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FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts. – Bill Belichick shook his head and spoke with exasperation almost respectful of the fact that a certain quarterback he had spent more than three hours to admire.
He's so good, says Belichick. So hard. So hard to get.
The winning coach was talking about losing quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Belichick was legitimately amazed by an opponent that his defense had just held at 17 points, and for good reason. Rodgers has made some plays and throws in the Green Bay defeat against New England that only two or three quarters of the NFL's history could possibly tempt.
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But even one night when he spent his time fighting without Rob Gronkowski in training, one night he watched Julian Edelman throw the best Patriots pass, Tom Brady once again showed that he had the most important talent that an athlete can have – the talent to win. Before beating the physically talented Rodgers, Brady had already won many more regular season (202) and post-season (27) games than anyone else had ever played. In the presence of Rodgers, he broke the record of another rival, Peyton Manning, by becoming the first NFL player to accumulate more than 80,000 rushing yards (assists, passes and receptions) during his career , in the playoffs.
"These are all team rewards," Brady then protested.
The same goes for the five Super Bowl record trophies. And yet, there is a reason why the only coach in the building who holds the most recently rewarded trophy for his sport, Alex Cora of the Red Sox, looks like a 12-year-old when he posed for a selfie with Brady during the game of his players for a duck ride in Gillette Stadium.
Tom Brady is the greatest football player of all time. It did not matter if he looked 41 years old in a few attempts against Green Bay, Cordarrelle Patterson could have been the most valuable patriot placed behind the center.
Brady completed the pass that sealed the deal, a 55-yard strike to Josh Gordon in the middle of the fourth quarter that secured his team's sixth consecutive victory and reintroduced New England as a serious threat to win. his sixth Super Bowl title, his third in the last five years.
"He had an amazing career," Rodgers said of Brady, "he's been the quarterback gold standard for almost 20 years, and he's a great player."
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With a score of 17-17 in the third quarter, Rodgers won the battle of the scores with two touchdowns, none with Brady, and a pass rating of 97.4 to Brady's, at 85.7. At the end of the game, Brady had a score of 99.0, or 89.2 for Rodgers, 294 for Rodgers 259, and more importantly 31 for his team and 17 for Rodgers.
If you think Brady was not driven Sunday night to avoid playing 0-2 against Rodgers – he had lost his only duel at Lambeau Field in 2014 – all the more so that this could well be their last meet, know what makes the big so big in the first place.
Then you do not know why Brady did not talk to his friend, Rodgers, during the week, and did not play Friday, after a long week of hearing about his opponent's net advantage in athletics and his talent for the arm. – when the questions of the press conference tipped in a mini-referendum on its supposed physical deficiencies.
Have you ever thought, in your mind, that you could give some of your arm to the legs of Aaron Rodgers? Brady has been asked.
"No, I do not think about giving my arms," he replied.
Do you want to have mobility?
"I'd like to move as best I can," Brady replied. "But God gave me this body and tried to use my best to help us win."
Brady rarely says a lot of stuff for public consumption, so it's always a good idea to consider what he's not saying rather than what he's doing. He did not mention Rodgers in both answers, and Brady also did not say that he would trade his tools against those of Rogers.
Like his Green Bay counterpart, Brady is a uniform icon who has defeated the 31 opposing teams of the NFL during his career. He also has a lot of good physical ability.
Sunday night, it was a fact that Brady needed a lot of help to get to 1-1 against Rodgers. With Green Bay en route to a potential goal, Rodgers ignites after absurd passes from back to Mark Valdes-Scantling who swept Belichick, Aaron Jones' fumbling in the first game of the fourth quarter has radically changed the game. Edelman did the same for James White, who ran 37 yards up the 2-meter Green Bay line.
Belichick also helped Brady by making Patterson his star runner and highlighting his long and rich history of players in positions they had not necessarily engaged. Brian Flores, the de facto defensive coordinator, did his part by developing a game plan that prevented the Packers from even scoring 20 points.
But Brady still had to be Brady at the end and make a game that built a lead that Rodgers could not threaten. In the process, just for punctuation, Brady also beat Peyton Manning.
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Bill Belichick talks about the Patriots' 31-17 win over the Packers and congratulates Tom Brady on becoming the all-time NFL leader.
"It's incredible," said Belichick about his own guy, after he had finished raving Rodgers. "Tom had an amazing career and I'm so lucky to have been able to train him … He deserved it … Nobody gave him anything … You talk about a lot of great things, excellent quarterbacks, excellent players on which he is ahead.This is a testament to his longevity and productivity in his excellent career.I hope he will accumulate them constantly. "
At his 260th start of the regular season, Brady recorded his 203rd regular season win, 17 more than Manning had in 265 starts. Team awards, Brady called them. "I certainly can not throw it at you," he says.
But since 2001, he has launched it with more success than any quarter. Aaron Rodgers will always have more talent.
Tom Brady will always have a bigger talent to win.
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