Is Quarterback Tom Brady Losing his G.O.A.T. Status?

Tom Brady was born on Aug 3, 1977 in San Mateo, California to Tom Sr. and Galynn Brady. Brady grew

Tom Brady Buccaneers

Tom Brady was born on Aug 3, 1977 in San Mateo, California to Tom Sr. and Galynn Brady. Brady grew up a die-hard San Francisco 49ers fan, and became an instant supporter of Hall-of-Fame great Joe Montana. Now known as The G.O.A.T., Tom Brady’s football journey did not come that easy.

He actually never played organized football until his freshman year of high school. And even as a freshman playing for his hometown Junipero Serrahigh school, he was the backup quarterback on the JV team during its 0-8 season. The team didn’t score a single touchdown and even during their struggles, the coaches refused to even put Brady into the game.

Then when he entered his sophomore year, Brady was thinking about hanging up football until the freshman quarterback decided he was not going to play for this struggling team. Brady finally became the varsity team’s starter as a junior, and also played basketball and baseball. By his senior year, he caught the attention of some of the top NCAA football teams, including Michigan.

Brady’s Earlier Days

Tom Brady Michigan

Back-in-the-day, Brady was not considered to be a blue-chip recruit, as star ratings were not as valued as they are today. Brady was considered a 4-star, but if he wanted to get where he needed to be, he knew it was going to take some heavy lifting. His father wanted him to commit to California due to being a die-hard fan of the Golden Bears. Instead, Brady decided to commit to the University of Michigan, but he was buried on the bottom of the depth chart. In 1997, he watched future NFL-quarterback BrianGriese lead the Wolverines to an undefeated season and a share of the BCS National Championship. Brady won the job in 1998, but a new threat was standing in the way of Brady maintaining his starting role as a junior.

Enter freshman phenom DrewHenson a 5-star recruit and a star baseball player for BrightonHigh School, a school about 20-miles from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Head coach Lloyd Carr decided to rotate the two-quarterbacks for the first-two quarters of each game until Brady won the job hands down despite stiff competition and hype surrounding Henson. This proved that Brady could enjoy success while maintaining it through adversity and by avoiding distractions. But when he declared for the 2000-NFL draft, a lot of teams passed on him including his hometown 49ers.

Brady’s 20-year ride with the Patriots

Six-quarterbacks were already selected, but none of them were Tom Brady. In fact, the 49ers selected Hofstra star GiovanniCarmazzi, who according to head coach SteveMariucci, had all the measurables to be a great quarterback in the NFL. Carmazzi suffered a career ending injury in a preseason game against the New England Patriots, who oddly enough, ended up selecting with the 199th pick in the sixth-round, Tom Brady.

Brady enjoyed a 20-year run of success under head coach Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots winning 6-Super Bowls and 10-AFC East Division Championships. His last game in a Patriots uniform came at the hands of a 21-13 home loss to the Tennessee Titans in the 2019-AFC Wildcard-Playoff-Round.

Brady and Arians don’t See Eye-to-Eye in Tampa

Tom Brady Tampa Bay

In March 2020, Brady decided to leave the Patriots and head to Western Florida where he joined first-year-head-coach Bruce Arians and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Expectations were high as the 42-year-old quarterback was joining a team loaded with wide receivers galore, and a head coach with a strong offensive background and managed to make quarterback Tim Couch look decent as offensive coordinator of the 2001 Cleveland Browns.

Unfortunately, the relationship between Brady and Arians has turned sour as Arians is reportedly not running the quick paced dink and dunk offense Brady ran with Belichick and the Patriots during their dynasty years. While the team is still 7-5, Brady is not used to mediocrity and putting up pedestrian stats. Through the first seven-weeks of the season, Brady is 14-39 when throwing the ball 20+ yards, with only 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, but still has a 101.2 passer rating.  Over the past 4 weeks, Brady is a dreadful 0-19 with completions for 20+ yards, and throwing 3 interceptions. He has also thrown 25 td’s and 9 interceptions, the 9 picks are already more than he has totaled in six-full seasons.

It is no wonder why Arians and Brady don’t see eye-to-eye. According to Isaiah Houde of Patriots Wire, “Rumors have floated around that frustration is building between Tom Brady and Bruce Arians”, and ESPN’sDan Graziano backed that speculation on Friday’s, ‘Get Up’. He stated that “So if you’re Arians, you’re looking, going saying, ‘this is what you wanted, we got you everything you asked for, why aren’t you delivering, why doesn’t it look like it looks like in practice.’

Who’s hand will Brady shake next, or not?

Brady has made himself out-to-be a poor loser this season after he has refused to shake hands with 2 different quarterbacks. After the Bucs were defeated on the road on Oct. 8 against the Chicago Bears, Brady did not shake Nick Foles’ hand at midfield, just like the snob he was when the New England Patriots lost to the Philadelphia Eagles led by Foles in Super Bowl 52. Brady acted like a poor sport again this year when he and the Buccaneers were defeated on MondayNight Football by the LA Rams at home on Nov. 23. Instead of going onto midfield and politely shaking Jared Goff’s hand, he walked straight to the locker room in disgust, leaving Goff at midfield looking for Brady by himself.

Let’s see if Brady will shake Kirk Cousin’s hand next week…

 

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