Brady one of the most polarising figures in NFL
By capturing record fifth Super Bowl title last Sunday, the Pats’ star cemented his status as the greatest quarterback ever, albeit one with some flaws, writes Juliet Macur in Houston
Look at him. He seems so nice. Two hours ago, Tom Brady was barking orders and sweating bullets. Now, he is no longer dressed like a quarterback, having tossed his No.12 New England Patriots jersey aside long enough for someone to steal it.
Now, Brady, all scrubbed and spiffy, looks more like a businessman celebrating a closed deal. In a dress shirt, tie knotted just so, he is giving out hugs and high-fives, and flashing his dimples as the boss, Robert K Kraft, the Patriots owner, hands out victory cigars.
Brady is 39, ancient in the NFL, but he looks the part of the greatest quarterback ever, which he is. No other quarterback has won five Super Bowls. No other player has won four Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Awards.
Marvel at him. Or don’t. With Brady, as with many American sports heroes who broke records and starred in dynasties, there is sometimes a blemish that goes with the brilliance. Like some of the best athletes ever — Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong, Pete Rose and Barry Bonds — Brady isn’t just a great athlete. Like all of them, he is a human being, with flaws.
Maybe that is why they were all so good, why Brady still is. Maybe they all know what they are, and their great gift is a tunnel vision that lets them focus only on being great while others wring their hands over the rest. Maybe that is why just as many people seem to despise them as love them.
And just maybe, when things go wrong for people like that, as they did for Brady and the Patriots for a good part of last Sunday night, maybe that is why there is never a shortage of schadenfreude.
Brady likely sensed some of that last Sunday night. Did he deserve it? Maybe. He’s not Woods or Armstrong or Rose or Bonds. But outside New England, he has become a villain, nonetheless.
He could have spoken out about the videotaping of opponents — if you assume he knew. He didn’t have to destroy his cellphone during the Deflategate investigation. He didn’t have to be so aloof about the whole affair that he seemed to be hiding something.
He didn’t have to set a red “Make America Great Again” cap in his locker in September 2015, in blue-state Massachusetts, near the beginning of a campaign that would divide the country, and then act surprised when some people got upset. He didn’t have to duck legitimate questions about his relationship with Donald Trump with cringe-worthy answers and amateurish dodges.
But Tom Brady didn’t come to Houston last week to help people work through their anger, to sort out their frustration over losses from last season, or last month, or most particularly last November. He came, as he always does, to win.
But last Sunday night, even Brady seemed to acknowledge what everyone knows: His act, while terrific by football standards, can be polarising.
“We’ve done pretty good over the last few years, you know?” he said after beating the Atlanta Falcons, 34-28, in Super Bowl 51. “We were in the AFC championship last year and won the Super Bowl two years ago, so I don’t think anyone’s feeling bad for the Patriots. I don’t think anyone feels bad for the Patriots.”
He was wrong about that. For a while last Sunday, a brief while, it was possible, perhaps even understandable, to feel sorry for Brady.
Near the end of the first half, he seemed lost. The nadir was the moment he threw an interception straight into the hands of Falcons cornerback Robert Alford.
Alford gleefully ran 82 yards for a touchdown to give Atlanta a 21-0 lead as halftime approached. It was the first pick-6 of Brady’s postseason career, and after he fell to his knees as he tried to tackle Alford, he remained on the ground, looking deflated. Or maybe defeated is a better word.
This was not the Brady everyone knew, spraying passes and missing receivers, and a large swath of America was reveling in it. Before long, the Patriots were down by 25 points, 28-3. Never before had a Super Bowl team come back from a deficit bigger than 10 points. But there has never been anyone like Brady, either.
That’s when fans saw the very thing they hope to see whenever they tune in to sports. Sometimes, yes, it’s for that schadenfreude. But really, fans don’t watch players because they are especially likable or because they follow the rules or are good citizens. They watch to see them do amazing things.
“Down 25 points, it’s hard to imagine us winning,” Brady said later, though his teammates said they actually did imagine just that — because of Brady.
Julian Edelman’s superhuman catch during a key Patriots drive helped make Brady look good. It set up the touchdown that tied the score and sent the Super Bowl to overtime for the first time.
In those extra minutes, Brady passed and passed and passed again, expertly moving his team 75 yards downfield to the winning touchdown by running back James White.
Led by quarterback Matt Ryan, the Falcons — so good so early — never touched the ball. Like everyone else, they could only watch a master at work.
When the winning score was confirmed, Brady fell back to his knees. His tears fell, too. It had been a tough year and a long year, aside from the stress of a four-game suspension and his insertion into politics. His mother, Galynn, has been fighting for her life for the past 18 months and, according to Kraft, undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.
Before kick-off, Brady dedicated the game to his mother. Afterwards, he celebrated with her and his entire family.
“She’s been through a lot, way harder than what I went through last night, way harder than what our team went through last night,” Brady said on Monday morning. “She hasn’t been to a game all year. What a hell of a game for her to be at.”
Like him or not, it was a good night for everyone. Unbelievable and unforgettable, just like Brady, who once again stood out even while carrying all that baggage.