Hypothetical: If Moore said no, then what?

Good post.

I'll add that it is likely, imo, that the reason that Brady dropped out was due to sharing an agent with Moore. I believe the agent was aware of the Saints heavy interest in Moore and recommended that Brady should drop out as he was unlikely to beat out Moore. Again this is opinion based on at least a modicum of logic and a small amout of ear-to-the-ground.

It has probably been between Moore and Glenn right from the start regardless of media and/or fan prognostications.
Based on articles and posts here you would've thought Brady was clearly the favorite over Moore. He dropped out before the AFC title game so we didn't have that bad performance to consider. So you might be right that Moore was the favorite all along and we lucked out that his team is still playing and Brady's isn't.