Bucs’ Brady is ready to prove his second actwon’t fail
Tom Brady watched a lategame pass fall incomplete, turned to the sideline and spat a couple of harsh words. It was Week 17, and he had already revived a dormant Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise and directed it into the playoffs. He had already passed longtime rival Peyton Manning for the most touchdowns passing by a quarterback in his first season with a new team — 38. He was 43 years old and still a top NFL quarterback, somehow.
But he was upset, impatient. He shook his head.
On the next play, Brady whistled his 39th touchdown pass of the season to Chris Godwin, who was born when Brady was in college. That score, Brady’s fourthof the day, would cement an 11th win for the Buccaneers. Godwin would call Brady’s latest record “really dope, man.” coach Bruce Arians quipped, “I know he’ll like that; Peyton will be (upset).”
Brady shrugged it all off. “It all comes down to one game,” he said after beating the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday and finishing the campaign with 40 touchdown passes. “Nowthat the regular season’s over, it’s one football game— who plays well, who executes when the pressure is on.”
He’s right. In one sense, Brady has an impenetrable legacy: He has six Super Bowl wins. In another sense, part of his legacy will spin in a different direction depending on howhe spins the football in the postseason for the Bucs — starting Saturday night against Washington at FedEx Field.
Second acts have ranged wildly for Hall of Fame quarterbacks in the NFL. Manning’s four-year journey with the Denver Broncos resulted in two Super Bowl appearances — arguably a Hall of Fame career on its own. Joe Montana took Kansas City to the playoffs but fell short of a crowning moment. But the final acts of Hall of Famers Joe Namath in Los Angeles and Johnny Unitas in San Diego ended with a whimper.
Brady arrived in Florida with some of the same questions faced by other aging greats. Was he behind the times? Was he still as potent without his former crew? Would this last hurrah be triumphant, like Manning’s? Or would it be awkward, like Brett Favre’s?
Adding to the drama is that Brady chose this detour. The Patriots had not moved on to some younger model, giving their star a ceremonial rocking chair. Brady loved New England, and New England loved him. “The entire situation was Tom needed a fresh start,” former Patriots teammate Tedy Bruschi said. “It’s what he wanted, what he was searching for.”
So far, Brady has been a blockbuster for Tampa Bay — a franchise that has never given a second contract to a quarterback it has drafted. His new team is in the playoffs, and his old coach, Bill Belichick, is not. But just because his new coach says Brady has “totally exceeded expectations” does not mean he has matched his own. Andan11-win regular season doesn’t mean a playoff flop won’t twist the awesome Brady oeuvre into something just a little less pristine.
If you aren’t sure what a single playoff run can do for a quarterback’s reputation, consider Brady’s first postseason. Before he arrived in New England in 2000, the Patriots had only three playoff wins in the previous 15 years. The 2001 team was considered a fluke all the way through the playoffs, beating Oakland on the infamous “Tuck Rule” call and then sneaking past the favored Steelers in Pittsburgh. Brady and his teammates were 14-point Super Bowl underdogs against the Greatest ShowOn Turf, the St. Louis Rams.
“Everything was being shaped and formed — his mental toughness,” Bruschi said. “Wewere getting to know him, too. He took care of the ball really well, made great decisions. He knew when to take a chance, and he did.”
The 24-year-old Brady took the field late in the fourth quarter of a tie game, and legendary broadcaster John Madden declared the Pats should play for overtime instead of going for the win. Brady led a final, heart-stopping drive, with poise that seemed almost jarring back then, and Madden rescinded his second-guess even before the championship-winning field goal went through the uprights.
Brady and the Patriots were suddenly world-beaters and narrative-twisters. The new image would stick.
All these years later, now postBelichick, Brady has shepherded another afterthought team into the playoffs. And for the Bucs, too, Brady’s rock-steady poise has helped.
“His calmness on the sidelines when we’re not winning, and we’re going to win,” Arians said. “You put those in a bottle, and you’re going to make a lot of money.”
Brady reportedly walked right through offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich’s front door during the summer without realizing it wasn’t Leftwich’s house. Receivers took even longer to figure out where No. 12 needed them to be.
“As the year’s gone on, we’ve gotten more comfortable with what Tom’s looking for as far as body language,” said Godwin, and the scoreboard says it’s working: Over the past four weeks, the Bucs have scored 26, 31, 47 and 44 points.