Brady, Brees square off in match for the ages
Why NOT call them old farts? It seems each time Tom Brady and drew Brees walk onto a football field, some record of theirs is broken. And that’s not much of an exaggeration.
When each breaks his first huddle in Sunday’s NFC divisional playoff game, the NFL’S record-keepers will start erasing numbers. That’s when this will officially become the first NFL playoff game featuring quarterbacks:
❚ Both over age 40 (Brady 43, Brees 42);
❚ Who rank 1-2 in career passing touchdowns including playoffs (Brady 656, Brees 607);
❚ With as many as 1,263 combined touchdown passes;
❚ With as many as 176,563 career passing yards, or 161 kilometres’ worth.
What’s more, Brady can add to his numerous NFL career playoff passing records, including Tds (75) and wins (31).
And Brees can extend his NFL record to 18 straight games with a passing touchdown to start one’s playoff career.
Brady’s visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers kick off against Brees and the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at 6:40 p.m. EST (CTV via Fox).
Not that either man gives a hoot about most of the above numbers. In the twilight of their storied careers, each is still in it only to win it. And each understands that this game might go down as the last post-season hurrah of his two-decadeplus, shoo-in hall of fame career.
Brady is two victories from reaching Super Bowl No. 10, with a chance to win NFL championship No 7. Brees is two victories from reaching Super Bowl No. 2, with a shot at NFL championship No. 2. Neither may get this close again in his career. Brees might not even play another game.
Pretty much all other storylines on Sunday in New Orleans are tied for 1,058th.
Is Brees surprised it’s come down to this, more than 21 years after these QBS first went head to head in college in October 1999, when Brady was in his last season at Michigan and Brees had one more year to go at Purdue? Nope.
“We were texting back and forth on Monday, just kind of chuckling at this whole scenario, right?” Brees said Wednesday, two days before he turned 42. “So that’s 85 years and a lot of football experience that’s going to be on the field on Sunday. Listen, when Tom Brady signed with the Bucs and I knew that he was coming to our division, I envisioned this game … because I knew our aspirations as a team, to be in the playoffs and beyond. And I certainly knew what he was bringing to the Bucs and that talented roster. So I think this is probably where we all envisioned being at this point in season.”
Head to head in the NFL, Brady has prevailed just twice and Brees five times, including two decisive New Orleans wins this past season.
In so many ways, they’re the same player, the same leader, the same competitor, the same dedicated athlete. And they know it. “There’s a friendship there, there’s a mutual respect there,” Brees said. “I think we have a lot of things in common. A lot of things that we both value and appreciate that are very much the same.”
For his part, Brady joked, “He’s a lot younger than me — he’s 18 months younger than me. Eighteen months ago I felt pretty good, so I’ve got a little advanced age on him — and experience. I’m hanging in there.
“He’s had a terrific year. He’s a great player. I’ve known him for a long time. I’ve always had a great amount of respect for him going all the way back to his Purdue days. My roommate when I first got to the Patriots was from Purdue, and was really good friends with drew.
“I always just kept up with him and have gotten to know him somewhat well over the years. I just think so much of him as a person and as a player. I know what it takes to do what he’s doing, (and) he knows what it takes to do what I’m doing. I think there’s just a lot of mutual respect.”
The Saints (now 13-4) won their division, the NFC South, just ahead of the Buccaneers (12-5). Their head-tohead games decided the order, with the Saints sweeping the Bucs — winning in Week 1 in New Orleans, 34-23, as well as the followup in Week 9 at Tampa 38-3.
The latter was by far Brady’s worst outing so far in this, his first season with the Bucs after 20 in New England.
The suspicion is Brees will retire following the season. So this could be his last NFL game. Brady has said he wants to play at least until age 45.
That their winding football paths, all these years and touchdowns and pass yards later, has led them to the same football field inside the iconic Superdome, for this showdown playoff game — whose prime-time viewership ratings surely will be through the roof — is like something out of a movie.
No Country for Old Men? Not quite.