Getty Tom Brady celebrates his first NFC Championship with teammate Rob Gronkowski.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady said there is a game he will not get into amid clinching his 10th Super Bowl appearance.
The comparison game.
“It’s hard to compare — it’s not worth it comparing any of that to me,” Brady told NBC Sports’ Peter King. “It doesn’t really matter. It’s an incredible feeling, and to win a conference championship is incredible. To win a Super Bowl championship is one of the great feelings in the world. But they don’t give these away. Obviously, everything’s different this year, with us being at home. I’m sure it’ll feel like just another game, although we all know it’s just not another game.”
Brady knows that by experience more than any player in NFL history.
Better with Age
Brady, 43, leading the Bucs past the Green Bay Packers on Sunday marked his 17th playoff win since his 35th birthday according to Bleacher Report. No other quarterback has achieved that.
17 wins. Getting hard to describe @TomBrady‘s greatness.
Those wins include three Super Bowls and six conference championships. He went to more Super Bowls after turning 35 than he did before. He had four Super Bowl appearances and 16 playoff wins before turning 35.
His post-35 legacy could keep growing after this latest run, too. He has one year left on his contract with no signs of slowing down. He hasn’t ruled out playing until age 45 or later according to then ESPN-reporter Ian O’Connor in an interview with WEEI’s Dale and Keefe in 2020.
.@Ian_OConnor on Tom Brady’s career: “…I had a phone conversation with [Brady] about an hour 2/3 years ago where we were talking about Tom Brady playing until age 46, 47, maybe even 48…I think he’s got 4/5 years left…”
Manning Credits Brady
Future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Peyton Manning said “All the credit goes to Tom, his work ethic, his discipline” in an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio. Manning faced Brady’s New England Patriots teams many times in his career — four were AFC championship games.
“All the credit goes to Tom, his work ethic, his discipline.”
Peyton Manning discussed @TomBrady reaching his 10th Super Bowl and what it means to win a championship with two different organizations.
👇AUDIO👇 | @BrettFavre | @BruceMurrayNFL
Manning told SiriusXM that the pandemic only makes such a transition more challenging but he wasn’t surprised either. He added that Brady’s success “speaks to his leadership, his longevity, and that’s why Tampa is playing in two weeks against the Chiefs.”
The Hard Road
Brady and the Bucs joined rare company on their path to a home Super Bowl per ESPN. Only four other teams reached the Super Bowl by winning three road games.
Tom Brady and the Buccaneers’ road to a Super Bowl has only been accomplished by few 👏
Tampa’s hopes of an NFC playoff home game fizzled at midseason when the New Orleans Saints routed them 38-3 on Sunday Night Football for a regular-season sweep in the NFC South Division. The Bucs locked up the fifth seed with four-straight wins to close the regular season, which left the remote possibility of a playoff home game. The sixth-seeded Los Angeles Rams advanced to the Divisional Round but fell to Green Bay.
History didn’t favor a fifth seed winning three on the road to reach the Super Bowl, even with Brady. He came into this postseason with a 4-4 career playoff mark on the road per CBS Sports’ John Breech.
Brady and the Bucs overcame those odds with wins at Washington, New Orleans, and Green Bay in a 16-day span.
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