Brady-Mahomes debate has certain ring to it
Somewhere, there’s a Metaverse where the Tom Brady vs. Patrick Mahomes debate rages over who is the better baseball player.
Is it Brady, the Montreal Expos catcher and Tampa Bay Rays DH who hit 649 home runs, won three MVPs, and seven World Series rings playing alongside the likes of Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, and Vlad Guerrero?
Or is it Patrick Mahomes, the Detroit Tigers righty who won 30 games in 2022, pocketed two World Series rings and a pair of Cy Young Awards in Detroit in his first six seasons, and led the Tigers to the World Series for the fourth time in five years?
Fanatics did a wonderful job in December taking us back through Brady’s baseball career that never was. Brady was drafted by the Expos in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB draft. The guy who chose Brady — former baseball executive Kevin Malone — told me back in 2015 that Brady had legitimate big-league baseball potential.
Mahomes was taken by the Detroit Tigers during the 37th round of the 2014 MLB draft.
Like Brady, he made baseball the road not taken.
Patrick Mahomes Sr. pitched for the Red Sox in 1996-97. The elder Mahomes appeared in 21 games for Boston out of the bullpen. Mahomes Sr. posted a Kaleb Ort-like 6.85 ERA and recorded 22 strikeouts in 22.1 innings for the Local Nine.
The younger Mahomes turned 1 just 12 days before his dad got a save in relief of Roger Clemens — and a few others — by pitching the 11th inning in a 4-3 win over the Yankees in New York.
One degree of separation between the Rocket from Texas and the rocketthrowing QB from Texas Tech. Patrick Mahomes was an MLB clubhouse kid. His dad played for six major-league teams, including the 2001 Texas Rangers alongside Alex Rodriguez.
Mahomes Sr. was arrested this past week and charged with DUI, his third such charge.
Mahomes addressed the issue Monday night in Las Vegas, by calling it a “family matter.” If there’s such a thing as an Uber Platinum Card, Mahomes Sr. needs to have one.
It’s been nearly impossible to have a sober discussion comparing Brady to Mahomes these days. How soon we forget? Poor Bill Belichick. Age discrimination personified. He can’t find work these days. The Hoodie’s boat is named “VIII Rings” but he couldn’t get a call back from the freaking Commanders.
Meanwhile, “Brady Derangement Syndrome” returned like the 39th COVID variant after Mahomes and Chiefs clipped the Ravens at Baltimore in the AFC Championship Game.
Mahomes has won 12 times in 14 tries as a betting underdog. He’s 121-1 in his career ATS when getting points. Mahomes’ team is a two-point underdog Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. You’ve been warned. Now, if you want to call Mahomes “The GOAT of Betting Underdog QBs,” we’re all in.
The foolishness spewed by multiple mouths in NFL State Run media concerning Mahomes in relation to Brady and the Big Picture has brought us back in time to the days of “Tom vs. Peyton,” “Tom vs. Time,” and “Tom vs. Everything.”
The tell on those who put Mahomes at the top of any NFL QB pantheon is that they begin their dissertation with an assault on Brady.
Before adding: “What if…“
There is no “if,” there’s just “what.”
Brady has seven Super Bowl rings, plus head-tohead wins over Mahomes in Super Bowl 55 and the 2018 AFC title game. Head-to-head is the ultimate tiebreaker.
Yes, football is a team sport.
Still, Mahomes needs eight rings before he’ll ever dethrone Brady as “The GOAT” of anything. Not to mention drunk tossing the Lombardi Trophy successfully from one moving boat to another.
Moving forward, Brady’s biggest ace over his NFL Heir Apparent is longevity.
Brady did not miss a start due to injury from age 32 until his second retirement at 45.
Brady won six Super Bowls with the Patriots in exactly 17 calendar years. Super Bowl 36 was played on Feb. 3, 2002. Super Bowl 53 followed on Feb. 3, 2019. Brady won his seventh ring, with Tampa Bay, two years and four days later.
While Mahomes has 17 years left to get six more rings to reach No. 8, he may not want to stick around that long. Mahomes is playing on a 10year, $450 million deal that should keep him in Kansas City through the 2031 season.
By then, Mahomes will be 36. Which is the NFL’s new 45.
Saying Patrick Mahomes isn’t Tom Brady — yet — is hardly NFL slander.
“I’m not even close to halfway,” Mahomes said when asked about catching TB12 during Super Bowl opening night Monday.
Mahomes is the closest thing the NFL has to Brady.
Any current “Brady vs. Mahomes” comparison is a momentary snapshot. Just like the latest presidential poll.
At age 28, Brady had won three Super Bowls in five seasons.
Mahomes may hit that plateau by 10:15 p.m. Sunday.
The 28-year-old Mahomes is well ahead of the 28-year-old Brady in terms of regular-season career attempts, completions, completion percentage, yards per game, total yards, and TD passes.
Mahomes played in six AFC title games in his first six seasons. The 28-yearold Mahomes will be playing in his fourth Super Bowl, one more than the 28-year-old Brady.
Only two QBs have bested Mahomes in the postseason: Brady and Joe Burrow.
Not bad. Mahomes has the love of Roger Goodell, Taylor Swift and a few billion Swifties at his back Sunday. Brady will forever be the NFL’s ultimate “antihero.”
Beyond the numbers, Mahomes shares Brady’s “clutchability.” That is the only thing more important than “pliability.”
For unapologetic Bradyphiles, who long ago chose Tom over Bill or Bob, watching Mahomes is like watching Brady reincarnated.
The world may run out of Kryptonite trying to destroy them both.