Tom Brady may be finished this season, but it does not feel like his last.
TAMPA, Fla. — After throwing 66 passes and mostly getting knocked around and eventually out of the 2022 season’s playoffs by the Dallas Cowboys, Tom Brady Standing at a podium explaining what went wrong
“Kind of typical how we played all year — inefficient in the passing game, not very good in the run game, so, it’s hard to beat good teams like that,” Brady said after a 31-14 drilling at the hands of the Cowboys.
He avoided questions about his future and then slipped back in to the present. Buccaneers‘ locker room, through the bowels of Raymond James Stadium and eventually into a black Tesla where, with videographer in tow, he drove away for … what?
What’s next for Tom Brady will be the No. The No.1 question this offseason.
Is he still in Tampa? Is there a chance in Tampa? Las Vegas, Miami or Tennessee? Is it time for you to move to the broadcast booth?
His demeanor following Monday night’s debacle did not portend a 23-year veteran knowing he’d just played his final game. As he spoke with his backup quarterback, he smiled and cracked a joke. Blaine Gabbert while changing into street clothes, gave a quick pat on the back to his offensive linemen as they sat in front of their lockers, and told more than a few Bucs players and reps, “See you tomorrow.”
He was light, maybe relieved that this long, hard season was over, but mostly he was not emotional.
Is this — a 35-of-66, two-touchdown, one-interception, mostly forgettable performance — how Tom Freaking Brady is going to go out?
If there’s one thing Monday night’s loss exposed in the 45-year-old Brady it’s that his game has been largely reduced to dinking and dunking. There’s very little stretching the ball downfield. Instead it’s an assortment of swing passes and shallow crossing routes and just trying to get rid of the ball before he gets drilled.
His average completion rate of 9.6 yards is the lowest in his career, and second-lowest this season in the NFL. Kyler Murray. What that translated to was defenses that weren’t worried about Brady going over the top, instead clamping down and creating tight windows for even the easy throws.
Las Vegas could certainly use that to win the ball. Davante AdamsWhat Miami needs is… Tyreek Hill?
And yet, even at 45, in a season when he posted the worst record of his entire 23-year career, he still managed to throw and complete more passes than any other quarterback in the league — more than even he ever had in a single season.
How can you make the two equal?
This isn’t O.J. Simpson is not limping to the finish in a Niners uniform or Wille Mays as a New York Met. Brady, one year after his league-leading performance in passing yards and touchdowns, is very close to winning his fourth MVP award.
The Only His age is the main reason that his future is in doubt. Yet, we are here.
Brady’s entire career has been highlighted by proving people wrong, from that first Super Bowl victory over the mighty Rams to the seventh over the indomitable Chiefs … and everywhere in between. We stopped counting him out, even though the calendars kept turning beyond historical comparisons of any other NFL quarterback.
“I’m going to go home and get a good night sleep,” he said when asked what’s next.
Does the end of this one feel different than year’s past?
“Just feels like the end of the season,” he said.
He was gone.