It was just about a week ago that we saw the New England Patriots, and their fearless leader Tom Brady, bow out of the NFL playoffs at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens were the better team. They defeated New England twice this season and completely outclassed the Patriots in their house. Furthermore, it confirmed the brutally obvious fact that Brady has little answer for this Ravens defense. Every game is a war of attrition, every point a struggle. This was never more true than last week when the Pats were completely shut out in the second half.
While Brady did not play his worst game, his teammates didn’t do him many favors (see crucial drops by Wes Welker and Shane Vereen, a fumble by Stevan Ridley and little resistance by his defense) and he himself was far from perfect. His most egregious mistake came by way of atrocious clock management at the end of the first half, resulting in New England having to settle for three points instead of having a shot at seven. However those four points were nothing compared to the momentum that was sacrificed at that moment.
Alas, it’s been eight years since “The Golden Boy” and the mighty Patriots last hoisted the Lombardi Trophy; what would follow the AFC title game is a cavalcade of statistics destined to alter the Brady narrative:
– Brady began his playoff career 10-0, but he is just 8-7 since winning his last Super Bowl.
– Brady is 0-2 in his last two Super Bowl trips after beginning his career 3-0.
– Brady is 3-5 in his last eight playoff games.
– The Patriots have not won the Super Bowl since Spygate.
Sidebar: All of these facts can be applied to Bill Belichick as well.
These days it looks more like the tale of two careers, rather than an illustration of one man’s dominance when the stakes are at its highest. But the radical transformation of Brady’s postseason archive should be kept in proper context.
For starters, the Patriots have authored the only 16-0 regular season in NFL history, Brady has set records & won multiple MVP awards and New England has been to two Super Bowls and held the lead late in each game, all since Spygate. So using this as any sort of reliable reference point for the Patriots’ playoff struggles is specious reasoning, at best. It’s reasonable to figure that Belichick’s propensity to videotape other team’s sidelines from unauthorized locations had little to do with Asante Samuel’s dropped INT and David Tyree’s helmet catch in Glendale, or Welker’s drop and Eli Manning’s pass to Mario Manningham in Indianapolis.
Furthermore, Brady’s recent playoff slide is really only a failure when compared to his historic 10-0 start. When measured against his contemporaries since 2005, he’s still at the head of the class. Since winning his first Super Bowl, Aaron Rodgers is now 1-2 in the playoffs. The same can be said for Drew Brees, who actually missed the playoffs altogether this year. Ben Roethlisberger is 2-2 since the last time he won the big game and he’s missed the postseason twice. Eli Manning is on a hot streak in the playoffs, winning eight of his last nine contests, but he’s missed the playoffs three of the last four years. And his big brother’s issues in January and February have been well documented by yours truly (2-5 in the playoffs since his Super Bowl victory).
The big takeaway from all of this is that winning in the NFL playoffs is hard. An elementary conclusion? Sure. But it’s one that often gets overlooked. Every year, only one team finishes the NFL’s second season undefeated.
Just one.
The fact that Brady has played in 14 playoff games since his 10-0 start is a testament to his and his team’s consistency and longevity. Brady has missed the playoffs only twice in the 12 seasons he’s been under center for New England, and once was due to injury.
Unfortunately, nobody hands out atta-boys for anything less than first place. With all of the accomplishments under his belt to date, Tom Brady’s legacy is more secure than Fort Knox. But he’s been playing for something more for these last eight years— and eight times he has come up empty.
One more Super Bowl victory would undeniably propel him into an echelon with Montana, Elway, Unitas and Bradshaw. Some feel he’s already there; still others refuse to accept him as even the best signal-caller of the last decade. As long that fourth championship eludes him, those detractors and Spygate believers (fairly or unfairly) will always have the ammunition necessary to raise doubt. For an ultra-competitive guy like #12, having a chance at being his sport’s Bill Russell is meaningful. Yet at age 35, the amount of times he can “wait ’til next year” are dissolving right before his eyes.
Does Tom Brady need another Super Bowl victory to validate Act II of his career? No. But unless he wins one, in the eyes of many he’ll have no shot at breaking though that door he’s been knocking on for…oh, about eight seasons now. These playoff losses cannot harm his achievements, but they can prevent him from ascending to a level no quarterback has ever seen.
Brady knows this. And he also knows that if he can climb the mountain one last time before he checks out, 50 years from now, people will still remember his name for being synonymous with one thing and one thing only…
Winning.
Just like Automatic Otto.