Another Super Bowl, another Bradyfest

Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady reacts after winning the NFC championship game against the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay, Wis., Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021. Brady will be playing his 10th Super Bowl when the Bucs face Kansas City in Tampa Bay, Florida. | Jeffrey Phelps, Associated Press

No one can dispute Tom Brady is the GOAT, and deserving of all the recognition that comes his way. But is there anything more that can really be said?

Oh, no. Not again.

He’s back?

In the Super Bowl?

Him?

That guy?

TB — Tom Brady?

Oh, please, enough already. Now we have to endure two more weeks of Gushing About Tom. Another Bradyfest. More stories about his special diet and personal chef; about his special training program and his special trainer; about his agelessness; about Gisele; about his GOATness; about playing till he’s 75, or whatever he is now.

WE. GET. IT. HE’S Grrrrrreat! He’s the GOAT.

I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve the praise. I’m saying, there’s nothing left to say. I’m saying even “Seinfeld” reruns reach a saturation point. Can we get a new storyline here?

Tom Brady in the Super Bowl; we’ve seen this show before.

And by the way, how much more can life give this man? The (rich) model wife. The ridiculous salaries. The cleft-chin handsomeness. The mansions. The agelessness. He won the lottery.

He’s been to 10 Super Bowl in 20 years (and that’s counting the season he missed with an injury), including five of the last seven or, if you prefer, four of the last five; the longest drought between Super Bowls was three years, once.

Now he’s heading to another one — on his new home field in Tampa, making Brady’s Bucs the first team ever to play a Super Bowl on its home field. That’s the way life works for Brady. The game was originally scheduled to be played in a new stadium in Inglewood, California, but record rainfall delayed construction, forcing the Super Bowl to move to Tampa.

He switched teams in the offseason and he’s returning to the Super Bowl anyway, again. He didn’t even need that Belichick fella. He switched his entire supporting cast and got the same results, as if to demonstrate once again that he is the common denominator in all those championships.

He left the Patriots and the American Football Conference behind in the offseason and joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the National Football Conference. And didn’t miss a beat. He’s back where he usually is in February. After just one year, he already has as many NFC championships as Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees, who have played in that conference a combined 31 years.

His Super Bowl years: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021. That’s a record 10. The next closest in Super Bowl appearances is his former teammate, kicker Stephen Gostkowski, with six.

Brady has won six of the nine he has played in so far.

He switched teams in the offseason and he’s returning to the Super Bowl anyway, again. He didn’t even need that Belichick fella. He switched his entire supporting cast and got the same results, as if to demonstrate once again that he is the common denominator in all those championships.

If you just followed Brady around to the Super Bowl, it would add up to a pretty good tour of the country — New Orleans, Houston (twice), Jacksonville, Glendale (Arizona, twice), Indianapolis, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Tampa.

Of course he’s still got a ways to go to catch Yogi Berra, who made 14 World Series appearances (won 10 of them).

Or Jack Nicklaus, who won 18 majors.

Ten Super Bowls — ridiculous. Six Super Bowl wins — ridiculous.

The great Brett Favre played in the NFL for 20 years. He appeared in two Super Bowls, won one.

The great Drew Brees has also played 20 years in the NFL. Super Bowl appearances: one.

The great Aaron Rodgers has played 16 seasons; Super Bowl appearances: one.

Dan Marino: 17 seasons, 1 Super Bowl; Philip Rivers: 17 seasons, 0 Super Bowls; Dan Fouts: 15 seasons, 0 Super Bowls; Tony Romo: 14 seasons, 0 Super Bowls; Warren Moon: 17 seasons, 0 Super Bowls; Fran Tarkenton, 18 seasons, 3 Super Bowls, 0 wins; Kurt Warner, 12 seasons, 3 Super Bowls, one win; Matt Ryan, 13 seasons, 1 Super Bowl; Matt Stafford, 12 seasons, 0 Super Bowls; Jim Kelly, 11 seasons, 4 Super Bowls, 0 wins; Ben Roethlisberger, 18 seasons, 3 Super Bowls, 2 wins.

There is a certain amount of luck in reaching the Super Bowl, of being in the right place at the right time, with the right coach and the right team. Joe Namath, Joe Flacco, Trent Dilfer, Mark Rypien and Doug Williams were average quarterbacks, at best, but they have won the same number of Super Bowls as Rodgers and Favre. On the other hand, no amount of luck or timing can explain Brady’s 10 appearances, especially given what just happened with an entirely new cast of teammates.

It is difficult to imagine that any player will ever duplicate that feat.

Let the gushing begin again.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/39wpOie