Brady focused on Eagles, not his own success

TAMPA

Tom Brady’s looking ahead, though not beyond this weekend.

No one’s had more success in the NFL playoffs than the seven-time Super Bowl champion, who says his focus is on trying to help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Philadelphia Eagles and not a dazzling postseason resume or how well he’s played at age 44.

The Bucs (13-4) set a franchise record for wins during the regular season, with Brady joining Drew Brees and Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks in the past 30 years to lead the league in passing yards, touchdowns, attempts and completions.

With a career-best 5,136 yards — the third-highest single-season total in NFL history — and 43 TDs, the argument can be made that this has been his finest season.

If Brady agrees, he’s not saying.

“I feel like it’s, for me, always about the team’s success, so it’s hard to compare one year to another. I feel like I want to play as a championshiplevel player. That’s what I’ve said for a long time,” the Bucs star said.

“I said a long time ago when I suck I’ll retire. But what I really meant was when I’m not capable of leading the team to victory, then someone else has to do the job. I feel like I can do that,” Brady added.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was 3 years old when Brady made his first postseason start in 2001.

Brady enters Sunday’s NFC wild-card round matchup at Raymond James Stadium with a sparkling 34-11 playoff record. He’s thrown for 12,449 yards and 83 touchdowns — both alltime league bests — in those 45 games.

Hurts, 23, is in his first year as Philadelphia’s full-time starter. The Eagles have won seven of 11 games since losing to

every year, especially my goal, is to win a championship. To be able to do that no matter what level it’s on, it’s just a great opportunity. What I’m so happy about is just being able to play in the [United] States