![]() ![]() Belichick, unwilling to commit long term to a quarterback in his 40s (or to pay a top-of-market salary, for that matter), did not want to go that far and suggested a shorter contract running a couple of years. However, when he sought a contract extension in the 2019 offseason, Brady was initially hoping for a several-year deal. He was never anything but clear-eyed about Bill Belichick’s preference to move on from players once their performances started to lag, or when their contracts became unwieldy, so he knew it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that he would finish his career in New England. There was a time- as recent as 2019-when Brady did not want to leave the Patriots. Other than a seventh Super Bowl ring, Brady has gotten everything he wanted. Part of Brady’s interest in Tampa Bay stemmed from a belief that he’d have more say in personnel decisions-the contracts awarded Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski indicate he was right in that, too. Brady’s presence has had a galvanizing effect on the franchise, even after COVID-19 made the adjustment period more difficult. Before this year, they hadn’t won a playoff game since 2002, and they went 7-9 last season with most of the same players. It was a reasonable assessment-Arians is known as a relationship cultivator, and Tampa Bay has a good, young defense and skill-position players like wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin that most quarterbacks would love to play with-but the Bucs were no sure thing. ![]() You’ve got to hand it to the guy: He navigated his New England departure via free agency, then picked a destination where he felt he’d connect with the coaching staff and where there was a roster he saw as ready to compete for a Super Bowl. More broadly, Brady’s entire season in Tampa makes him seem omniscient. We get to find out which trait winds up mattering more. This Super Bowl matchup has a mythic quality to it in part because it pits a player with superior physical tools, Mahomes, against another, Brady, who’s clearly passed through apotheosis. It can give the hero immortality, or it can simply prepare them for the greater challenge that lies ahead. This is when knowledge, a greater understanding, and perceptiveness is achieved. In the hero’s journey, there’s a stage the hero has to go through that’s called apotheosis. “But, there’s a lot of things that happen in different seasons and what Tom has done is historic.” “If it was a throwing contest, hell yeah, he’s going to get it,” Bucs coach Bruce Arians said of Mahomes last Thursday. For all of the dynastic implications of this game, Kansas City is the favorite-it has the better roster and the better quarterback. Some of Brady and New England’s seemingly uncatchable records would be reasonably in sight. The Chiefs would also be the first back-to-back Super Bowl champion since the Patriots did it in the 20 seasons. If the Chiefs beat the Buccaneers, the 25-year-old Mahomes will have evened his personal playoff record against Brady (it would be 1-1), and he and Kansas City will be one ring closer to the six that Brady and the Patriots won together. The gauntlet of Brees, Rodgers, and Mahomes would arguably be a more impressive accomplishment, should Brady and the Bucs make their way through it.Īdding a Postscript to the Tom Brady–Bill Belichick Partnership The Rams Keep Betting That First-Round Picks Are Overratedīrady is playing to keep as much distance between his own legacy and Mahomes’s developing one as he can. Their next opponent, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, is a fitting final trial.īrady’s hardest Super Bowl path by opponent winning percentage came in the 2004 season when the Patriots went through Peyton Manning’s Colts and Ben Roethlisberger’s Steelers before beating Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb’s Eagles to become champions. For a player whose career has been compared to a classic “hero’s journey” in literature, the road of trials leading to Super Bowl LV was one of the steepest of his career: After knocking off the Washington Football Team in the wild-card round, Brady and the Buccaneers bested Drew Brees and the Saints, then Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Brady never won a Super Bowl with the Patriots after playing on wild-card weekend, mostly because he rarely had to-he appeared in a wild-card game only four times in his 17 playoff appearances for New England. There aren’t many firsts left for Tom Brady, but if the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl, it will be the first time in his 21-year career he’s had to win three previous playoff games to do so. ![]()
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