Brady keeps rubbing salt in Pats’ wounds
GOAT clearly ahead of Belichick since split
Tom Brady’s 2020 playoff journey with the Buccaneers began Saturday night. In some ways, the former Patriots legend was merely at the piling-on stage of his Revenge Tour.
Playing for someone other than New England for the first time in his storied NFL career, playing without Bill Belichick on the sideline, Brady is proving he’s still a winning quarterback, even at an age most quarterbacks have long been buried.
Let’s just say even though Brady was upstaged by an unlikely sort — Washington backup Taylor Heinicke — he still managed to pour more gasoline on the fire, as the Bucs advanced to the division round after beating the Washington Football Team Saturday night, 31-23.
Heinicke, a former Alliance of American Football backup, may have played the game of his life, embracing the Cinderella role and giving Tampa Bay fits all night, but he still couldn’t take down the GOAT.
Brady (22-of-40, 381 yards, 2 TDs), who loves to be pushed, and has always enjoyed engaging in a good duel, was just a little bit better than Heinicke when he had to be.
“If you could win 100-0, it’s going to be the same result in the end,” Brady said after the game. “It’s good to win and advance.”
And continue to pour salt in the wound. He didn’t say that, but that’s the underlying storyline.
The fact that Belichick pretty much ushered the 43year-old six-time Super Bowl winner out the door, and Brady responded by getting the all-time losingest team into the postseason, has been bad enough for New England fans to stomach.
But now he’s adding to the misery, but more specifically, Belichick’s misery.
And wasn’t Heinicke on the Patriots practice squad in 2017 for a few weeks? How did he fall under the radar, right under their noses?
This is a kid who showed up at 5:30 a.m. to impress his bosses, and oh by the way, learn in the film room with Brady, because that’s the only other person who showed up that early.
This is also the same Heinicke (26-of-44, 306 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) who won over a ton of fans Saturday night by going toe-to-toe with a legend, even in a losing effort.
Again, the Patriots continue to sink further into the abyss.
While Brady would have been hard-pressed to make an extremely flawed Patriots team a playoff participant this year had he stayed, the point he’s made this season is simple enough: give him weapons, and he’s still good enough to win.
That was a point that was lost in Foxboro. Sure, he’s over 40, and well past the threshold of effectiveness for quarterbacks that age.
But give him playmakers, and he’s still more than capable. Even Cam Newton might have been more capable with more talent at wide receiver and tight end.
While the divorce was amicable at the time, and almost inevitable, the split has been lopsided to this point.
Belichick kept the house and kids in Foxboro, while Brady was awarded the vacation home in Florida, and a new team that hooked him up with all the skill-position talent he could possibly desire.
And therein also lies the other issue. Brady had a plan. Belichick didn’t.
The Patriots head coach thought he could win with anyone. That didn’t happen. Brady knew he was still capable of winning with a better supporting cast around him on offense. He was right.
And the farther the GOAT goes with the Bucs, who entered as a wild card in the NFC as the fifth seed, the worse Belichick looks.
Brady is now 31-11 in 42 career playoff games. He’s also the oldest player to throw a touchdown pass in NFL playoff history.
Stellar play from his offensive line kept Washington’s ferocious pass rush off of him for the most part Saturday night, while his quick release was also a rush-killer.
While many thought he would just dink and dunk, Brady hit plenty of long balls. His two TD passes were deep balls, with a 36yarder to Antonio Brown, and a 28-yarder to Chris Godwin.
“That’s Tom Brady,” said running back Leonard Fournette, who had a big game with 19 carries for 93 yards and TD. “That’s the boy. We got faith in him, we’re going to protect our butts off for him to make sure he gets to throw.”
Brady targeted eight receivers, hitting six. Mostly, he did what he does best, throwing to the open guy.
Old friend Rob Gronkowski didn’t have a catch, just missing getting his feet in for a touchdown, but Brady found receivers Mike Evans (6 catches, 119 yards), Godwin (5 catches, 79 yards) and tight end Cameron Brate (4 catches, 80 yards).
“With all the options we have on offense, Mike and Chris … AB and Gronk, they’re going to be the first read,” said Brate, who went undrafted after playing his college ball at Harvard. “That’s cool, because those guys typically win pretty much every route. But luckily for me, we found a mismatch and I was able to make some plays for us.”
Brady hit Evans with a long ball to set up the final field goal. After the game, Brady was a bit irked the Bucs didn’t do a better job in the red zone, but a win is a win.
He’s moving on. The Patriots aren’t.
“I’m glad we won, I’m glad we have another week of work. … We’ll get ready for whoever our opponent is,” Brady said. “It’s going to be a good one. We’re going to have to play great football.”