In two weeks, Tom Brady is going to be playing in his 10th Super Bowl.
Yes, in 20 seasons as a starting NFL quarterback he’s reached the Super Bowl in exactly half of them. Of the 55 times the game has been played, Brady has been on the field for 18% of them. His 10 starts are double the next closest quarterback (John Elway, 5). And in only one season in the NFC, he has the same number of NFC titles as Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees.
It’s simply remarkable.
No longer is there a debate of Brady being the GOAT in football, it’s him potentially being the greatest winner in the history of sports.
All the guy does is win.
It’s very unlikely a player in this generation will ever be able to accomplish what Brady is doing and that’s something that needs to be appreciated.
These next few weeks should be about Brady and Brady alone.
A major topic, especially in these parts, for the entire Buccaneers playoff run has been Brady vs. Bill Belichick and how the quarterback has “won" following how things ended in New England. Of course, Brady had the better 2020 season by making it to the Super Bowl and the Patriots finishing 7-9, along with getting some of the worst quarterback play in the league. But, this doesn’t definitively mean Brady is more important than Belichick and the Patriots’ decision to move on from him should be compared to the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth.
When Brady ultimately signed with Tampa Bay, many said it would take multiple years to evaluate the decision, and nothing has changed when it comes to that.
Regardless of what you believe, this isn’t the time to be worrying about it and even debating it. It’s the time to really appreciate what Brady is doing and look at the Super Bowl matchup for what is — Brady’s Bucs against Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs, which should be another classic between the two quarterbacks.
In four career matchups, each QB has won two games, all games have been decided by seven points or less, and Mahomes’ teams have scored 121 points compared to Brady’s teams scoring 120 points.
This has the potential to be one of the best Super Bowls in years and yet it seems some in New England would rather spend the time voicing how bad Belichick and the Patriots look with Brady’s success in Tampa Bay and them missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
There will be a time — years from now — to analyze how things went down with more information becoming available, including how both ultimately finish their careers. These next few weeks should be about Brady in the here and the now.
Brady has a chance to prove he’s still at the top of the quarterback group and not ready to pass the torch to Mahomes and some of the other young studs the league currently has at the position. At age 43, he has the chance to defeat Brees, Rodgers and Mahomes in the same postseason. And lastly, he has an opportunity to go from the franchise he spent 20 years with to a brand-new organization that hadn’t won a playoff game in 17 seasons and winning a Super Bowl.
Simply mind-boggling stuff.
The quarterback is among the most motivated and driven players ever to play the sport. When he takes the field next Sunday night in his home stadium against the Chiefs, will any of his thoughts be towards Belichick and the Patriots relating to how things went down last offseason? When he’s grinding in the film room these next few days will he be wondering why he’s not still doing this with the Patriots?
Absolutely not.
If Brady isn’t worrying about it now, why should anyone else?
By spending so much time noting Brady’s success this season compared to the lack there of from the Patriots, there’s the chance of missing out on appreciating just how spectacular the run Brady is on actually is.
Save the Brady vs. Belichick debates for another time, right now it’s about soaking in and acknowledging just how spectacular Brady’s career truly is.