On Sunday in Tampa, Tom Brady will start his 331st regular-season game, and I am sure for him this one will be one of the biggest and most important of his career. It’s a shirt-and-hat game for the Bucs — win and they become the NFC South champion, guaranteeing themselves the No. 4 seed in the playoffs and an almost certain date with the Dallas Cowboys. If the Panthers win, they control their destiny and must beat the Saints in New Orleans to capture the South.
Brady’s 23rd NFL season hasn’t been anything like the other 22. His numbers are significantly down in every area, and regardless of the outcome of the next two games, 2022 will mark the lowest win total in Brady’s Hall of Fame career. Nothing looks easy for him on the field. His timing and rhythm seems off, and getting the ball into the end zone has been a struggle. The most points the Bucs have scored in their seven wins is 21, a far cry from their Super Bowl year in 2020 when they averaged 30. Generating five or six good plays in a row for the Bucs offense has been impossible, forcing many to ask: Is Brady near the end? Has Father Time finally won? I’m not sure — not because I am a devoted Brady fan, and thankful to have been part of a team he led to the Super Bowl wins, rather because I know what Brady likes and doesn’t.
For Brady and myself, working in the Patriots system is engrained in our DNA. We become like Brooks Hatlen in “The Shawshank Redemption.” Brooks was a 50-year member of Shawshank prison, and when he was finally paroled, he could not survive outside the prison walls. Nothing seemed right, he was out of sorts in a different world. He became institutionalized in the system and couldn’t adapt. Brady for 20 years has done things one way and so has the supporting cast around him. Everyone was aligned and held accountable. There were no stones left unturned in their preparation, and each week attacked the weaknesses of the opponent. Now many might say that’s how every team operates, so what’s the difference? The fact is few teams do. Even when Brady first went to Tampa, the Bucs struggled, and it wasn’t until the bye week in Week 13 did they get everyone on the same Patriots page. After the bye, they won eight games in a row, averaging 33.8 points per game. Brady had a solid offensive line and skill players all over — from Rob Gronkowski to Antonio Brown, who started only four games yet still had 62 targets and 45 catches.
The 2022 version of the Bucs is far different than the ’20 team. The line isn’t the same, the skills players are not as explosive and no one seems to be on the same page, causing Brady to look like an aging player in decline. Yet when he throws the ball or moves around, he doesn’t look old. Granted Brady doesn’t look confident or comfortable, but he doesn’t look 45. Remember when Peyton Manning was at the end? His arm was done, and he couldn’t execute the offense — which isn’t the case for Brady. After every poor throw or drop, Brady’s facial expression seems to indicate a miscommunication, a player not understanding how he expected the play to unfold for the situation. It’s the old, “I thought, you thought, we thought, no one thought” problem.