Tom Brady is having a season to forget with Tampa Bay. Ironically, the turning point must succeed at the NFL game in Munich. Otherwise it looks bleak for the Buccaneers – and superstar quarterback Brady is threatened with an inglorious end.
Actually, Tom Brady is not human. Anyone who has watched a game of the superstar NFL in the past two decades knows that. Tom Brady is a machine, a robot that knows no age, whose precision arm finds every little gap to explosively fire the football straight into the arms of its strategically chosen receiver. Tom Brady is a winner guy. Bullshit, the winner. The now 45-year-old quarterback has made ten Super Bowl appearances and then lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy seven times. Six wins with the New England Patriots, one win with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But suddenly this self-image crumbles. The law that has been in force for decades that Brady’s team is always to be reckoned with at the end of the season no longer applies. Since the quarterback, who was drafted in the sixth of seven rounds in the 2000 NFL draft as the 199th player, played his first game as a starter in the NFL in the 2001 season, only once (2002) has he not made the playoffs (in 2008 he fell after the first). game injured and his Patriots then also did not reach the knockout stages).
This season, Brady is not only amazingly human, Tampa Bay is playing so badly that the playoffs can currently only be reached with luck. The Super Bowl, which many experts consider quite possible, seems unattainable – and a rather inglorious end to the career of the most successful football player of all time is all the closer. In Munich, of all places, a decisive, indeed quite dramatic game with a final character is now looming. Not just for the Buccaneers, but for the superstar himself.
When Brady throws his first ball in the afternoon at the first NFL game in Germany (3:30 p.m./ Pro7 and DAZN), everything has to be right. A win is a must for the Buccaneers, otherwise the season could soon be over. Even if it’s against the extremely in-form Seattle Seahawks, who have had five wins in the past six games after a weak start to 2022/23. Brady and his side may currently be at the top of their division, the NFC South, and would qualify for the playoffs, but with four wins and five losses at the moment, that could change quickly and then reaching the knockout stages would be via percentage of the season games won extremely difficult.
TV shows, newspapers and magazines are already talking about Brady’s “worst season of his career” and fans across the US are making fun of him. The dip in his productivity was visible here and there over the past season, but in the end the Buccaneers had the second-best offense in the NFL, produced good playoffs and were well-tipped as a title contender for this year. But now they’re rumbled from one bankruptcy to the next, only twice in nine games they could score more than 21 points (three touchdowns). In the full 2020 and 2021 seasons, Tampa had only five total games with 21 points or fewer. Halfway through the season, after yet another bitter loss, Tampa Bay became the first Brady team ever to go under the .500 mark in two games (three wins, five losses). From the dream of another Super Bowl?
Brady’s offense is far behind in 19th place (24th for points scored) in the league. The quarterback is weak, as are his target players Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, who keep dropping balls. There is also a lack of a common understanding of the game. It’s noticeable that Rob Gronkowski, Brady’s longtime number one pass, has retired.
Center Ryan Jensen, the anchor in Tampa’s offensive line that Brady is supposed to defend from oncoming opponents, has been missing all season injured and the absence and three new starters in the important line make the less and less mobile playmaker more and more vulnerable. At the same time, the Buccaneers run the ball too little, making their game too predictable, and in turn are incredibly unproductive on the few runs. The move from retired head coach Bruce Arians, an offensive-minded legend, to defensive-minded Todd Bowles has also had a negative impact on the team.
But an MVP-level quarterback can solve a lot of problems in the NFL. Although Brady currently ranks fourth in the league with 283 yards per game, he hasn’t reached that MVP level all season. On the contrary, Brady often doesn’t look like one of the best NFL playmakers, but rather like a 45-year-old caught up in time. How a man in his mid-40s should actually look like in this league of exceptional athletes. Like the oldest quarterback of all, who now only means average in the rating (rank 16 with an enormous distance to the top group) instead of inhuman machine. Like Average instead of GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).
“If you want to be a great team, you have to be a lot better than average,” Brady said last week in his “Let’s go” podcast and also found the reasons for his team’s below-average performance. “We have to correct our mistakes and up our game. That’s probably the most embarrassing part of our team, which is our game day game and we have to do better.” However, Coach Bowles did not share this assessment. In an interview with the Buccaneers Radio Network, he said the poor season wasn’t to do with a lack of effort but with “poor execution”.
Whoever is right, there are some flaws with Tampa Bay. The swan song for the superstar quarterback and his team from experts, observers and Brady haters was already in full swing. But then the 45-year-old showed that you should never underestimate him, even in old age. That Brady can still do Brady things. That he fights to the last second and can achieve a lot, even great things, in just a few, tiny moments. Because then Brady once again ignited one of his very own rockets.
Last week against the Los Angeles Rams, the reigning Super Bowl champion, the playmaker again managed one of those almost superhuman actions that made him the feared dominator. The Buccaneers were down 9-13 in an offensively weak and extremely unsightly game, a field goal would not suffice for a win or a tie, and Brady got the ball again deep in his own half with 44 seconds on the clock. The quarterback led his team across the field – and completed the drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to win 16:13.
It was Brady’s 55th game-winning drive. A new NFL record. Naturally. He also hit the 100,000-yard career milestone in the game against the Rams. 100,000 yards, that’s about 57 miles, almost 92 kilometers. Brady has just thrown the distance from Munich to Regensburg in his career.
When Tom Brady resigned from his retirement, it was clear to many – and probably himself above all – that he no longer had to prove anything and could hardly win anything (he has more titles and records than anyone else) – but had a lot to lose . Because the superstar, who was voted Super Bowl MVP in his first season as a starter, certainly doesn’t want to soil his illustrious career, his almost always white vest. An embarrassing exit with the Buccaneers before the playoffs would also cloud the outside world’s view of football star Brady and his legacy.
And so it’s also about Brady’s legacy in Munich. A sane ending to the Brady era, as the superstar didn’t put off retirement for another year just to agonize over a playoff spot. It is quite possible that after this season it will really be over. Time for the old man to prove he still can. That he can also turn important knockout games (almost) single-handedly and bridge the entire field with a few precise big plays. That he’s still one of the game’s greats when he’s at his best.
The experienced Brady was as self-confident as usual: “The best teams start playing well around Thanksgiving,” said the quarterback. “It’s because you’ve basically figured out who you are and what you have to do.” The Germany Game is the last one for the Bucs before Thanksgiving. You’re lucky enough to play in one of the worst divisions in the NFL and be able to turn things around as a result. Victory in the NFC South is absolutely possible – and then, every Buccaneers fan hopes, Tom Brady can become a machine again in the playoffs. Alone, for that you first have to win the showdown in Munich.
