John Riordan: No end in sight for the Brady retirement saga
CARRYING ON?: Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) walks on the sidelines. Pic: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara
The slow and sad final act of Tom Bradyâs Greatest-NFL-Player-Of-All-Time career is starting to feel a little like the sort of patched together story arc youâd find in Seinfeld.
Brady has a bit of the George Costanza about him; obsessed with what people think of them, they would have shared a similar hairline and jawline if it weren't for the cosmetic choices of the quarterback. Both of their marriages fell apart dramatically and after they somewhat unbelievably elevated themselves to the top of the sporting institutions where they found themselves employed, they dramatically quit the day job before quickly rescinding that decision.
Itâs a ludicrous comparison, for the most part, given the fact that fictional Costanza was extremely unathletic and climbed the ladder at the New York Yankees thanks to the not-so-fictional eccentricities of the larger-than-life owner at whom the sitcom poked some fun at in the 1990s, George Steinbrenner.
Brady, meanwhile, did his real life heroics on the field of play but nobody could have believed when he was drafted 199th after a middling late 90s college career that there was a path for him to unprecedented glory, never to be bettered.
He will be 46 next year, a little older but just as eligible a bachelor as Costanza due to his insatiable desire to keep his football career open ended. His now ex-wife Gisele BĂŒndchen was one half of a couple that had been the envy of America. But a few months ago, she decided she had endured quite enough of his unique level of commitment to winning and she tore it all down.
NFL insiders like to share out or nod towards the strong suspicion that when Brady's retirement was scooped away from him by Adam Schefter of ESPN last February, he decided out of spite in March to continue playing and burn the integrity of the exclusive yarn to the ground. His wife, allegedly, found this to be a contravention of his integrity to their relationship and told him to pack his bags six months later.
His 23rd season in the sport was beset by an understandably thirsty tabloid frenzy which appeared to occasionally drag down his performance on the field, a very mixed bag of results contrasting dramatically with the Hollywood nature of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Super Bowl winning campaign spearheaded by Brady during his first season away from the New England Patriots.
Brady's seventh championship, which was secured two years ago, sealed his reputation as the all-time best - as if adding that significant cherry on top was even necessary - simply because it was his first time doing it without the Patriots and without his former coach, Bill Belichick.
A year ago, there was no shame in exiting the playoffs to the eventual champions, the LA Rams, and the heavy expectation was that an ending like that was as close to the top as can be expected.
But, alas, no, 40 days after he retired, he returned and the reaction to his decision could be best summed up as a tired and worried groan.
On Monday night, during a hotly anticipated wild card playoff game at home to the Dallas Cowboys, his season ended with a hammering. Tampa Bay were not expected to win but the way in which Brady cheaply gave away an early possession deep in the opponentsâ half, a first red-zone turnover since 2019, foretold doom.
Tired and worried groans around the stadium and in the commentators booth. ESPN had pleaded their case for the right to air a clash like this which would be commercially appealing to neutrals and good for ratings. As it turned out, it was over by halftime and all that was left then for reporters to do was to double down on questions about his future.
He was of course ready to punt away the speculation, saying: âIâm going to go home, get a good nightâs sleep, as good as I can. ⊠There has been a lot of focus on this game, so, just going to be one day at a time.â He probably didnât sleep all that well considering the fact that one really fascinating fact to emerge out of the defeat was that it was his first time quarterbacking a team to a score of zero at half-time of a playoff game.
The last time it happened to him was the first time it happened and also the first time he took part in a playoff game. His January 2002 knockout debut is occasionally known as the âSnow Bowlâ and was the last game at the old Foxboro Stadium home of the Patriots.
The Oakland Raiders were up 7-0 at the half and were 13-10 up in the fourth quarter, pushing very close to wrapping it up away from home. Brady was dispossessed in a play that was so controversial, it caused a rule change. Instead of being deemed a fumble, officials reviewed and decided he was tucking the ball back underneath him instead of passing it. The Tuck Rule Game swung to the Patriots via overtime, his first of six Patriots Super bowls followed and a sliding doors moment for the ages was enshrined.
He is a free agent now and, in spite of his age, he is a very coveted midrange quarterback, a position that is notoriously difficult to play and one which is currently difficult to recruit for at almost half of the leagueâs teams. There simply arenât enough individuals who can perform consistently enough and above average enough in the professional game.
Brady led the NFL with 733 pass attempts during the regular season, leading the league with 490 completions for 4,694 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Yes, Tampa Bay failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs for only the fourth time in 20 appearances but his impressive stats leading up to the Cowboys loss was achieved in spite of a poorly constructed offensive line protecting him.
His retirement / unretirement didnât help with the squad rebuild that was so necessary to help him out on the field. Super Bowl-winning head coach Bruce Arians abruptly resigned when faced with another season of Bradyâs well-earned ego and the entire house of cards only barely avoided collapsing due to the good fortune of playing in the NFLâs weakest division, the NFC South which they won in spite of an 8-9 losing record.
As Brady dips his toe into the market for his services, he can be assured of at least eight if not ten teams who would take his highly acceptable abilities and disregard his advancing years. Speculation about his next chapter centres around his native San Francisco (looking increasingly unlikely) and the Las Vegas Raiders (which would contravene their stated intentions) as well as the more probable Tennessee Titans and the astonishingly possible New York Jets.
Such is the ravenous desire to predict his next move, even the young pretender quarterbacks enjoying the peaks of their careers are entering the fray. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, almost 20 years Bradyâs junior, couldnât help trying his hand at amateur psychology when interviewed by Kyle Brandt on Tuesday.
âWhen it happened last year and he retired, I told people âIâll believe it when heâs not playing the first gameâ,â Allen said.Â
âBut, the way that he talked in his press conference [Monday] night, it seemed a little too sentimental for my liking in terms of, you know, holding onto the belief that heâs going to continue to play.âÂ
Nobody has a clue! The decision will drag out for another month or two and whatever is going on in his mind, thoughts around conserving the supremacy of legacy will not be a priority.Â
Jerry Brewer made a good point in the Washington Post this week when reminding us that Michael Jordan is still the greatest in spite of his mostly forgotten Washington Wizards final act and Jerry Rice is still the most admired wide receiver ever because of a 49ers career unblemished by the decision to round things out at the Seattle Seahawks.
Brady entered the NFL being written off and he will spend at least another season being written off again. He's wired differently to the rest of us and that will likely ensure another year of Brady highlights and lowlights.
