Brady could pump legacy up amid talk of deflated footballs
As the days wound down last week before Tom Brady’s chance to become arguably the best quarterback in NFL history, he probably stopped smiling and became downright crotchety.
The Patriots quarterback had joked earlier this season that his wife, Gisele Bündchen, often asks, “What’s your problem?” regarding why his mood worsens as the week unfolds before a game.
It’s just that “the anxiousness starts building and building and building,” Brady said.
There might be a little more anxiousness than usual Sunday, as the 37-year-old Patriots quarterback tries to win his fourth Super Bowl ring. The San Mateo native and Serra High product will be the first quarterback to start six Super Bowls. Brady won in 2002, 2004 and 2005 before losing to the New York Giants in 2008 and 2012. He definitely knew before friendly reporters reminded him that with a victory over the Seahawks on Sunday, he would match Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as starting quarterbacks with four rings.
“It’s hard to think about those things,” Brady told reporters at media day last week. “Like I said, I’ve just been fortunate to be on some great teams. Those guys are unbelievable players, they were so great for this league.
“They were great teams. I was the biggest 49ers fan growing up, and to watch Joe and Steve
Young — who were my two idols — who were just great for the game and great for the sport.”
(If not for spectacular catches by New York’s David Tyree in 2008 and Mario Manningham in 2012, Brady could already have five rings.)
Former teammate and NFL Network analyst Willie McGinest thinks Brady is already the best quarterback of all time. (And yes, the fact that he is wearing the same rings that Brady has is noted.)
“He takes players to another level,” McGinest said. “Joe Montana had a great supporting cast. Tom Brady worked up from the bottom, from high school to college to the pros, and he wants to keep his teammates at the top.”
Just how hard Brady, head coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots work for victories — and if there is a point at which they will stop — has again come into question. The team was punished in 2007 for illegally videotaping the Jets’ signals during a game, and now finds itself in the middle of a Deflategate investigation.
Eleven of the 12 allotted footballs used by New England in the AFC title game were underinflated and below leaguerequired limits. A softer ball could be easier to grip and catch.
While Brady said at a news conference Jan. 22 that he “would never do anything to break the rules,” many don’t believe him. Including one of his idols.
Montana, after a promotional appearance in Phoenix on Thursday, said footballs don’t end up underinflated unless a quarterback asks for it.
“If I ever want a ball a certain way, I don’t do it myself,” Montana said. “So, somebody did it for him. I don’t know why everyone is making a big deal out of trying to figure out who did it. It’s pretty simple. …
“Tom likes the balls that way, obviously, or you wouldn’t have 11 of them that way without him complaining, because as a quarterback, you know how you like the ball.”
The NFL has done its best to push the investigation and the issue back until after the Super Bowl. But it’s not going away, especially if the Patriots win and Brady’s legacy is the topic.
NBC’s Bob Costas told “The Dan Patrick Show” that Brady was not as strong in his denials in an interview that will be televised Sunday.
“I asked (Brady) at one point, ‘So you’re telling me, when this investigation is complete … you will be’ — I don’t think I used the word exonerated — but, be they fan or foe, no one will be able to pin anything on Tom Brady,” Costas told Patrick, “and he said something to the effect of, ‘Well, let’s just wait and see how it comes out.’ Which I thought was an intriguing answer.”
Brady said he doesn’t like that the investigation has taken away from the team’s accomplishment, overcoming a 2-2 start by winning 12 of its last 14 games.
“Hopefully our best is still to come,” he said.
Brady said he still can’t believe that this is his sixth Super Bowl.
“I’ve been very lucky over the years to play on great teams,” Brady said. “I had a type of injury in 2008 where I didn’t get to play — and since then I’ll never take these things for granted. You may lose, I come off the field and say, ‘At least I have a chance to go out and play the next week.’ It’s pretty special.”
Not that Brady is viewing this as his last shot. He thinks he can play into his 40s with the help of Alex Guerrero, a Manhattan Beach physical therapist, dietitian and masseuse.
There’s a good chance it won’t be with the Patriots, who drafted Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round last year.
“It will end badly,” Brady’s dad, Tom Sr., told the New York Times last week. “It does end badly. And I know that because I know what Tommy wants to do. He wants to play until he’s 70. …
“It’s a cold business. And for as much as you want it to be familial, it isn’t.”
But that’s a matter for another day. As is the talk of his legacy and where he ranks among the all-time quarterbacks. Sunday is simply another chance for one of the league’s great competitors to play football. And to win. “That’s all that matters to him,” McGinest said. “Any Sunday.”