:" I have covered the NFL for 20 seasons. I began going to Dallas in 1985, my second year covering the Giants for Newsday. Immediately I was made to feel at home by Tex Schramm and Landry and Gil Brandt, all of whom returned my calls promptly, even when times were tough. Under the new regime, even when my peers were all over Jerry Jones (as was I, sometimes), the owner and Jimmy Johnson were always available to help me do my job. If you asked me today what teams I have enjoyed covering the most over my two decades in the game, I would say Dallas and Green Bay. I can't speak for the other 38 men on our committee, but I have no bias against the Cowboys and, in fact, think they've been great for the game.

Re: Hayes: I have heard and read inferences that his off-field problems after he left the game hurt him in Hall voting. Again, I can't speak for what is in the hearts of the other 38 men in the room, but let me say I never once thought of them. Hayes' problems were a total non-factor to me, as were Lawrence Taylor's. I voted strictly on Hayes' playing record, which I didn't think was strong enough to merit Hall membership. I know he was tremendously fast, and teams had to adjust its defense because of his speed. But I think there was speed in the game before he arrived (Don Hutson ran a 9.4-second 100-yard dash in 1934 at Alabama before entering the NFL) and speed in the game after he retired.

Finally, I might have been able to overlook the fact that Hayes averaged 2.8 catches per game in his 11 pro seasons had he done something in the playoffs, but he was invisible in 10 postseason games. Re: Bob Brown: When a guy like Joe Greene says Brown was one of the toughest and meanest guys he played against, that counts for something. Re: the other Cowboys: I supported, and voted for, Rayfield Wright and Cliff Harris. Let me also say something about regional zeal. You notice that these three letters are from Texas. I have heard from Marylanders who are mad about Art Modell's failure to get on the final Hall ballot this year, from Northeasterners who are angry about the Harry Carson defeat, from Pittsburghers annoyed about L.C. Greenwood being kept out, and last year from Coloradoans who were miffed about Randy Gradishar's defeat. Why isn't there a groundswell in Santa Fe, N.M., over Art Monk? Or in Bemidji, Minn., about Hayes? It's good to be a fan of your team. What the 39 of us in that room are trying to do -- at least the ones I talk to -- is treat all teams fairly in our eyes. Maybe our eyes are wrong. But I can just tell you the responsibility is not taken flippantly.

THE NFL SHOULD BE ASHAMED. From William Jacobsen of Lacey, Wash.: "I am the father of three impressionable boys, ages 4, 5, and 7. We watched the Super Bowl together. It was a family event. But the halftime show changed that. My young children were bombarded with young ladies who were 'too hot' to wear their clothes anymore, foul language, crotch-grabbing, simulated sex acts and blatant nudity.

I am trying to teach my children about sportsmanship, teamwork, and good, clean fun. Why should I have to cover their young eyes and hurry them out of the room during the halftime show? When players make mistakes it is easy to claim that it is an isolated incident and that it should not reflect on the entire league. But when the league is the orchestrator of these types of events, it is not just the occasional player who has departed from mainstream American values. The NFL should have possessed the moral character to seek entertainers who would embody the values that the NFL claims to espouse, and not employ performers who would embarrass the league and offend the viewing audience."

William, rarely do I let letters run this long. But yours was so perfect -- heartfelt and sincere and a mirror of everything I've heard about the halftime show -- that I just had to post most of it. Thanks.

WHERE IN THE WORLD WAS DESHAUN FOSTER EIGHT DAYS AGO? From Eric of Los Angeles: "Tell me why the Panthers only handed the ball to DeShaun Foster three times. Are you kidding me?"

Great question. He should have been used as a changeup eight to 10 times.

PETER, YOU WOULDN'T KNOW GREATNESS IF IT BOPPED YOU RIGHT IN THE HEAD. From John McLaughlin of Pittsfield, Mass.: "I love your column, but with all due respect, Are you high? Bill Belichick needs three or four more good years in order for you to consider him for the Hall of Fame? He has four rings! What does he have to do to get your attention? Accidentally rip off a woman's top?"

Well, I'd say Belichick has to win more than 82 NFL games as a head coach. I think the folks in Canton might throw me off the committee if I said that a fellow with an 82-70 career record and two Super Bowl titles (and two more as an assistant with the Giants) should get in the Hall tomorrow. I'm as big a fan of Belichick as anyone among the national press (and I mean that), but let's let him have a career, shall we?

PETER, YOU WOULDN'T KNOW A GREAT TEAM IF IT MANGLED YOU WITH ITS LARGE TEETH. From Eric Ritvo of Boston: "Have you ever done a top-15 or top-10 list without an accidental omission? It seems like every week you come back and say 'I'm sorry' to someone for forgetting their club. Who is the glaring omission from your top 15 this time? The Bengals --- a team clearly on the rise."

I can only assume you're sane. Why slap me around over a team that finished 8-8 and lost of three of its last four? The Bengals deserved to be noted in November, but not in December, and not now.

Between last Monday morning and Tuesday evening, Tom Brady went from Houston (post-Super Bowl press conference Monday morning) to Orlando (for the Disney World MVP parade Monday afternoon) to Boston (for the Patriots' victory parade Tuesday) to San Francisco (Tuesday night, for the AT&T pro-am at Pebble Beach), where he went to sleep in his parents' suburban home.

1. I think I didn't hear a soul in the first six days of last week say to me, "Boy, I'm looking forward to seeing Steve McNair fill the air with footballs at the Pro Bowl." It sounds like the game was a good one -- the NFC hung on to win 55-52 when Mike Vanderjagt missed his first field goal in about six years at the end of regulation, a 51-yarder that went just wide right. I missed football this weekend, but I'm not sorry I missed the Pro Bowl, which was dominated by matador defense as if the contest were an NHL All-Star Game.

2. I think this Kurt Warner thing is nuts. For him to imply that he wasn't playing because coaches thought he was reading the Bible too much looks like an attempt by the QB to mask his poor play. Here's what Warner said last week: "Probably the most difficult thing was insinuations along the way how my faith played a part in that [his benching]. You know, I had coaches that came up to me a number of times, just saying, 'You need to quit reading the Bible so much at work. You know, you're a distraction. ' [Like] it was taking away from my play. It was almost like well, when we were winning it was great, but now for some reason you've screwed this thing up; you're reading too much so it caused it us to lose." This is why Kurt Warner lost his job ... this little stat line: In his last eight starts, covering just over 24 months and dating to the 20-17 Super Bowl loss to New England, he is 0-8 with five touchdown passes, 14 interceptions and an incredible 15 fumbles. He was sacked 29 times in those eight starts. Maybe a coach said that his religion was getting in the way of football. But for Warner to say he lost his job to Marc Bulger for any reason other than his play on the field is just wrong.

3. I think Joe Gibbs, who reportedly has interest in acquiring Mark Brunell, is going to find that he has bigger needs than quarterback seeing as how Patrick Ramsey is already on the roster, and that if he trades for and signs Brunell, someday he'll regret it. I'm sure Gibbs knows this, but this trade and signing, should it go through, is reminiscent of something Gibbs did in the old days, which was to stockpile guys he might not really need. The cap doesn't let you do that anymore. But you know who will regret Brunell-to-Washington the most? The thumb-twiddling Dolphins, and the Cowboys.

4. I think I keep wondering if the Patriots, who have the most picks in April's draft (Nos. 21, 32, 57 and 64), will try to package a pair in order to move up for someone like Larry Fitzgerald. More likely, New England will trade the 57th overall plus maybe a fifth-rounder for someone's 2005 first-rounder.

5. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. Those Sopranos ads sure look alluring. The season opener is four weeks from last night.

b. While we wait, Curb Your Enthusiasm rules. Only one unrealistic thing from this week's show: If you're even a medium-sized big wheel, which Larry David is, you'll always be able to find a Dodgers ticket, even to the big games.

c. Montclair (N.J.) High School Mock Trial Note of the Week: Suspenseful match last Tuesday night against town rival Montclair Kimberly Academy at the Essex County Courthouse. For those of you not into the mock trial scene (it is fun and highly competitive), schools field teams made up of students acting as defense lawyers, prosecutors, defendants and witnesses. They study the same cases, then appear before a judge (usually a volunteer lawyer doing pro bono work, which is no relation to Sonny Bono work) to contest the case. Montclair senior witness Mary Beth King is a cop this year. She found a custodian's body in a school principal's office and testifies as an expert witness in how the murder was solved. Our heroes and heroines fell in a very tight competition.

d. I mentioned how much I liked "Clocks," about four months ago in this space. And last night, it upset the field to win Song of the Year at the Grammys. "I love that song," said Beyonce. "That song is pure genius." I just wish I could predict games as well as I can predict great songs.

e. Coffeenerdness: Get ready to see me every Monday morning during offseason at 5:30 a.m. at the Upper Montclair Starbucks. I've got the Monday Morning Quarterback fire drill to handle.

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6. I think, as I told you on Inside the NFL over the weekend, that the Patriots' first order of business was to try to pare down the contract due running back Antowain Smith, a significant but not vital cog in the team. Put simply, like Lawyer Milloy, Smith made too much money and was not one of the team's must-keep players ... unless he was willing to do major surgery on his contract. He had a $500,000 option bonus due Sunday, then was to make $105,000 in a workout bonus and a $2.4 million salary. His cap number would have been $3.9 million. I figured the Patriots would work harder to keep other guys, such as free-agents Ted Washington and Bobby Hamilton. Now they'll grab a running back with one of their high draft picks. My only prediction: The new Pat won't be Clarett.

7. I think this stat is amazing: The Patriots' margin of victory during their six-game playoff winning streak: 3, 7, 3, 3, 10, 3.

8. I think I'll miss Sundays at 1 o'clock. This sure was a fun season.

9. I think the NFL sounds awful confident about winning a court case that I'm not sure is defensible, even with the NFLPA's support.

10. I think if you want a cornerback, this is going to be the offseason to get one. Shawn Springs, Chris McAllister, Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor ... I say Indy and Minnesota pick up two of those four.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space every week.