It’s supposed to be the ultimate compliment.
GOAT.
Greatest of All Time.
Yet, somehow it doesn’t come even close to doing Tom Brady justice anymore.
Not after what he did Sunday evening in Tampa Bay, leading the Buccaneers to the dominant, never-really-a-game, 31-9 win over Kansas City in Super Bowl LV.
In upsetting supposed budding GOAT Patrick Mahomes and the supposed budding dynasty of the defending champion Chiefs Brady continued to rewrite history in a way that would make a Disney movie writer blush. Talk about suspension of disbelief.
Brady won his seventh Super Bowl in his 10th trip. He snared his fifth Super Bowl MVP award. It would normally be worth noting those are all records, but the world already knows that because the only records that Brady breaks these days when it comes to winning and Super Bowls are his own.
In his first season in Tampa Bay he took over a franchise with the worst winning percentage in sports history and took it to a title. Unlike his dominant days in Foxborough as a top seed on the way to playoff glory, Brady and the Bucs rode literally the road less traveled as a Wild Card squad this winter. After dispatching The Football Team in Washington the trek included ending Drew Brees’ Hall of Fame career in New Orleans and ensuring that perpetually underachieving Aaron Rodgers and the Packers went home losers in yet another postseason failure in Green Bay.
Brees, Rodgers and Mahomes. Three future Hall of Fame, Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks. Three losers left in Brady’s winning wake.
In its home of Raymond James Stadium for the Super Bowl a talented Bucs roster secured the Lombardi Trophy because, as coach Bruce Arians describes it, Brady showed the team how to win.
But let’s be clear, at the incredible age of 43, Brady was not just a caretaker, game manager or mentor in Tampa.
In securing the Super Bowl MVP award yet again, Brady completed 21 of 29 passes for 201 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions against the Chiefs for a 125.8 passer rating, highest in his 10 trips to the biggest game in all of sports.
Sure, Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones and the Tampa Bay line were a key factor churning out 29 rushes for 147 yards on the ground. And not enough good things can or will be said about defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and what the Bucs defense did to Mahomes and an unstoppable offense that never actually reached the end zone.
But this was Brady’s show. Brady’s new team. Brady’s latest Super Bowl glory.
Brady’s crowning accomplishment, at least for now.
Because as he approaches his 44th birthday and his 22nd NFL season TB12 made it quite clear that he’s not done even though there is really nothing more for him to accomplish.
Brady has beaten every opponent the football world has to offer. (Zip it, Eli Manning and Giants fans!)
He’s beaten Father Time.
He’s moved on to win without Bill Belichick and the Patriots system that some erroneously and idiotically thought created him.
Now Brady’s just competing with himself and his own insatiable thirst for newfound winning and greatness.
And as unfortunate as it may be for Patriots fans who had to cheer on their guy from afar, Brady appears happier, more content and more appreciated than ever in Tampa. He’s seemingly found a work/life balance that suits him and his family in a way that just wasn’t evident or maybe possible over his final few years in New England.
He shows no signs of slowing down and his accomplishments have risen beyond what had previously been suitable ways to describe past greatness.
GOAT was first used in regards to the uniqueness of Muhammad Ali.
But in more modern times it’s a description tossed around like candy from a Fourth of July parade float. The cheap candy, not the stuff that the kids really want.
Michael Jordan was worthy in his time, sure. But LeBron? Kobe?
Joe Montana’s perfect Super Bowl resume earned him some deserved GOAT love. But Peyton Manning, Brees, Rodgers and their collection of a mere four combined Super Bowl rings?
C’mon man!
GOAT is an overused cliché, while Brady is an unmatched reality.
GOAT implies a comparison, while Brady is beyond compare.
From now on, Babe Ruth was the Tom Brady of baseball.
Air Jordan was the TB12 of basketball.
Brady’s greatness is the sports version of infinity-plus-one.
You’re going to hear the debate early and often this week -- Is Tom Brady the GOAT of team sports, of winners?
Nope.
He’s much more than that.
And, incredibly, as we continued to learn on Sunday night in Super Bowl LV he’s clearly not done yet.