OLD TOM WILL CHASE YOUNG

Brady up against Washington rookie who was one when the Bucs legend turned pro!

TOM BRADY will have one eye on Chase Young tonight as the rookie Washington defensive end tries to wreck the NFL GOAT’S bid for another Super Bowl.

What makes the match-up remarkable is that the Tampa Bay quarterback is still going strong despite turning pro the day after Young’s first birthday.

In the intervening years, Brady has been crowned NFL champion a record six times while Young was working his way from nappies to Ohio State University.

The age gap between this weekend’s sporting adversaries is 21 years, eight months, 11 days.

Yet this is no NFL anomaly, especially when it comes to quarterbacks who are paving the road to the February 7 Super Bowl.

Of the 14 teams qualified for this season’s play-offs, 12 have quarterbacks who are representatives of an extraordinary sporting age gap.

At 43, Brady is the poster boy for the golden oldies, with si x of them between 36 and 43.

At the other end of the scale, defending Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, of Kansas, is one of half a dozen aged 24 to 26.

In his 21st season, Brady has more NFL campaigns than all six youngsters combined.

But according to team-mate Rob Gronkowski he is no different now to all those years ago.

Gronkowski said: “As a player he really hasn’t changed. From the second I first met him he’s been all in – all in with practices, all in at meetings and all in trying to get better every single day.

“It has continued throughout his whole career. He’s been always staying after practice. He’s b e en alway s trying to work with players every practice to get better. He’s been so consistent at such a high rate.”

Scientists are at odds over whether or not Brady’s method of survival is healthy.

He espoused his core training and diet secrets in a book, ‘ The TB12 Method’. He avoids white sugars, some fats, alcohol , and vegetables li ke tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and aubergines. He has never drunk coffee but gets through eight to 16 pints of water per day, laced with electrolytes.

He avoids traditional weight lifting in order to keep his muscles loose. He insists on pliability and believes that long, soft muscles equal peak performance.

Brady said in his book: “I define sustained peak performance in ways that are unique to what I do in my job and the way I want to live off the field.

“You don’t need to be an athlete to apply the methods to your life.

“The important thing is to hold yourself to your own standards and remember that the method is built less on perfection than it is on progress and forming positive daily habits.”

Brady follows hi s regimen religiously. At 43 and still going strong in a young man’s world, who can argue?

There is more than 21 years difference in age between Brady (left) and Chase