Getty New England Patriots QB Tom Brady
There are a lot of words that can be used to describe the performance by Tom Brady in the AFC Championship Game. While leading the New England Patriots to a 37-31 overtime win against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead, Brady was superb. You could call the performance excellent, incredible or even just impressive to dull it down a bit.
But one word that shouldn’t be used to describe Brady’s performance against Kansas City is “lucky.” Unless you ask ESPN First Take analyst Max Kellerman, who has no doubt in his mind that this was the case for the Patriots and their future Hall-of-Fame quarterback.
As you can see in both videos, Kellerman doesn’t pull any punches with these comments, and in the second of the two, he harps on the fact that the Patriots won the coin toss in overtime. In turn, this apparently made Brady lucky to win the game.
“How did he even get to be great because Mahomes didn’t even get to touch the ball. You’re asking was he lucky? They literally won a coin flip, like, was he lucky? Of couse he was lucky, of course, he was lucky.” Kellerman said.
Not surprising, Kellerman received a massive amount of backlash for these comments. Specifically, fellow analyst Damien Woody asked him “where in the hell do you get lucky from?” while citing Brady’s overall performance.
Why Kellerman’s ‘Lucky’ Comments on Brady Are Wrong
Was it lucky the Patriots won the overtime coin flip? Sure. But does that make Brady lucky? Not even close. Putting aside the fact that the Patriots quarterback threw for 348 yards with one touchdown, he also defined the word clutch during the overtime period against the Chiefs.
While it was a 13-play, 75-yard drive which was capped off by a Rex Burkhead touchdown run, Brady made multiple key plays. Specifically, he converted three times on 3rd and 10 with their possible Super Bowl hopes on the line. The first was a 20-yard pass to Julian Edelman, followed by a 15-yard pass to Edelman three plays later.
Last but not least, Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for a 15-yard gain on a 3rd and 10 from the Kansas City 30-yard-line to move into the red zone. Three running players later, the Patriots had found the end zone, locked up the win and advanced to the Super Bowl.
Brady’s Dominance Continues Through 2018 Season
Not surprisingly, Brady’s run of posting big numbers on a yearly basis continued in 2018, even at the age of 41. While many anticipated a decline for the five-time Super Bowl champion, that wasn’t the case. Even with injuries throughout the season, Julian Edelman’s suspension to start the year and the loss of Josh Gordon for the homestretch, Brady still managed to succeed.
He led the Patriots to an 11-5 season while completing 65.8 percent of his passes for 4,355 yards, 29 touchdowns and a 97.7 quarterback rating. Although Brady did throw 11 interceptions, that number isn’t bad in comparison to the rest of the league. While the Patriots quarterback is bound to hit a decline at some point, it doesn’t seem likely to come in the very near future.
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