Screen grab of Tom Brady after winning Super Bowl XXLIX.
People love to hate quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. I know, because I used to be one of those people. Now that the Patriots are heading back to the Super Bowl, their third trip in four seasons, the haters are out in force. Just google “Tom Brady sucks” and you’ll quickly learn:
• President Donald Trump once kissed Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick on the lips.
• Neo-nazi Richard Spencer is a Patriots’ fan because they’re “consistently the NFL’s whitest team.”
• “Tom Brady represents everything wrong with America.”
And that’s just from one article in Deadspin. A fake news headline from The Onion, “Tom Brady: Joe Montana Sucks And I Am Better Than Him” sounds like the real Tom. The “Tom Brady Sucks Song,” an inspired if somewhat inebriated YouTube rant uploaded by a Seahawks fan shortly after Seattle gifted the Patriots with victory in Super Bowl XXLIX in 2014, reminds us the only reason Brady and Belichick win all the time is they’re a bunch of “lying cheating assholes.”
The funny thing is I stopped hating Tom Brady during that very same game, when Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler picked off Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson’s short slant pass near the goal line with 23 seconds left in Super Bowl XXLIX, stopping an epic fourth-quarter comeback in its tracks.
The sideline cameras had been periodically focusing on Brady, who had been moping on the bench for the entire drive. His is not a face that takes losing lightly, and witnessing his expression change from utter despair to unadulterated joy as he realized the Seahawks had inexplicably handed him his fourth Super Bowl ring is one of the great moments in recent American sports.
It was a rare expression of emotion from the famously stoic quarterback, and he quickly returned to taciturn form. It didn’t matter to me, because he and the Patriots had beaten the Seattle Seahawks, who’d twice defeated my beloved San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs on their way to their two Super Bowl appearances. There would be no Seahawks dynasty in the NFC West—indeed, Seattle hasn’t returned to the Super Bowl since. Thank you, Tom Brady, even though it wasn’t all your doing.
Since that improbable victory, I’ve found it hard to hate Tom Brady, despite the Deflategate scandal, the repeated instances of the Patriots caught cheating, the bad referee calls that always seem to go the Patriots’ way and the never-ending winning. It probably helps that the Patriots are in the AFC East and don’t play the Niners that often. In fact, the Niners may be one of the few teams that holds a winning record against the Pats, with eight victories in their 13 meetings since 1971.
Another reason why I find it hard to hate Brady is that he’s old. So am I, so I’m naturally inclined to root for the old guy. Watching Brady pick apart defensive secondaries at the ancient age of 40 should inspire all of us to reconsider retiring too early. That Onion headline may be satirical, but Brady has by now eclipsed legendary 49ers’ quarterback Joe Montana’s record for fourth-quarter comebacks and has five Super Bowl rings to Joe’s four. There’s no doubt that Brady is the GOAT—the greatest of all time—until someone comes along and knocks him off his pedestal.
That someone conceivably could have been Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, whose MVP-caliber play propelled the Eagles to the playoffs until he went down with a late-season knee injury in December. Backup quarterback Nick Foles, in the game of his life, helped the Eagles crush the Minnesota Vikings 38-7 in the NFC Championship game last Sunday. He’s going to need more than that when the Eagles square off against Brady, Belichick and the Patriots in Super Bowl LLII Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.
There is at least one major reason remaining for me to root against the Patriots. Currently, the Patriots are tied with the 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys with five Super Bowl victories apiece. If the Patriots win, they’ll be tied with the Pittsburg Steelers (my favorite AFC team besides the Oakland Raiders) with six victories apiece. I’d rather the Patriots lose, so the 49ers, with sensational new quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, can have a shot at being the first to tie Pittsburg with a sixth Super Bowl victory next season.
That would only be fitting, since Garoppolo was Brady’s heir apparent in New England. Trained under the Belichick system, he was ready to step seamlessly into the lead role until Brady decided he could play forever. The Niners snatched up Garoppolo in a midseason trade that may yet turn out to be the signal of Brady, Belichick and the Patriots’ inevitable decline.
I’m not betting on it though. In a match-up between a man who may be the greatest quarterback ever to play the game and a journeyman backup, the nod has to go to Brady. He’s got the super model wife and the five Super Bowl rings. He has uncanny luck which shows no signs of running out. He appears to be immortal. Most of all, he just keeps winning.
You can hate Tom Brady for all of these things, I used to. I learned that it doesn’t do any good and only messes with my ability to predict the outcome of NFL games. Oddsmakers currently favor the Patriots by six points over the Eagles. That sounds about right. If they win, they’ll be repeat Super Bowl champions for the second time, Brady & Co. having first accomplished that task in 2003 and 2004, joining the Steelers in that exalted club.
I’m not saying you have to love Tom Brady. Haters gonna hate. But if you learn to like this man who has accomplished so much on the field, your life as a football fan will be a little easier.
