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Tom Brady returns to the Super Bowl. For a tenth time. At the age of 43.
But this time it’s the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback.
Brady and the Bucs knocked out the No. 1 seeded Green Bay Packers, 31-26 in Sunday’s NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field. They will now face the winner of the AFC championship game on Sunday – either defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs or the Buffalo Bills – at Raymond James Stadium in Super Bowl LV.
The Bucs will become the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in their own stadium, while Brady will become the oldest player at any position to play in a Super Bowl.
The Bucs hadn’t made the playoffs in 13 years or won a postseason game in nearly two decades – when Brady’s reign with the New England Patriots had just begun. Still, Tampa Bay became the free agency dark horse that no one saw coming when Brady decided to quit the Patriots during the offseason.
Many felt it was arguably the biggest professional risk in Brady’s professional career to leave his longtime coach Bill Belichick and go to the Bucs. To make matters worse, Brady had no offseason to collaborate with coach Bruce Arians and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and no preseason to fix issues in a new system because of COVID-19. Critics pointed out his struggles with the deep ball. They feared his relationship with the Arians was already deteriorating.
Against the Packers, Brady completed 20 of 36 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns, while Leonard Fournette made his way to a fourth rushing score.
The defense, playing with 347-pound nose tackle Vita Vea for the first time since Week 5, sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers five times – three from Shaq Barrett and two from Jason Pierre-Paul – and forced two turnovers. Nickelback Sean Murphy-Bunting knocked out Rodgers in the second quarter, and safety Jordan Whitehead forced a fumble which was recovered by linebacker Devin White.
But then Whitehead left the game with a shoulder injury, leaving the Bucs without their two starting safeties as the Packers began to come together in the second half. Brady threw three interceptions in the second half – twice to cornerback Jaire Alexander and once to safety Adrian Amos – while Rodgers threw touchdowns at tight end Robert Tonyan and wide receiver Davante Adams.
The Packers were fortunate enough to tie the game, dropping eight points with the ball at the Tampa Bay 8-yard line, but decided to throw a field goal at fourth with just over 2 minutes to go. They never got the ball back.
Brady can now try to do something his childhood idol Joe Montana couldn’t: go all the way with a new team in his freshman year. Montana moved closer, leading the Chiefs to the AFC championship game in 1993, but lost to the Bills 30-13.
So it’s back to Tampa for Brady and the Bucs. As workers have remodeled Raymond James Stadium in recent weeks – replacing the Buccaneers’ signage with “Super Bowl LV” and Lombardi Trophy – they conveniently kept an exterior facade sign at the south corner intact – western entrance: image of Tom Brady and Mike Evans.
You might as well drop it. And maybe fire the cannons.
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