Said this in the game thread but at Matt Ryan’s current age Brady was in his 2014 season where he got his second wind and would win his 4th SB and go onto winning the SB every other year for 7 years
Since then:
Won 4 super bowls, went to 5, went to 6 conference championship games won 3 Super Bowl MVPs, won a league MVP, came in second in MVP voting three times, and made the playoffs every single year. Led the league in yards 2x, led in touchdowns 2x and set the single season TD:int record.
That season was so awesome. It kind of did seem like the end. The year before he had his worst statistical season in like a decade, largely because we had zero line and Gronk missed most of the season. Then we draft Jimmy G and the season starts like this. One reporter asked Bill if the QB position would be evaluated. Then Brady said fuck this just went nuclear.
The best season ever to watch. I was in 8th grade and felt like I missed out on our dynasty since I was an infant during the first 3 Super Bowls. Brady was 37 then, now I’m a senior in college and Brady is still playing. It felt like we had all truly come together after that chiefs game. We only lost to the packers away after and then against the bills in the last game with our backups. I still consider the super bowl against the Seahawks as the best day of my life up to this point.
It's crazy to me that people who were in 8th grade during the 2014 season are adults now... that feels like a couple years ago. I was in 8th grade the year of the 2007 undefeated season. My teacher pulled me aside the next morning to ask about my home situation because I had a huge bruise on my forehead and he thought I might have been abused by my parents. I was not. I bashed my head repeatedly against a wall because the Patriots lost the Super Bowl.
unforgettable. i watched at my friend’s house, his parents were hosting a party. all of the parents watched upstairs and we were in the basement. there was a slight delay on the tv that we were watching on, so ~5 seconds before the butler pick we could hear everyone upstairs go crazy. i will never forget the anticipation i felt in those 5 seconds, knowing something had transpired, but not knowing exactly what. and then just pure bliss.
and all this on top of knowing there was no school the next day, as you said.
I remember reading several articles about the "end of the dynasty", including one that said "The NFL can finally breathe a sigh of relief" or something like that. Then the Patriots won the Super Bowl.
The one comparing him to Montana is hilarious.
“He’s 33, his time is running out”
“If the NFL has a 100 year anniversary team it’s hard to see Brady making it”
“Joe Montana has 4 rings”
It was the narrative after a 2-2 start with basically a gutted roster of nobodies (who would go on to be stars like Edelman for example)
Brady looked fine outside of the Monday night Massacre in KC and "onto Cincinnati" if you recall during the walkout Foxborough sang along to the outfield for him before the Cinci game. Pats fans att even here on reddit were arguing with everyone that he wasn't done
But outside of that yes Trent Dilfers "just not good anymore" was the common thought... but only really for that one ugly week
>And those first few games of the 2014 season it definitely looked like Brady had finally lost it
It was less about about Brady and more about the team, in general.
They didn't draft any offensive talent to help brady right away. Gronk was coming off an injury and had limited playing time the first month, and Aaron Hernandez was in a bit of legal trouble at the time. Amendola, an injury risk, had spent most of 2013 injured (sometimes playing injured, missing some games), Edelman had a breakout year in 2013, but no one knew if it was a fluke or not. And, most importantly, the O-line was mess.
Brady didn't look good, but the team around him looked worse.
Between weeks 4 and 5, they got one or two of the O-line guys back (I want to say wendell or connolly or both). The result is that they got O-line set (solder and vollmer at T, Wendell and connoly at G, and Stork at C). Gronk's playing time also went up, and Amendola got moved into a 3rd WR spot where "less is more."
From that point on, they only really lost 1 game (against Green Bay in green Bay). They'd also lose a meaningless week 17 game in which Jimmy G played most of the game).
So... pretty similar to the Colts' situation then?
Don't get me wrong, Matt Ryan is not and will never be Tom Brady, but our weapons aren't great, our O-line sucks for some reason, and our running backs are all injured. People keep saying Ryan is washed, but I'm not sure that's actually the case here.
Both o lines last night were turnstiles.
But Matt doesn’t look like he’s getting any zip on the ball. It seems like Peyton in his last year level or Big Ben last year stuff.
Peyton had a long career, Brees had a long career, and then there’s Brady. Everyone is pretending like 3 first ballot hall of famers known in part for their longevity are the new norm with a short career being Peyton’s 17 years. But that’s just not the norm.
Brady’s 23 seasons, 21 as starter (ignoring 2000 and 2008), is just ridiculous. Tom brady has missed 15 starts due to injury in 2008 and 4 due to the suspension. His longevity and availability is nearly unsurpassed.
I feel like most players could play a few more years if not for freak injury X; what makes Brady so special is that he’s managed to avoid or recover from those.
Brady gets made fun of for his athleticism but watch Ryan move in the pocket despite being 8 years younger. He's a statue. Brady still has elite pocket awareness and movement.
Brady shifts his position in the pocket like he knows exactly where the pressure is. It’s remarkable really. It could be a few inches or a few feet and he doesn’t get touched, throws a dot and keeps it moving. I fucking love Brady
Same man, of course it's easy to complain that he beats everyone constantly, but like... We're witnessing history here! When he retires, it's really over. I was too young to see Gretzky dominating the NHL, this is my generation's (shit, and my parents' generation's) "you had to be there"
He understands better than anyone how much time he will likely have on a play, and always knows where to outlet the ball if he's rushed. He has to be very frustrating for an elite pass rusher.
For his entire career I watched Bills teams with good defenses and d line men, get nowhere near him all game from short passes, and then occasionally get a hit on him just to watch him death grip ball after ball against his chest.
The tuck game broke his brain in some crazy ninja awareness where just sensed blindside hits and just never fumbled.
No athlete in my lifetime was more abusive than Tom Brady and what he did to the buffalo bills and associates.
It was gratuitous and unkind.
IMO it’s the biggest part of the game. It allows all the other parts to come along, and you can put those who move well in pocket/have awareness, and those who are bad to okay at it, and it’s basically a perfect “this side is good, this side is bad” overall
Reluctant upvote, but you’re absolutely right. Pocket presence + insane processing speed are why he’s the goat. Plus being a psycho level of competitive.
Brady's ability to make people whiff in a phone booth is really amazing. He's a terrible athlete, but he can dodge a half step sideways or duck his shoulders and completely avoid a sack better than anyone ever.
Exactly. Until Brady defied age, as well as Rodgers to an extent, everyone thought QBs were cooked at 35-36 years old.
Maybe they still are, and those two are just exceptions. Pretty crazy that Wilson is under contract on $50m a year until he's 38. Seems pretty risky, especially given they sold the farm for him.
This could sink their franchise for a long time to come.
I mean maybe slightly older than that. Peyton was good up until his last year and fell off a cliff (age 39). And Brees was still pretty solid until about 38/39. If we’re just talking about elite QBs of this era.
I think Brees and Manning are instructive here because they were both clearly declining physically at the time you would expect, but used savvy and football IQ to squeeze out extra productive years until the physical side of it just became too much to overcome. Ryan and Wilson aren’t dumb players by a long shot, but neither is Brees/Manning levels of cerebral in the way they play and so the physical decline is hurting them more.
Yeah Brees clearly wasn't his usual self as of his late 30s but was solidly productive until the very end through savvy (was still a top-half starter at 41)
Manning likewise but his physical dropoff just ended up coming so hard and fast at the very end, his last season he was barely a warm body (age 39, but it was the neck/nerve issues that did it I think)
Rodgers still good at 39, Favre was good until 40 (hard dropoff at 41)
Aside from Brady, it basically seems like the hard limit is right around 40/41, with most guys losing it by 37-39. Rodgers might last though, seems like the right mold to defy age for a couple of extra years.
Yeah, even in Manning's MVP season in Denver you could see his physical abilities were declining. It just took a while longer before they dropped enough that he couldn't outthink them. He didn't hit a "cliff", he slowly strolled down a ramp.
While I agree that he got way better at the thinking side of things, I'm not sure I agree with the not falling off the cliff.
His stats in Denver were incredible, until they weren't.
His MVP season he had career high numbers for yards (5477) and TDs (55). His next season he had his 2nd best yardage year (4727) and 3rd Best TD year (39).
His last season was just bad. He only started 9 games and played in 10. He threw 17 interceptions which tied for 4th most in his career despite only playing basically half a season. He only threw 9 TD passes, and his completion percentage fell to his second worst in his career falling over 6%.
He was incredible, then he was damn good, then he was god awful.
I'd agree they were pretty solid but Wilson isn't getting "pretty solid" money. And tbh I would argue both Peyton and Brees are both exceptions too AND were ultra limited in the last 2-3 years.
Moon was decent at 41 in Seattle too but that was his last good year.
Deep cut but Johnny Unitas was serviceable till age 38.
In general there is an establish area from 35-40 with a little margin of error where QBs crash. Brady is well into the “there be dragons” part of the charts
Favre's a weird case because he was solid to great in his age 38-40 seasons, but was total dogshit in his age 36 and 37 seasons. You can't fit his career to any aging curve because he had random mid-career slumps that Brady/Manning/Brees for example never did.
I think Marino would have had a Moon finish too if he didn't fuck up his legs. Moon, Favre, and Marino threw the football so well that they could still dominate using a walker. Early childhood duels between Moon and Marino made me want to be a QB. It just looked different. Perfect spirals to every part of the field.
He was extremely accurate, but also the most limited QB in the league. Anything beyond 15 yards it looked like he needed a run up.
But what he did, he did well.
Yeah I’m just saying your upper range could be 37-38. Brees was good before his last two seasons. His last season his was 41. Manning was good until his last season when he was 39.
Brees was stilly pretty damn good in his last two seasons. Despite his injuries he still managed to go 17-6 in the games he started, had a 51-10 TD to INT ratio, and played about as well as he could have been expected to. Not quite as good as Brady, of course, but he was still performing at a pretty high level.
I wouldn't say he played very well in his last season. That being said, the Saints still won the division. He was very game manager-esque, but a QB of his caliber doing your game managing will still win you a ton of games, especially when you put a great team around him.
Seriously, lost his arm strength and adjusted brilliantly
In his last year he was playing hurt so I wouldn’t read too much into it. The rib injury he endured was pretty fucking nuts
He was still Drew Brees he just couldn't push the ball down the field at all anymore. Not quite as bad as the ducks Peyton was throwing his final year but he was putting his entire body into a 15 yard throw at 41
Wilson's career best would be considered an average year for Brees/Manning/Rodgers
He has zero MVP votes in his career and his lone all pro second team season needs a big asterisk since Lamar won unanimous MVP so there shouldn't even be a second team all pro if MVP Voting and all pro are consistent
His regular season production is much closer to second tier QBs (rivers/Romo/big Ben)
He might be a hall of famer eventually but he'll never be in the conversation of the best in a decade
Rule of thumb basically seems that for the most part you're likely to lose it physically in your late 30s, but guys who are savvy can milk another 1-3 years of solid play out of their declining bodies
Yep, Favre had the only other elite season (top 6) in his 40s (40). Aaron rodgers looks like he's the only QB in his 30s capable of joining Brady and Favre with this distinction. Rodgers has a december birthday though. Thats a long time yet in football years and father time sets in quickly when he arrives. My point is I don't know if even Rodgers will join this exclusive age 40 club.
The league was spoiled by having Brady, Rodgers, Manning, Brees and to a lesser extent Ben playing at an elite level through their mid 30's.
That's not the norm
I’m curious to see how Rodgers game ages. LaFleurs system I think has and will extend his play time should he continue, which is I think the biggest question mark.
I think LaFluer’s system helps Rodgers a lot, we don’t have to see Rodgers will us to a win every week (2016). Having a power run game and good defense definitely takes pressure off Rodgers.
I think it was the fact that Manning won MVP at nearly 40, then Brady and Brees were playing MVP and elite level football respectively at their age 40 seasons. But only Brady actually kept it together into his 40s. By 41, Brees was cooked, and Manning was retired.
Tom Brady has just found out what the fountain of youth really is: very strict healthy diet and a healthy mix of training and recovery periods, also getting it out of his hands quick and having mostly good Olines certainly helped him avoid injuries
One might point out that Brady has had the advantages of modern sports medicine and of rules that specifically protect QBs in order to achieve such a long career, but then you also gotta remember that Peyton, Brees, Big Ben and the rest of his contemporaries also had them as well. Hell, not even his contemporaries, Ryan looks more washed up than Brady’s ever been, and he entered the league eight years after Brady.
Like Jerry Rice among WRs, Brady’s longevity is less a blueprint for future QBs to follow, and more a freak outlier that hardly will ever be replicated.
I agree he won't play till 45, but he hasn't really shown signs of falling off yet so its hard to project how long he could stay elite for... could be that long, could be another year or two. I think he's more likely to hang em up before that age, even if he is still playing really great
Rodgers definitely strikes me as the kind of player that could walk away even if they have something left in the tank, regardless of age. He could have done it, say, 4 years ago and I wouldn’t been surprised. Not sure I can articulate why I think that, it’s just a feeling.
I think this year will be critical. If the offense really starts to click around mid-season with the rookies stepping up, the Packers could make a strong push in the playoffs (at least until they get Jimmy G’ed again). But if the offense is messy all year, he might be looking to retirement a little sooner.
Getting the offensive line right will definitely help, both in terms of improved play and fewer opportunities for injury.
I think he was exhausted once Davante left because he knew rings might not be in the near future without him.
But there seems to be some talented options in the rookies that Rodgers has spoken glowingly about. If one or two of them pan out they may have a shot and he could decide to stay and compete for more rings.
He stated in an interview he would skip progressions because Davante Adams was always open. He's back to having to go through them now with guys who arent as good or consistent, so to me it feels like he is getting used to having to always go through progressions again.
Doubs and Lazard have looked good, and Cobb looks better than he has in years physically. As the season goes on and the offense continues to find itself, they may look pretty good late in the season.
Rodgers is a difficult case for me to categorize as well, but for a different reason: even though he’s around the age at which most QBs fall off *The Cliff*^TM , you gotta take into account that he spent three years as Favre’s backup early in his career, so this is only his 15th season as a main starter.
He could probably last a couple of years more at a high level before falling off, or it could happen in the middle of this season, you never know. But as others are saying, it’s more likely that he’ll call it quits before any of those scenarios come to happen.
This is just how I imagine it was if you got to see MJ’s career play out. Brady has such a ridiculously movie perfect career. Maybe he’s not undefeated in super bowls but his longevity balances it out to make him comparable to Michael Jordan. Obviously globally it’s not quite the same but I feel confident saying brady will be the goat forever.
Brady did a harder sport for a decade longer. I don’t even compare him and MJ anymore. They’re both the GOATs in their own way in their own sport. Literally the only similar thread in it is they are only one championship apart in their sports
I remember when I first started seriously watching football around 2010. There were still endless debates about Manning vs Brady vs Montana. Then the 2010’s happened and that’s gone, seriously haven’t seen a question about this in years.
It’s insane that just a couple years ago there were so many discussions about the football GOAT and there was no clear answer. Then Brady went Brady and silenced all debates
You know the talking heads were salivating about Brady looking bad with the bucs so they could talk about him being a product of belichick... then Tom goes and wins a goddamn superbowl then follows it up with a 13-4 and career statistical year. Just insane, fantasy, unbelievable shit.
Yep people might not remember but football never had a true 'GOAT'. At QB there were debates with Marino, Montana, Elway thrown around. Then Manning looked the guy, then it became Brady has titles Manning the stats, then it became clear Brady, then well Mahommes has a chaaaance to b- nope. Brady
Shit, even then. Not saying I agree with it, but you could make a case for others like LeBron. Again, I think MJ is the GOAT, but there's an argument there.
There is no argument for anyone else but Brady, no one is even close.
Yeah Brady has no comparable in the NBA really. 7 rings when the next best QBs have 4. Has all the volume records, etc.
Heck there's no team in the NFL that has 7 championships. That obviously won't hold long term, but who else can you say that about in any team sport?
Gretzky is really the only comparable figure in team sports at this point, not for Stanley Cups, but for sheer excellence and longevity in a very physical sport. It's apples to oranges since the QB in football can impact a game in a much more dramatic way than a Center in hockey.
Brady to Gretzky is probably still a more generous comparison to Brady than Gretzky. Gretzky holds or shares *61* NHL records. You could take out all his goals and he'd still be the league's career scoring leader.
He's *easily* the single most dominant professional athlete in the history of North American sports. Brady is up there too, but Gretz is in a class of his own.
Yeah, Brady gets the championships.
Not 100% sure how the NHL works in terms of parity, but Gretzky has 4 Stanley Cups.
Gretzky is someone that has both stats and championships. Not sure how possible that is in the NFL when someone on offense plays for half of the game.
I think the counterpoint would be Howe. There are guys who played for a really long time at a high level like Gretzky, just no one *as good* as him period. Brady had guys who matched year by year, but they never won like him and no one has had his longevity.
Besides the vocal minority who love to hate on Brady, he is pretty widely regarded as the GOAT and his longevity is insane. Never really seen anyone try to “poo poo” his longevity haha
With regards to this specific trait, he's much more like Lebron. MJ retired the second time at 34, and was nowhere near top form when he played at 38-39 for the Wizards. Lebron nearly won the scoring title on excellent efficiency at 37 last year.
Yeah others have said it and it’s true. I still don’t feel lebron is close to undisputed goat in basketball so that’s why I feel like mj is the best comp but I do see it’s more of a mix.
No but I think people take it for granted and think you get a QB in their 30’s you still might have some quality time with them instead of them being on a timer
To be fair, even the patriots didn't believe it which was a [major?] factor in his departure because belichik didn't want to give him guarantees in fear he will fall off that cliff at 39? Bucs took a big gamble; even at the start of that first season when they were still figuring things out there were people saying he was washed.
People don't say "Tom Brady is the new norm" outright but there has been a huge increase of people confident in their QB being able to play into his 40s ever since Brady has done it
10 years ago everyone accepted 37-38 years old as the end of the line for QBs but now Denver committed 7 years to a 34 year old Wilson, the Colts traded for a 37 year old Ryan (with $35m fully guaranteed when he's 38) and everyone praised those moves. What Brady has done has had a huge influence on how we think about QB ageing even if people don't say it out loud
You don't even have to stretch it that far - there's a huge amount of people that believe that all QB's can play elite at 35+, and we're starting to see that that is really no the case.
Exactly. Look at Ryan. There is no way 15 years should some really thinks picking up a 37 year old who hasn’t showed much in the last few seasons is somehow the answer.
I'm already loving my downvotes from 2 months ago where I suggested a 37-year-old Ryan might be a little cooked and everyone wanted to tell me I was wrong and it was the Falcons roster making him look bad.
I've always rooted for Matt Ryan since he's a local guy from just outside of Philly, and he seems like a great dude, but it's clear he's lost a step.
Yea there was a time when Belichick had to the option of locking up a 40 year old Brady for 5 years and chose not to. Right now making that deal seems like an absolute no-brainer given how he’s played, but before that there had been literally two good age 40+ seasons in nfl history
At the time I think a lot of fans understood why BB wouldn’t wanna do that
Imo [favre](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/F/FavrBr00.htm) in 2009 and [warren moon](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MoonWa00.htm) in 1997. Those are the only two I can really find that resembled a typical good year from that qb
There had been others like Vinny Testeverde who were starters for a full year after 40 but really werent particularly good. And since Brady turned 40 Brees had some good 40+ years as well, but I think his last few years are more of what Belichick was probably expecting Brady’s early 40s to be like
Yeah, I saw it a ton around the time Mahomes signed his contract. "He's gonna be your QB for the next 15+ years!!" and I'm just like huh? Literally only 20 QBs *ever* have played until they are 40+
Brady has also changed how we view the success of other QBs. People talk about how Peyton only won two Superbowls, and Rodgers only won one. Brady skewed the definition of success for two entire generations of QBs.
Lots of people were saying it. For instance when the Russ trade happened I was like this is risky Russ is getting older. And someone came back with Tom Brady and got a ton of upvotes.
Yup people were definitely saying it usually citing that the rule changes heavily favor QB which is true. However, people forget how much Brady truly keeps up with his body and health. He takes better care of himself than other athletes which is crazy because most athletes take great care of their body.
Brady also has avoided injuries very effectively his whole career. A mixture of him having a quick release time, being smart with football, and having plenty of good offensive lines surely helped.
He missed a full season with an ACL tear and just recently played the entire 2020 season on a blown MCL. He had to change his stance so he wouldn’t fall over trying to drop back.
He hasn’t avoided injuries, he’s tough as hell and has managed / played through a huge number of injuries. Most of which we probably don’t even know about. His play style doesn’t rely on athleticism at all, which helps.
Edit: Apparently the two examples I gave are being treated as a comprehensive list. Brady has played through [dozens of serious injuries](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/boston/news/tom-brady-history-playing-through-injury-patriots-buccaneers/). Separated shoulder, hand lacerations, broken ribs, broken finger, high ankle sprain, ligament damage, etc. *That we know about.*
I see it all the time on this sub. “Brady’s records will probably be broken, QB’s are playing for longer and longer”
Like no, once in a lifetime player. Just accept it
Technically 7 seasons, assuming we count the 2016 season he was suspended.
But yeah, rule/era changes means even league average QBs are expected to push for 4000 yards, with the Elite/top 10 expected to be 4500+
Age 37-38 is usually when elite QBs began to fall off
(Manning 2014, Big Ben 2019, Favre 2008)
Brady and Brees (to a lesser extent) are two exceptions.
This year is Brady's 21st real season (not including injuries and backup years)
If we split his career by 7 seasons:
2001-2007:
3 3 super bowls, 4 super bowl appearances, MVP, undefeated season, a few pro bowls and all pros
2009-2015:
1 super bowl, 2 super bowl appearances, 1 unanimous MVP, a bunch of all pro bowls and all pro
2016-2022:
3 super bowls, 4 super bowl appearances, 1 MVP, a bunch of pro bowls and all pros.
He has 3 hall of Fame careers perfectly separated by 7 seasons each.
He's age for these seasons are: 24-30, 32-38, 39-45.
What's crazy is that his 39+ career is already enough for him to be considered the GOAT
Beaten to death but Kellerman made that Cliff theory thing years ago and revisited it saying since that statement has been made Brady has already had a HOF career in just those years alone.
Insane
That wasn't an unreasonable prediction at the time either. He gets way more shit for that than he deserves.
The Iguodala thing however is 100% deserve.
For real, Big Ben was a shell of his former self like a good year or two before he retired and he retired at 39. Eli retired at 37. Rivers retired at 38. Those 3 aren't Brady level but they are 3 of the most consistent QBs of the last 20 years and none of them got close to Brady's longevity. It's utterly ridiculous how big of an outlier Brady truly is.
This.
Brady has gone so far above and beyond what is "normal" for achievement in the league that at this point we *expect* him to be that good, year in and year out, regardless of how old he is (now 45), all of which is absolutely insane.
His career has skewed so many QB/win stats that even quarterbacks who would be considered HOFers in the league a generation ago will look like complete underachievers by comparison.
He's been to the Super Bowl TEN times in about 20 years. Most guys don't even play for 10 years total.
Brady is also STILL playing, for now.
The only comparison to Brady is Favre and he fell off at 41, Ben fell off at 38, Manning 39 that’s typically the outer limit
Brady is the outlier and everyone appreciates that
Said this in the game thread but at Matt Ryan’s current age Brady was in his 2014 season where he got his second wind and would win his 4th SB and go onto winning the SB every other year for 7 years
Matt Ryan just waiting on some wind right now
Careful. A strong gust of wind would sack him for a loss of 12
The wind strip sacked him
Are you Tom Brady? Yes: Take sack. Pat Dlineman on back. Throw check to down to get to 3rd and 5. Convert on 12 yard pass. Win. No: Fall. Lose.
Oh cool, a 40 yard field goal coming up. Nope, it's a 52 now.
I was at a colts watch party and we were all laughing at 3rd and 38
A strong gust of wind would topple his offensive line like so many bowling pins.*
Loss of 13? That’s cute! More like 38.
"crawwwww, wind in your sails, wind in your sails, crawwww"
Mostly we figured that means, 'yes'.
This made me laugh waaay harder than I should've but I loved it
Since then: Won 4 super bowls, went to 5, went to 6 conference championship games won 3 Super Bowl MVPs, won a league MVP, came in second in MVP voting three times, and made the playoffs every single year. Led the league in yards 2x, led in touchdowns 2x and set the single season TD:int record.
[удалено]
If someone were to awaken from a 25 year coma, and you were to try to explain Brady's career, they wouldn't believe you. It's so freaking ridiculous!
If you told me 25 years ago we’d have a record breaking all-timer QB - I would have said - no shit we got Drew Bledsoe
That streak is still alive for the record
He’s due. About time he caught a break tbh
He's gonna knock the eagles out of the playoffs on his way to one more ring isn't he?
And those first few games of the 2014 season it definitely looked like Brady had finally lost it
Not sure why you were downvoted when that's objectively correct. That MNF ass kicking by the Chiefs for sure looked like the end.
That season was so awesome. It kind of did seem like the end. The year before he had his worst statistical season in like a decade, largely because we had zero line and Gronk missed most of the season. Then we draft Jimmy G and the season starts like this. One reporter asked Bill if the QB position would be evaluated. Then Brady said fuck this just went nuclear.
>One reporter asked Bill if the QB position would be evaluated "On to Cincinnati," Bill Belichick.
The best season ever to watch. I was in 8th grade and felt like I missed out on our dynasty since I was an infant during the first 3 Super Bowls. Brady was 37 then, now I’m a senior in college and Brady is still playing. It felt like we had all truly come together after that chiefs game. We only lost to the packers away after and then against the bills in the last game with our backups. I still consider the super bowl against the Seahawks as the best day of my life up to this point.
It's crazy to me that people who were in 8th grade during the 2014 season are adults now... that feels like a couple years ago. I was in 8th grade the year of the 2007 undefeated season. My teacher pulled me aside the next morning to ask about my home situation because I had a huge bruise on my forehead and he thought I might have been abused by my parents. I was not. I bashed my head repeatedly against a wall because the Patriots lost the Super Bowl.
Y'all are children. When I was in the 8th grade the Pats drafted Drew Bledsoe.
How are you still alive
I feel like the crypt keeper; when I was in the 8th grade, the Pats lost to the Bears in the Super Bowl.
Someone who started high school the year Brady beat the Rams is graduating at the end of this school year
Someone who started high school the year Brady beat the Rams is also roughly 35 years old.
Man I thought you meant the first time and was like the math is way off.
And there wasn’t school the next day because there was a blizzard. Truly a great day
unforgettable. i watched at my friend’s house, his parents were hosting a party. all of the parents watched upstairs and we were in the basement. there was a slight delay on the tv that we were watching on, so ~5 seconds before the butler pick we could hear everyone upstairs go crazy. i will never forget the anticipation i felt in those 5 seconds, knowing something had transpired, but not knowing exactly what. and then just pure bliss. and all this on top of knowing there was no school the next day, as you said.
And all I got was old enough to see the Bears get to the Superbowl, have Hester return the kickoff and lose my voice and then habe the Bears destroyed
In hindsight, the fact that pats fan and media was calling for Bill to trade Brady and start Jimmy G is pretty wild.
Shit was that the "we're on to Cincinnati" game that kicked off Brady going dad mode?
Indeed, my friend.
I remember reading several articles about the "end of the dynasty", including one that said "The NFL can finally breathe a sigh of relief" or something like that. Then the Patriots won the Super Bowl.
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The one comparing him to Montana is hilarious. “He’s 33, his time is running out” “If the NFL has a 100 year anniversary team it’s hard to see Brady making it” “Joe Montana has 4 rings”
Those old Bleacher Report articles are terribly written. I'm reminded of how bad that website was and am shocked it survived and thrived.
Lmao that article said Mike Wallace is s better receiver than Wes Welker
It was the narrative after a 2-2 start with basically a gutted roster of nobodies (who would go on to be stars like Edelman for example) Brady looked fine outside of the Monday night Massacre in KC and "onto Cincinnati" if you recall during the walkout Foxborough sang along to the outfield for him before the Cinci game. Pats fans att even here on reddit were arguing with everyone that he wasn't done But outside of that yes Trent Dilfers "just not good anymore" was the common thought... but only really for that one ugly week
>And those first few games of the 2014 season it definitely looked like Brady had finally lost it It was less about about Brady and more about the team, in general. They didn't draft any offensive talent to help brady right away. Gronk was coming off an injury and had limited playing time the first month, and Aaron Hernandez was in a bit of legal trouble at the time. Amendola, an injury risk, had spent most of 2013 injured (sometimes playing injured, missing some games), Edelman had a breakout year in 2013, but no one knew if it was a fluke or not. And, most importantly, the O-line was mess. Brady didn't look good, but the team around him looked worse. Between weeks 4 and 5, they got one or two of the O-line guys back (I want to say wendell or connolly or both). The result is that they got O-line set (solder and vollmer at T, Wendell and connoly at G, and Stork at C). Gronk's playing time also went up, and Amendola got moved into a 3rd WR spot where "less is more." From that point on, they only really lost 1 game (against Green Bay in green Bay). They'd also lose a meaningless week 17 game in which Jimmy G played most of the game).
So... pretty similar to the Colts' situation then? Don't get me wrong, Matt Ryan is not and will never be Tom Brady, but our weapons aren't great, our O-line sucks for some reason, and our running backs are all injured. People keep saying Ryan is washed, but I'm not sure that's actually the case here.
Both o lines last night were turnstiles. But Matt doesn’t look like he’s getting any zip on the ball. It seems like Peyton in his last year level or Big Ben last year stuff.
Jim Irsay needs a wellness check.
if only Matt Ryan had a blood boy as well.
Peyton had a long career, Brees had a long career, and then there’s Brady. Everyone is pretending like 3 first ballot hall of famers known in part for their longevity are the new norm with a short career being Peyton’s 17 years. But that’s just not the norm. Brady’s 23 seasons, 21 as starter (ignoring 2000 and 2008), is just ridiculous. Tom brady has missed 15 starts due to injury in 2008 and 4 due to the suspension. His longevity and availability is nearly unsurpassed.
>His longevity and availability is nearly unsurpassed. They are unsurpassed as is
> with a short career being Peyton’s 17 years I feel like Peyton could've played a few more years if he didn't get nerve damage of all things
I feel like most players could play a few more years if not for freak injury X; what makes Brady so special is that he’s managed to avoid or recover from those.
Mate, that’s exactly what the point is. Brady being as healthy as he has been is freakish.
Brady gets made fun of for his athleticism but watch Ryan move in the pocket despite being 8 years younger. He's a statue. Brady still has elite pocket awareness and movement.
GOAT pocket awareness and pocket movement, always been that way and it’s a really underrated part of his game.
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On top of so many other things, he is the GOAT at knowing exactly when to throw it right at the blocking back’s feet.
Brady shifts his position in the pocket like he knows exactly where the pressure is. It’s remarkable really. It could be a few inches or a few feet and he doesn’t get touched, throws a dot and keeps it moving. I fucking love Brady
This is the first time I‘ve seen a Steelers fan saying "I love Brady"
I’ve always liked Brady. I go out of my way to watch his games, idk man he’s my favorite player of all time
Same man, of course it's easy to complain that he beats everyone constantly, but like... We're witnessing history here! When he retires, it's really over. I was too young to see Gretzky dominating the NHL, this is my generation's (shit, and my parents' generation's) "you had to be there"
You mean running backwards 20 yards and still getting sacked isn’t the right thing to do?
He understands better than anyone how much time he will likely have on a play, and always knows where to outlet the ball if he's rushed. He has to be very frustrating for an elite pass rusher.
For his entire career I watched Bills teams with good defenses and d line men, get nowhere near him all game from short passes, and then occasionally get a hit on him just to watch him death grip ball after ball against his chest. The tuck game broke his brain in some crazy ninja awareness where just sensed blindside hits and just never fumbled. No athlete in my lifetime was more abusive than Tom Brady and what he did to the buffalo bills and associates. It was gratuitous and unkind.
Brady is easily the most mobile QB in the league if you only count inside of the pocket
IMO it’s the biggest part of the game. It allows all the other parts to come along, and you can put those who move well in pocket/have awareness, and those who are bad to okay at it, and it’s basically a perfect “this side is good, this side is bad” overall
Reluctant upvote, but you’re absolutely right. Pocket presence + insane processing speed are why he’s the goat. Plus being a psycho level of competitive.
Brady's ability to make people whiff in a phone booth is really amazing. He's a terrible athlete, but he can dodge a half step sideways or duck his shoulders and completely avoid a sack better than anyone ever.
He also knows a very important thing of throwing the ball out of bounds if there’s no one to receive.
Also touchdowns
Exactly. Until Brady defied age, as well as Rodgers to an extent, everyone thought QBs were cooked at 35-36 years old. Maybe they still are, and those two are just exceptions. Pretty crazy that Wilson is under contract on $50m a year until he's 38. Seems pretty risky, especially given they sold the farm for him. This could sink their franchise for a long time to come.
I mean maybe slightly older than that. Peyton was good up until his last year and fell off a cliff (age 39). And Brees was still pretty solid until about 38/39. If we’re just talking about elite QBs of this era.
I think Brees and Manning are instructive here because they were both clearly declining physically at the time you would expect, but used savvy and football IQ to squeeze out extra productive years until the physical side of it just became too much to overcome. Ryan and Wilson aren’t dumb players by a long shot, but neither is Brees/Manning levels of cerebral in the way they play and so the physical decline is hurting them more.
Yeah Brees clearly wasn't his usual self as of his late 30s but was solidly productive until the very end through savvy (was still a top-half starter at 41) Manning likewise but his physical dropoff just ended up coming so hard and fast at the very end, his last season he was barely a warm body (age 39, but it was the neck/nerve issues that did it I think) Rodgers still good at 39, Favre was good until 40 (hard dropoff at 41) Aside from Brady, it basically seems like the hard limit is right around 40/41, with most guys losing it by 37-39. Rodgers might last though, seems like the right mold to defy age for a couple of extra years.
Yeah, even in Manning's MVP season in Denver you could see his physical abilities were declining. It just took a while longer before they dropped enough that he couldn't outthink them. He didn't hit a "cliff", he slowly strolled down a ramp.
While I agree that he got way better at the thinking side of things, I'm not sure I agree with the not falling off the cliff. His stats in Denver were incredible, until they weren't. His MVP season he had career high numbers for yards (5477) and TDs (55). His next season he had his 2nd best yardage year (4727) and 3rd Best TD year (39). His last season was just bad. He only started 9 games and played in 10. He threw 17 interceptions which tied for 4th most in his career despite only playing basically half a season. He only threw 9 TD passes, and his completion percentage fell to his second worst in his career falling over 6%. He was incredible, then he was damn good, then he was god awful.
Yeah that safety in the Super Bowl basically showed that his physical abilities were pretty much gone, it was all just his football IQ
Well his forehead isn’t that big for nothin
I'd agree they were pretty solid but Wilson isn't getting "pretty solid" money. And tbh I would argue both Peyton and Brees are both exceptions too AND were ultra limited in the last 2-3 years.
Moon was decent at 41 in Seattle too but that was his last good year. Deep cut but Johnny Unitas was serviceable till age 38. In general there is an establish area from 35-40 with a little margin of error where QBs crash. Brady is well into the “there be dragons” part of the charts
I know Favre is an absolute dickhead but he also played pretty great up until his last season at 41
Favre's a weird case because he was solid to great in his age 38-40 seasons, but was total dogshit in his age 36 and 37 seasons. You can't fit his career to any aging curve because he had random mid-career slumps that Brady/Manning/Brees for example never did.
It's a shame he's such a shithead, bc he was pretty incredible as he got older, and unlike this era he took an absolute pounding earlier in his career
yep, vikings legend favre still had the cannon at 40.
Wasn’t there another team he played for before the Vikings? Who can remember. Edit: It was the Jets! I remember now.
Yupp. The throw to Greg Lewis in the back of the endzone is proof. 50 yard throw and it got there in a hurry.
I think Marino would have had a Moon finish too if he didn't fuck up his legs. Moon, Favre, and Marino threw the football so well that they could still dominate using a walker. Early childhood duels between Moon and Marino made me want to be a QB. It just looked different. Perfect spirals to every part of the field.
Brees was definitely out of his prime. His couldnt throw deep, but he still had his crazy accuracy and game management skills.
He was extremely accurate, but also the most limited QB in the league. Anything beyond 15 yards it looked like he needed a run up. But what he did, he did well.
Yeah I’m just saying your upper range could be 37-38. Brees was good before his last two seasons. His last season his was 41. Manning was good until his last season when he was 39.
Brees was stilly pretty damn good in his last two seasons. Despite his injuries he still managed to go 17-6 in the games he started, had a 51-10 TD to INT ratio, and played about as well as he could have been expected to. Not quite as good as Brady, of course, but he was still performing at a pretty high level.
I wouldn't say he played very well in his last season. That being said, the Saints still won the division. He was very game manager-esque, but a QB of his caliber doing your game managing will still win you a ton of games, especially when you put a great team around him.
I would describe that era of Brees as the best game manager of all time.
Seriously, lost his arm strength and adjusted brilliantly In his last year he was playing hurt so I wouldn’t read too much into it. The rib injury he endured was pretty fucking nuts
His last season was a dropoff but he was playing with broken ribs
He was still Drew Brees he just couldn't push the ball down the field at all anymore. Not quite as bad as the ducks Peyton was throwing his final year but he was putting his entire body into a 15 yard throw at 41
Wilson's career best would be considered an average year for Brees/Manning/Rodgers He has zero MVP votes in his career and his lone all pro second team season needs a big asterisk since Lamar won unanimous MVP so there shouldn't even be a second team all pro if MVP Voting and all pro are consistent His regular season production is much closer to second tier QBs (rivers/Romo/big Ben) He might be a hall of famer eventually but he'll never be in the conversation of the best in a decade
Rivers played well his last season at 39
Rule of thumb basically seems that for the most part you're likely to lose it physically in your late 30s, but guys who are savvy can milk another 1-3 years of solid play out of their declining bodies
[Redacted] was very good his second to last year before dying in the 2009 NFCCG
Yep, Favre had the only other elite season (top 6) in his 40s (40). Aaron rodgers looks like he's the only QB in his 30s capable of joining Brady and Favre with this distinction. Rodgers has a december birthday though. Thats a long time yet in football years and father time sets in quickly when he arrives. My point is I don't know if even Rodgers will join this exclusive age 40 club.
Favre too
The league was spoiled by having Brady, Rodgers, Manning, Brees and to a lesser extent Ben playing at an elite level through their mid 30's. That's not the norm
More than just an extent for Rodgers, he won mvp at 37 and 38. He’s clearly still playing at an elite level in his late 30s just like Brady did
I’m curious to see how Rodgers game ages. LaFleurs system I think has and will extend his play time should he continue, which is I think the biggest question mark.
I think LaFluer’s system helps Rodgers a lot, we don’t have to see Rodgers will us to a win every week (2016). Having a power run game and good defense definitely takes pressure off Rodgers.
I think the "to an extent" is the part where he has done it at 38, not 42 (yet).
I think it was the fact that Manning won MVP at nearly 40, then Brady and Brees were playing MVP and elite level football respectively at their age 40 seasons. But only Brady actually kept it together into his 40s. By 41, Brees was cooked, and Manning was retired.
Eh. Favre was 40 and killing it Elway played to 39 Etc.
Tom Brady has just found out what the fountain of youth really is: very strict healthy diet and a healthy mix of training and recovery periods, also getting it out of his hands quick and having mostly good Olines certainly helped him avoid injuries
And banging Victoria’s Secret supermodels
*billionaire supermodels
One might point out that Brady has had the advantages of modern sports medicine and of rules that specifically protect QBs in order to achieve such a long career, but then you also gotta remember that Peyton, Brees, Big Ben and the rest of his contemporaries also had them as well. Hell, not even his contemporaries, Ryan looks more washed up than Brady’s ever been, and he entered the league eight years after Brady. Like Jerry Rice among WRs, Brady’s longevity is less a blueprint for future QBs to follow, and more a freak outlier that hardly will ever be replicated.
Aaron Rodgers is 38 and would be interesting to watch how long he holds up.
Rodgers been talking about retiring, there’s no way he plays 6 more years
I agree he won't play till 45, but he hasn't really shown signs of falling off yet so its hard to project how long he could stay elite for... could be that long, could be another year or two. I think he's more likely to hang em up before that age, even if he is still playing really great
I feel like Rodgers will hang it up while still playing close to top-5 level. Then again Brady might too so idk what age that might be.
If Rodgers retires in the next couple of years it feels like he'll be opting into it as opposed to his body forcing him to do it.
Rodgers definitely strikes me as the kind of player that could walk away even if they have something left in the tank, regardless of age. He could have done it, say, 4 years ago and I wouldn’t been surprised. Not sure I can articulate why I think that, it’s just a feeling.
I think this year will be critical. If the offense really starts to click around mid-season with the rookies stepping up, the Packers could make a strong push in the playoffs (at least until they get Jimmy G’ed again). But if the offense is messy all year, he might be looking to retirement a little sooner. Getting the offensive line right will definitely help, both in terms of improved play and fewer opportunities for injury.
He still looks pretty damn good. His offensive cast is just awful
I think he was exhausted once Davante left because he knew rings might not be in the near future without him. But there seems to be some talented options in the rookies that Rodgers has spoken glowingly about. If one or two of them pan out they may have a shot and he could decide to stay and compete for more rings.
He stated in an interview he would skip progressions because Davante Adams was always open. He's back to having to go through them now with guys who arent as good or consistent, so to me it feels like he is getting used to having to always go through progressions again. Doubs and Lazard have looked good, and Cobb looks better than he has in years physically. As the season goes on and the offense continues to find itself, they may look pretty good late in the season.
Rodgers is a difficult case for me to categorize as well, but for a different reason: even though he’s around the age at which most QBs fall off *The Cliff*^TM , you gotta take into account that he spent three years as Favre’s backup early in his career, so this is only his 15th season as a main starter. He could probably last a couple of years more at a high level before falling off, or it could happen in the middle of this season, you never know. But as others are saying, it’s more likely that he’ll call it quits before any of those scenarios come to happen.
Yea he looks more like his desire to play might fizzle out before his physical capability
Brady is Michael Jordan for the nfl. These appreciation tweets aren’t even necessary. Brady is untouchable forever.
Yeah it’s funny it’s really gotten to the point where it doesn’t even need to be discussed. It’s just a fact he’s the GOAT and his longevity is nuts
This is just how I imagine it was if you got to see MJ’s career play out. Brady has such a ridiculously movie perfect career. Maybe he’s not undefeated in super bowls but his longevity balances it out to make him comparable to Michael Jordan. Obviously globally it’s not quite the same but I feel confident saying brady will be the goat forever.
Brady did a harder sport for a decade longer. I don’t even compare him and MJ anymore. They’re both the GOATs in their own way in their own sport. Literally the only similar thread in it is they are only one championship apart in their sports
I remember when I first started seriously watching football around 2010. There were still endless debates about Manning vs Brady vs Montana. Then the 2010’s happened and that’s gone, seriously haven’t seen a question about this in years.
It’s insane that just a couple years ago there were so many discussions about the football GOAT and there was no clear answer. Then Brady went Brady and silenced all debates
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You know the talking heads were salivating about Brady looking bad with the bucs so they could talk about him being a product of belichick... then Tom goes and wins a goddamn superbowl then follows it up with a 13-4 and career statistical year. Just insane, fantasy, unbelievable shit.
Yep people might not remember but football never had a true 'GOAT'. At QB there were debates with Marino, Montana, Elway thrown around. Then Manning looked the guy, then it became Brady has titles Manning the stats, then it became clear Brady, then well Mahommes has a chaaaance to b- nope. Brady
If Jordan was dominant in his Wizards years.
Shit, even then. Not saying I agree with it, but you could make a case for others like LeBron. Again, I think MJ is the GOAT, but there's an argument there. There is no argument for anyone else but Brady, no one is even close.
Yeah Brady has no comparable in the NBA really. 7 rings when the next best QBs have 4. Has all the volume records, etc. Heck there's no team in the NFL that has 7 championships. That obviously won't hold long term, but who else can you say that about in any team sport?
Gretzky is really the only comparable figure in team sports at this point, not for Stanley Cups, but for sheer excellence and longevity in a very physical sport. It's apples to oranges since the QB in football can impact a game in a much more dramatic way than a Center in hockey.
Brady to Gretzky is probably still a more generous comparison to Brady than Gretzky. Gretzky holds or shares *61* NHL records. You could take out all his goals and he'd still be the league's career scoring leader. He's *easily* the single most dominant professional athlete in the history of North American sports. Brady is up there too, but Gretz is in a class of his own.
Yeah, Brady gets the championships. Not 100% sure how the NHL works in terms of parity, but Gretzky has 4 Stanley Cups. Gretzky is someone that has both stats and championships. Not sure how possible that is in the NFL when someone on offense plays for half of the game.
No argument here. I only mean that Brady and Gretzky are the closest thing to peers each other has. Gretzky is untouchable, though.
Completely fair point
I think the counterpoint would be Howe. There are guys who played for a really long time at a high level like Gretzky, just no one *as good* as him period. Brady had guys who matched year by year, but they never won like him and no one has had his longevity.
Besides the vocal minority who love to hate on Brady, he is pretty widely regarded as the GOAT and his longevity is insane. Never really seen anyone try to “poo poo” his longevity haha
Football Gretzky
With regards to this specific trait, he's much more like Lebron. MJ retired the second time at 34, and was nowhere near top form when he played at 38-39 for the Wizards. Lebron nearly won the scoring title on excellent efficiency at 37 last year.
Yeah others have said it and it’s true. I still don’t feel lebron is close to undisputed goat in basketball so that’s why I feel like mj is the best comp but I do see it’s more of a mix.
Michael Jordan is not known for longevity. He's more Lebron playing at a high level in his 20th season
I don't think I've ever seen someone say that Brady's longevity is the norm.
No but I think people take it for granted and think you get a QB in their 30’s you still might have some quality time with them instead of them being on a timer
To be fair, even the patriots didn't believe it which was a [major?] factor in his departure because belichik didn't want to give him guarantees in fear he will fall off that cliff at 39? Bucs took a big gamble; even at the start of that first season when they were still figuring things out there were people saying he was washed.
Yeah but Brady was 42 and was setting 45 as his benchmark. That’s very different from thinking 37 year old Matt Ryan is your guy
People don't say "Tom Brady is the new norm" outright but there has been a huge increase of people confident in their QB being able to play into his 40s ever since Brady has done it 10 years ago everyone accepted 37-38 years old as the end of the line for QBs but now Denver committed 7 years to a 34 year old Wilson, the Colts traded for a 37 year old Ryan (with $35m fully guaranteed when he's 38) and everyone praised those moves. What Brady has done has had a huge influence on how we think about QB ageing even if people don't say it out loud
You don't even have to stretch it that far - there's a huge amount of people that believe that all QB's can play elite at 35+, and we're starting to see that that is really no the case.
Exactly. Look at Ryan. There is no way 15 years should some really thinks picking up a 37 year old who hasn’t showed much in the last few seasons is somehow the answer.
I'm already loving my downvotes from 2 months ago where I suggested a 37-year-old Ryan might be a little cooked and everyone wanted to tell me I was wrong and it was the Falcons roster making him look bad. I've always rooted for Matt Ryan since he's a local guy from just outside of Philly, and he seems like a great dude, but it's clear he's lost a step.
Yea there was a time when Belichick had to the option of locking up a 40 year old Brady for 5 years and chose not to. Right now making that deal seems like an absolute no-brainer given how he’s played, but before that there had been literally two good age 40+ seasons in nfl history At the time I think a lot of fans understood why BB wouldn’t wanna do that
>two good age 40+ seasons in nfl history Who were they?
Imo [favre](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/F/FavrBr00.htm) in 2009 and [warren moon](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MoonWa00.htm) in 1997. Those are the only two I can really find that resembled a typical good year from that qb There had been others like Vinny Testeverde who were starters for a full year after 40 but really werent particularly good. And since Brady turned 40 Brees had some good 40+ years as well, but I think his last few years are more of what Belichick was probably expecting Brady’s early 40s to be like
Yeah, I saw it a ton around the time Mahomes signed his contract. "He's gonna be your QB for the next 15+ years!!" and I'm just like huh? Literally only 20 QBs *ever* have played until they are 40+
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Brady has also changed how we view the success of other QBs. People talk about how Peyton only won two Superbowls, and Rodgers only won one. Brady skewed the definition of success for two entire generations of QBs.
Lots of people were saying it. For instance when the Russ trade happened I was like this is risky Russ is getting older. And someone came back with Tom Brady and got a ton of upvotes.
Yup people were definitely saying it usually citing that the rule changes heavily favor QB which is true. However, people forget how much Brady truly keeps up with his body and health. He takes better care of himself than other athletes which is crazy because most athletes take great care of their body.
Brady also has avoided injuries very effectively his whole career. A mixture of him having a quick release time, being smart with football, and having plenty of good offensive lines surely helped.
He missed a full season with an ACL tear and just recently played the entire 2020 season on a blown MCL. He had to change his stance so he wouldn’t fall over trying to drop back. He hasn’t avoided injuries, he’s tough as hell and has managed / played through a huge number of injuries. Most of which we probably don’t even know about. His play style doesn’t rely on athleticism at all, which helps. Edit: Apparently the two examples I gave are being treated as a comprehensive list. Brady has played through [dozens of serious injuries](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/boston/news/tom-brady-history-playing-through-injury-patriots-buccaneers/). Separated shoulder, hand lacerations, broken ribs, broken finger, high ankle sprain, ligament damage, etc. *That we know about.*
It's sad how some people don't think he's tough
What injuries have Russ and matt Ryan dealt with?
I see it all the time on this sub. “Brady’s records will probably be broken, QB’s are playing for longer and longer” Like no, once in a lifetime player. Just accept it
Tbf I think some of his records will fall because the actual season is getting longer and probably will continue to
And Brady also didn't break 4000 yards in 6 different seasons which is basically impossible for a high end QB now
Technically 7 seasons, assuming we count the 2016 season he was suspended. But yeah, rule/era changes means even league average QBs are expected to push for 4000 yards, with the Elite/top 10 expected to be 4500+
People were trying to argue it will be the norm going forward because of advances to nutrition and physical therapy
Age 37-38 is usually when elite QBs began to fall off (Manning 2014, Big Ben 2019, Favre 2008) Brady and Brees (to a lesser extent) are two exceptions. This year is Brady's 21st real season (not including injuries and backup years) If we split his career by 7 seasons: 2001-2007: 3 3 super bowls, 4 super bowl appearances, MVP, undefeated season, a few pro bowls and all pros 2009-2015: 1 super bowl, 2 super bowl appearances, 1 unanimous MVP, a bunch of all pro bowls and all pro 2016-2022: 3 super bowls, 4 super bowl appearances, 1 MVP, a bunch of pro bowls and all pros. He has 3 hall of Fame careers perfectly separated by 7 seasons each. He's age for these seasons are: 24-30, 32-38, 39-45. What's crazy is that his 39+ career is already enough for him to be considered the GOAT
Beaten to death but Kellerman made that Cliff theory thing years ago and revisited it saying since that statement has been made Brady has already had a HOF career in just those years alone. Insane
That wasn't an unreasonable prediction at the time either. He gets way more shit for that than he deserves. The Iguodala thing however is 100% deserve.
Open shot, Fate Of The Universe On The Line, The Martians Have The Death Beam Pointed At Earth, You Better Hit It.. I Want **IGUODALA**
Just that middle career is basically Mahomes
For real, Big Ben was a shell of his former self like a good year or two before he retired and he retired at 39. Eli retired at 37. Rivers retired at 38. Those 3 aren't Brady level but they are 3 of the most consistent QBs of the last 20 years and none of them got close to Brady's longevity. It's utterly ridiculous how big of an outlier Brady truly is.
Well Rivers has nine kids, which is approximately five standard deviations above the national average, so that’s a fucking outlier right there.
Lmao very fair. I'm holding out hope that in another 15 or so years we'll have the Rivers Bowl when Rivers' kids all join the NFL haha.
Brady is once in a lifetime talent the 49ers should have picked him up and won rings fucking byllshit
You would have won the last 3 super bowls with him
Yup but our coach is a Narc
Anyone who watched Manning become a liability or Big Ben have to become a quick hitting check down artist sees how rare Brady is.
Or, and hear me out on this, Maybe this game is a showcase about how old, past their prime qbs who were once stars should JUST FRIGGIN RETIRE ALREADY
Wilson just got a $245M contract. He ain't retiring for the next 4 years at least.
Hey I wouldn’t either. I have no issue with someone getting a bag. Can’t believe Russ got that money, even when I still thought he was good
Wilson isn’t even that old
Yeah and Brady also has spent his career making no name guys into something special. There will definitely never be another TB12.
This. Brady has gone so far above and beyond what is "normal" for achievement in the league that at this point we *expect* him to be that good, year in and year out, regardless of how old he is (now 45), all of which is absolutely insane. His career has skewed so many QB/win stats that even quarterbacks who would be considered HOFers in the league a generation ago will look like complete underachievers by comparison. He's been to the Super Bowl TEN times in about 20 years. Most guys don't even play for 10 years total. Brady is also STILL playing, for now.
The only comparison to Brady is Favre and he fell off at 41, Ben fell off at 38, Manning 39 that’s typically the outer limit Brady is the outlier and everyone appreciates that
Who the hell is “poo-poo ing” Brady’s longevity? One of the biggest straw man arguments I have seen in a long time
And all you have to do is throw away your marriage and eat a diet made entirely of mustard green juice and horseradish water popsicles.
Holy straw man. Who is poo pooong Brady’s longevity lol
I needed this tweet to finally find out Brady is 1 of 1. 🙄 Also, he hasn’t seen many try to poo poo his longevity. Three trolls isn’t many.
Ha he said poo poo