Tom Brady officially the GOAT 2.0

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It took a loss to do it but Tom Brady finally won me over on Sunday.

I was privileged to cover nearly every game of the first 19 years of Brady’s remarkable career. His greatness was long confirmed before Sunday’s 30-27 come-from-behind, last-second loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional playoffs but his coronation as the GOAT was not. At least not for those of us who once watched Johnny Unitas fillet opposing defenses at a time when he not only had to call his own plays and work offseason shifts at the Sparrows Point Bethlehem Steel Plant in Baltimore to make ends meet but also absorb the kind of weekly beatings that would have been considered assault and battery if they’d happened out on the street in front of Memorial Stadium.

Unitas was the ultimate field general. He was the craggy face of pro football from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. He was the best quarterback in the history of the game in the same way Jim Brown was the best runner who ever lived. They were assessments not open to debate.

As Brady began amassing Super Bowl titles and passing records he put his name in the GOAT conversation years ago alongside Unitas, Sammy Baugh (who they didn’t call Slingin’ Sammy for nothing back), Joe Montana, Dan Marino, John Elway and Peyton Manning. They were the first wave of names whenever the conversation turned to greatest quarterback in NFL history, although some would argue loudly for the inclusion of the underappreciated Roger Staubach and Otto Graham (10 title games in 10 years, 7 championships).

Yet no matter how long Brady’s resume grew or supporters of the others argued, for those who ever saw Johnny U operate that was always where the list started. And ended.

The game has changed a lot since Unitas burst upon the NFL in 1956 of course. It’s much more of a passing game now with the liberalized rules so favoring the offense that it has transformed football into a glorified 7-on-7 passing drill rather than the grinding fist fight for yardage it once was. That is not the fault of players like Brady who has amassed passing statistics that dwarf those of Unitas. It is just a fact. But there were always other facts that argued Unitas’ case.

The first was in his day the quarterback actually ran the game without a crib sheet. Unitas not only helped create the game plan, he was the one who not only executed it but called it. No voice inside the helmet told him what to call or what the defense’s tendency was in the situation he was facing. Either you knew what to call and why or your team was cooked. Nobody knew the what-and-the-why better than Unitas, who is credited with creating the two-minute drill because he had better execution than a hangman.

After he’d finished off the New York Giants to win the NFL’s first sudden death overtime championship game with two ice water in his veins throws that set up the winning touchdown, he was asked if he was concerned about throwing an interception.

“If you know what you’re doing,’’ Unitas snapped, “you don’t throw interceptions.”

Brady would later become a master of that as well and he had the same kind of cocky self-assuredness but he also had the benefit of a coach’s voice inside his helmet whispering what to run and where to go with the ball. Johnny Unitas had to figure that all out on his own, which is pretty damn difficult to do.

Brady and the other top quarterbacks of today might have been able to do the same but we don’t know that, and surely some of today’s big number passers would not have been able to run the game on their own, just as many couldn’t do it in Unitas’ day. It was what separated him from the pack. That and the fact that he was so clearly the toughest man in the valley.

You had to be tougher than rawhide to play quarterback in Unitas’ NFL because assault was legal and battery was expected long after the ball had come out of the quarterback’s hand. Roughing the passer was technically still a penalty but unless the arrival of an ambulance occurred it was seldom called.

Today, if you think about tackling the quarterback around the head, or at the knees or a millisecond after he’s released the ball or you knock him over with a bit more exuberance than the suits who run the Quarterback Protection Agency called NFL officiating can tolerate it’s a penalty and sometimes an expulsion. That has made for productive longevity at the position and allowed the amassing of passing yardage that in some ways is comical.

Because of those differences, Unitas remained the measuring stick by which I judged all quarterbacks. He ran the game better, threw the ball more accurately and stood up to dozens of muggings a year better than any man ever lived. Simple as that, but as the years passed and Brady won seven championships, went to 14 conference championship games and shattered every passing record, the distance between them shortened until finally, in a dramatic defeat that may have been his last game, Tom Brady went from GOAT LITE to GOAT 2.0.

No quarterback has won more than Brady, especially when it counted most, which is after Thanksgiving. That is when champions are born and frauds fade. Brady’s teams are 112-31 after Thanksgiving, a winning percentage of .783. In January and February, which is primarily playoff time, he is 43-15, a .741 winning percentage. Winning counts.

Yet what counted most Sunday was his old school, steely-eyed Unitas style resistance to nearly unfettered assault from the Rams’ raucous defense. For four quarters, the 44-year old Brady got his ass handed to him, to use a non-football term to describe a beating.

Playing without four of his top receivers, All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs and at some points without Wirfs’ backup after an ankle injury demanded that the backup to Wirfs’ backup try without much luck to slowdown the pass rush of Von Miller and Aaron Donald, Brady kept prying himself up off the ground. He was sacked three times, pressured 17 times and too often forced to throw with little time to set himself and few targets to look for. That, coupled with his defense’s early struggles, left Brady and the Buccaneers trailing by 24 points, 27-3, midway through the third quarter of what had become a beatdown.

He didn’t care.

Faced at times with having to use backup tight end Cam Brate as his slot receiver, Brady began to rally his troops. He exhorted them. He pleaded with them. He cajoled them. And when he finally led them to a field goal and then a touchdown and then another touchdown on a perfect 55-yard scoring throw to Mike Evans that cut the L.A. lead to seven, he’d inspired them and put fear into the Rams’ hearts because they knew what was happening.

“All the times I’ve played Tom Brady, I knew no lead that we had was safe,” Von Miller said later.

Miller was right. When the defense got Brady the ball back after forcing another turnover, Brady got them into the end zone to tie the game at 27-27 with 42 seconds to play, capping a run of 24 unanswered points.

Brady had led 39 comebacks from double digit deficits during his 22-year career, including six in the playoffs. Was this to be the latest?

In the end it was not because Brady never got the chance. The Rams rallied to get a last-second field goal that sent them on to a showdown with the San Francisco 49ers for the right to go to the Super Bowl while Brady slowly ambled toward the tunnel at the south end zone at Raymond James Stadium, his head hanging low. Beaten but not bowed.

When he was later asked about what the future held and if he might be pondering retirement Brady gave the kind of answer those who spent years around him had come to expect.

“I was thinking about winning,’’ he said. “That’s kind of my mentality. Always go out there and try to win. Give my teammates the best chance to win.”

This he had done again under the worst of conditions. Battered, undermanned, aging, his feet seldom able to set firmly underneath him, Tom Brady showed one more person at least that, Unitas or no Unitas, he was the GOAT.

“He always says he’s got something to prove but what more can he do?” asked teammate Lavonte Davis. “He’s the GOAT. He’s done everything he can.”

Sunday it wasn’t quite enough but that wasn’t his fault. He was far from his best much of the afternoon but he still finished with 329 yards and a touchdown pass when it was needed most to revive his team’s sagging fortunes. He got the Bucs to level with a depleted lineup while under old-school duress. He played, frankly, like Unitas and then spoke the hard truth the way Unitas would have.

“Obviously, we showed a lot of fight but at the end of the day you lose a game, you lose a game,” Brady said.

Perhaps his team did but he did not. He won over a Johnny Unitas devotee by showing he was more than a great passer in a passing era. He’s a hard-nosed old geezer who refuses to lose. He had, as those who played with him used to say about Unitas, merely run out of time.

That’s what you do when you’re the GOAT. Or in Brady’s case, GOAT 2.0.

Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers ponder futures after rough playoff exits

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Tom Brady says his family will play a crucial factor in deciding whether he returns to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season.

The 44-year-old has an impending decision whether he will retire or return for a 23rd overall and third season with Tampa Bay, whose bid to repeat as Super Bowl champs ended with a 30-27 loss to Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs on Sunday. Brady has one year remaining on his contract and has said in the past he’d like to play until he’s at least 45.

“I think as I’ve gotten older, I think the best part is, is football is extremely important in my life, and it means a lot to me, and I care a lot about what we’re trying to accomplish as a team and I care a lot about my teammates,” Brady said on his Let’s Go! podcast with Jim Gray. “The biggest difference now that I’m older is I have kids now, too, you know, and I care about them a lot as well. They’ve been my biggest supporters. My wife is my biggest supporter. It pains her to see me get hit out there. And she deserves what she needs from me as a husband, and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad.”

Tampa head coach Bruce Arians said on Monday that no date has been set for Brady to make his decision, and the quarterback himself said he was in no rush to decide his future.

“Every year I just have to make sure that I have the ability to commit to what the team really needs, and that’s really important to me,” Brady said. “The team doesn’t deserve anything less than my best. And if I feel like I’m not committed to that, or I can’t play at a championship level, then you gotta give someone else a chance to play. And, you know, we’ll see. There’s a long time between now and the start of next football season.”

Brady is aware of one important point as he takes time to ponder his future: the Buccaneers roster next season is likely to look a lot different with or without the seven-time Super Bowl winner.

Unlike last spring when the Bucs defied the odds by retaining every starter from a star-laden lineup that won the franchise’s second NFL championship, general manager Jason Licht and coach Bruce Arians are not in a position to replicate that.

Nearly half the roster is eligible for free agency, including wide receiver Chris Godwin; tights ends Rob Gronkowski and OJ Howard; running backs Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones and Giovani Bernard; linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul; cornerback Carlton Davis; safety Jordan Whitehead; defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh; offensive linemen Ryan Jenson and Alex Cappa; and defensive lineman William Gholston.

Arians said the goal as usual is to “reload” rather than rebuild, with an emphasis on re-signing as many of their own free agents as possible.

“We’ll see how many we can get back and then build the team from there. … Each year is so different and so new,” the coach said. “Last year, to get everybody back was amazing. Doubt we can do it all again this year, but we’re sure going to give it our best.”

Meanwhile, an offseason of unknowns has begun at the home of another star quarterback. The Green Bay Packers are unsure of future hall of famer Aaron Rodgers will remain with the team next season, seek another team or retire.

As opposed to the controversial offseason of a year ago when a disgruntled Rodgers and his only professional team seemed destined for a split, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur made it very clear on Monday that the team want their 17-year veteran to return for 2022.

“Every conversation that I’ve been involved in with Gutey [general manager Brian Gutekunst] and Russ [director of football operations Russ Ball] and Mark [president Mark Murphy], we’re all on the same page there,” LaFleur said on Monday. “There’s no debate.”

Speaking to the media on the heels of Green Bay’s 13-10 upset loss Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers, LaFleur said he met with his quarterback on Monday and while a decision was far off, there was no question the Packers organization hopes for a return.

“I sat down and talked to Aaron today for quite some time,” LaFleur said. “I think we’re all a little numb to the situation right now and, so, I would say that what we talked about, I’m definitely gonna keep between him and myself, but we’re hopeful that he’ll be back next year, obviously.”

The 38-year-old Rodgers did not disappoint this season, tossing up elite numbers (4,115 passing yards, 37 touchdown passes, four interceptions) for what may turn out to be the fourth MVP season of his career. But he admitted after an unspectacular performance on Saturday against the Niners (20-for-29, 225 yards) that while he will not drag out a decision about his future past the start of free agency on 16 March, he also doesn’t plan to stick around if the team decides to start from scratch.

“I don’t want to be part of a rebuild if I’m going to keep playing,” Rodgers said of the Packers.

The Packers are projected to be $44.8m over the 2022 salary cap. Wide receiver Davante Adams has said publicly he wants to be the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver and said last year there will be no hometown discount to stay in Green Bay.

To keep Rodgers, the Packers would need to sign him to a long-term extension. His cap charge in 2022 is $46m, negotiated intentionally by Rodgers last offseason when his disdain for the front office came to light.

The mood has since shifted. If it’s up to his head coach, there is no decision from the Green Bay standpoint as LaFleur said he wants the Packers to do “everything in our power to try to get him back here and making sure he’s comfortable with the direction of our football team.”

“There’s no plan for a rebuild,” said LaFleur. “You get this close, obviously win a lot of football games, and we know in order for there not to be that, he’s gotta be a part of this thing. I don’t think that’s anybody’s intention.”

How to fix the Buccaneers in 2022: Addressing QB situation with Tom Brady paramount in Tampa Bay’s offseason

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ hopes of repeating as Super Bowl champions were dashed on Sunday as the Los Angeles Rams were able to eliminate them in the divisional round and advance to the NFC Championship Game. Now Tampa Bay is looking into the abyss of what has the potential of being a seismic offseason for the franchise on a number of different levels.

Of course, the main goal over the next few months for head coach Bruce Arians and GM Jason Licht will be to get the club back to where it was a season ago – hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Below, we’ll highlight a number of things the Bucs should have on their offseason to-do list that could have them back in contention for the 2022 season.

1. Address the QB situation

With all the rumors surrounding Tom Brady possibly retiring this offseason, the quarterback position should be priority No. 1 for the Buccaneers over the next few months. A decision by Brady coming down sooner rather than later will help the team sculpt itself better for 2022. If he decides to stay, the team could move money around and look to bring the band back for another year to see if it can get back up the mountain. If Brady retires, however, that sends the organization down a completely different path. It could look to completely rebuild with a young quarterback via the draft or could try to find a veteran to carry the baton from Brady.

Arians noted on Monday that he’d be comfortable if they stuck in-house to replace Brady, but also said: “You never know what’s behind Door No. 2. We kind of went down that road two years ago and there was Tom Brady. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Naturally, this needs to be the first domino to fall for Tampa Bay.

2. Re-sign Godwin or add another receiver

It was pretty apparent after the wide receiver went down with a torn ACL that Chris Godwin was the engine that made this Buccaneers offense move. Despite playing in 14 games, the 25-year-old was still able to lead the team in receiving yards and receptions to go along with five touchdowns. His 55 first-down receptions were also second on the team, trailing Mike Evans – who played 16 games – by just one.

Godwin is now set to hit unrestricted free agency this offseason. While the ACL injury may put a small dent in his market, he should still be a highly sought after piece. For the Bucs, if they are looking to bring Brady – or another veteran quarterback – back for the 2022 season, having someone like him for the second half of the year and beyond could prove to be a difference-maker.

If Godwin decides to go elsewhere, finding another legit receiver – of which there are a few on the market this year – needs to be high on the Bucs list.

3. Manage other free agents

The Buccaneers currently have 25 veterans who are looking at unrestricted free agency. We already touched on Godwin, but there are a number of key offensive players set to hit the open market as well: Leonard Fournette, Ronald Jones, Rob Gronkowski, Ryan Jensen, and Alex Cappa. Defensively, Carlton Davis, Jordan Whitehead, William Gholston, Ndamukong Suh, and Jason Pierre-Paul could also be heading out the door as well.

According to Spotrac, Tampa Bay is projected to have around $22.4 million in cap space this offseason, which is essentially right in the middle of the league. Again, a lot depends on the quarterback situation. If Brady’s back for 2022, that likely means he’ll want Gronkowski in the fold as well. Naturally, the keeping starters along the O-line like Jensen and Cappa could become priorities as well.

For Jason Licht, he’ll need to manage all of these free agents and trim the fat where he’s able to. It’s possible that some of that work will be done for him (Gronk, Suh and Pierre-Paul all possibly retiring). Regardless, his team will need to go through the balancing act of keeping some championship pieces from that 2020 squad around, while also injecting his roster with new blood.

4. Get younger along the defensive line

Continuing off of item No. 3, the defensive line is where the Buccaneers could look to let some free agents walk and addressing the position partially on the open market at a cheaper rate along with the NFL Draft. Suh (35 years old), Gholston (30), Steve McLendon (36), and Pierre-Paul (33) are all looking at free agency this offseason.

That’s a pretty old collection of talent that the Buccaneers should think twice about retaining for 2022 and possibly even beyond. Tampa Bay could look to inject younger/cheaper talent via the draft and retool the defensive line to line up on a similar track to Vita Vea (26) and others in the front seven. Joe Tryon-Shoyinka – the Bucs 2021 first-round pick – could slot in to fill the shoes of Pierre-Paul, but the defensive tackle spots should be an area of focus for Tampa early in the draft.

Rams top Tom Brady’s rally in wild finish, end Buccaneers’ Super Bowl repeat bid

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TAMPA – The epic comeback was not completed, after all. And no repeat crown.

If this is it for Tom Brady, what a downer.

Brady and the defending Super Bowl champions were clipped by the Los Angeles Rams, 30-27, in an NFC divisional playoff result that was almost too wild to believe.

The Rams, with new quarterback Matthew Stafford living up to the promise envisioned when he was obtained from Detroit in an offseason trade, are headed home to face their NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game next Sunday.

Brady, meanwhile, could be headed into the sundown of his storied career. The marquee quarterback hasn’t committed to return next season, which means the Tampa Bay era just might be finished.

“I haven’t put a lot of thought into it," Brady said after the game. “I’ll just take it day by day. And we’ll see.”

Regardless, his setback on Sunday goes down as a deflating performance – and this includes his supporting cast, too – that does no justice to a career marked by a record seven Super Bowl victories.

Brady went down swinging, for sure. The Bucs rallied from a 27-3 deficit to tie the game in the final minute – only to lose the game in the final seconds when the defense couldn’t prevent the Rams from a comeback of their own.

Not only did Brady leave with a big L, he drew the first unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of his 22-year career after yelling at referee Shawn Hochuli during a heated, second-quarter exchange after he absorbed a hit from Von Miller.

And Brady endured a bloody lip, too, a picture that said the proverbial 1,000 words about the pain inflicted on him by the Rams’ defensive front.

It figured that if any team would stop the bid by the Bucs to become the first repeat Super Bowl champion since Brady led the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl crown in the 2004 season, it would be the Rams.

Since Brady arrived in 2020, he’s gone 0-for-LA – losing all three matchups against Sean McVay’s team.

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In September at Los Angeles, the Bucs fell 34-24 in a Week 3 contest when Brady passed 55 times and was also the team’s leading rusher, while Stafford burned Tampa Bay for 343 yards and 4 TDs. In November of 2020, the Rams scratched out a 27-24 win here in a game when Brady was intercepted twice by Jordan Fuller.

Now this. The Bucs didn’t score a touchdown on Sunday until 12 seconds remained in the third quarter – and even Leonard Fournette’s 1-yard plunge was iffy after Tampa Bay was set up at the Rams 30-yard line by a Cooper Kupp fumble that was recovered by Sean Murphy-Bunting. The drive was kept alive by a fourth-and-9 completion to Scotty Miller, who had to double-clutch the football to secure the first down. It was that close.

Earlier, the Bucs settled for a pair of Ryan Succop field goals and had a drive stall when Succop missed a 48-yard kick. It all added up to distress for an offense working with a depleted wide receiver corps and a battered offensive line whose best player, All-Pro right tackle Tristin Wirfs, missed the game while nursing an ankle injury.

Of course, Brady is known for making magic. It would take something akin to the time Brady led the Patriots back from a 28-3 deficit to defeat the Falcons in Super Bowl 51.

Ah, the memories.

But in this case it was simple: Not here. Not now.

Brady, trailing 27-13, fumbled away his first snap of the fourth quarter when sacked by Miller, who also made the recovery. After the Bucs inexplicably regained possession on the next play, when Stafford mishandled a shotgun snap, Brady and Co. parlayed their gift field position into a turnover on downs.

Later in the quarter, another drive ended when Brady’s fourth-and-9 throw sailed over the head of tight end Cameron Brate over the middle, with a chance, without a prayer.

But then, a miracle play. Brady connected with Mike Evans for a 55-yard touchdown – Evans burned Jalen Ramsey’s single coverage on a go route – that cut the margin to 27-20 with 3:20 on the clock.

Maybe?

The ensuring Rams possession was just what the Bucs would have ordered. Ndamukong Suh forced a Cam Akers fumble, recovered by Lavonte David at the L.A. 30 yard-line with 2:25 remaining.

Touchdown or go home.

Brady’s been there before.

It came down to fourth-and-inches from just inside the Rams’ 9-yard line, with 46 seconds on the clock. How many times have we seen a Brady sneak in this situation? Instead, with the Rams packing the inside of the line, he handed the ball to Fournette, who sidestepped Eric Weddle’s attempted tackle in the backfield and bounced off right tackle. Touchdown. Bedlam. And after Succop’s PAT, a tie game.

It was all too good to be true.

The Rams staged a comeback of their own, with Stafford hitting Kupp for a 44-yard completion that set up Matt Gay’s game-winning, 30-yard field goal as time expired.

Now we’re left to wonder whether the clock has run out on Brady’s career.

Buccaneers’ Tom Brady’s worst wish came true: First unsportsmanlike conduct of his career

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is known worldwide for having a winning mentality, for setting goals that for the vast majority of human beings on this planet would be impossible but that he sets and achieves, playing in the NFL at the age of 44 at a very high level is perhaps the best example of this.

However, on very few occasions, really very few, Brady’s virtue blows up in his face and that happened this Sunday in the Divisional Round game against the Los Angeles Rams, Brady’s prophetic words came true, but against him.

Tom Brady, furious with the referees

First of all, during an offensive series in the second quarter of the game at Raymond James Stadium, the GOAT was hit by Von Miller with his helmet on the chin of the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback, causing a wound on the lower part of his lip.

Furious, Brady complained loudly to the referees demanding a punishment against Miller, however, what happened was just the opposite, “Tom Terrific” was penalized for unsportsmanlike attitude protests.

It was the first unsportsmanlike penalty in Tom Brady’s 22 seasons in the NFL!

But as unbelievable as it may seem that single fact is not the most surprising, the most shocking thing is that this anti-milestone in Brady’s career comes just in the week he spoke about the issue.

He spoke about it on his weekly podcast

On the weekly “Let’s Go!” podcast on which he appears along with host Jim Gray, Brady had this to say:

“I do know that [the officials] probably let me get away with a lot of unsportsmanlike conducts, talking smack to the other team and talking smack to the refs when I don’t think I get the right call,” Brady said. “I’m kind of a pain in their ass if you don’t already know that.”

The moral is clear, pay attention to everything you wish for, because it can come true.