Published Dec. 20elegance=””>TAMPA — Tom Brady Tom Brady He regarded awkward, he regarded indecisive, he regarded slow.
It wasn’t only a game that slipped from his hold close on Sunday towards the Bengals, it became the notion that Tom Brady usually finishes close to the top.
He regarded pained, he looked tired, he regarded overwhelmed.
It’s now not that his career has been faultless or that his existence turned into unblemished. Brady has had plenty of awful games, and he’s had Tom Brady multiple season lead to sadness.
But Tom Brady has by no means led a losing group.
Until now.
With the Bucs at 6-eight, Brady is Tom Brady teetering on the edge of his first dropping record as a starting quarterback. That consists of 20-plus years in the NFL. That includes seasons as a starter at Michigan.
That includes taking up a woebegone jayvee team at Junipero Serra High in Northern California and leading it to the league championship game in 1992.
Unless Tampa Bay wins its final three video games, the maximum tremendous streak of success in the NFL is set to come back to a crashing stop. Since taking on as a starter and leading New England to a Super Bowl title in his 2nd season in 2001, Brady has by no means completed a season with more heartache Tom Brady than joy.
From 2001-21, Brady’s groups received an average of 12.three video games a season. His 249 ordinary-season victories are, a ways and away, the most of any QB that’s ever run an NFL huddle. Peyton Manning and Brett Favre are 2nd at 186. Even Brady’s idol, Joe Montana, received best 117 games.
So, yeah, it appeared unnatural to peer Brady sitting stone-confronted on the Bucs bench in the 2d Tom Brady half on Sunday. It sounded uncomfortable to pay attention him taking the blame later on for four turnovers.
And it become downright miserable to listen to Brady Tom Brady sounding like some type of morbid existence teach on his podcast Monday nighttime.
“There’s ways you may handle adversity,” Brady said to host Jim Gray. “One is, you point fingers at different people — which we don’t do. Another element you do is you give up — and that’s now not what we do. Another issue is — you point a finger at yourself. And that’s what we do. I ought to do a better activity.
“All it does is encourage me to work tougher. This is what resilience is all approximately.”
He seemed like a person looking to persuade himself of something he not believes. That’s what happens while you suddenly reach the quit of the arena’s Tom Brady longest hot streak.
In the past, Brady become continually able to outwork doubt. He did it at Michigan after sitting behind Brian Griese. He did it in New England after being snubbed 198 times within the 2000 draft.
In the past, Brady became continually able to triumph over adversity. He did after blowing out his knee in 2008. He did after his four-game suspension for Deflategate in 2016. He did while Bill Belichick assumed age had finally caught as much as him in his very last season in New England in 2019.
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But this? This is some thing different, and Brady in the end seemed to grasp that remaining weekend.
The aggregate of a weaker group, a new head educate and an older model of himself may additionally have in the end Tom Brady coalesced into a nightmare Brady is unable to live on.
He is on pace to throw an NFL document number of passes with about half as many touchdowns as he had in 2021. And whilst never a splendid scrambler, he is in chance of finishing with a bad rushing total for the primary time in his career. Most tremendous of all, the Bucs should move from scoring 511 points in 2021 to much less than 300 points in 2022.
All under the command of the greatest quarterback in history.
And so it’s logical to marvel:
Does Brady remorse coming again?
Is he 2nd-guessing his Tom Brady selection to opposite his retirement and take one greater shot at the Super Bowl? One greater shot at glory? One greater wager with his legacy as collateral?
The solution might appear apparent, however Brady is not going to well known it at the same time as the season is still going. On his podcast, he made it sound as if he welcomed the opportunity to grow from a losing season.
Tom Brady magnificence=””>“We’re now not a victim of dropping games,” he stated. “The sun came up these days, we’ve got some thing to do about it. We awakened, we’ve were given a chance. This isn’t always the time to feel sorry for yourself. So arise, cross in to paintings and make it higher and enhance it and work more difficult and paintings greater determined.”
That’s an admirable way of coming near a year of unhappiness and woe.
I just in no way anticipated to pay attention Tom Brady say it.
John Romano may be reached at jromano@tampabay.com. Follow @romano_tbtimes.
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