Tom Brady Captures 7th Super Bowl at Age 43

With his 7th Super Bowl championship, Tom Brady may have solidified his “Greatest of All Time” role in the NFL on Sunday night. Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory against the Kansas City Chiefs in a 31-9 game. This was a highly anticipated matchup between the two quarterbacks from each team: Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs) and Tom Brady (Buccaneers). The face off between these quarterbacks was very exciting because Mahomes is a young player with a bright future while Brady is nearing the end of his historic career. Because of the age difference, many named this matchup “The GOAT vs. The Kid” and waited with excitement to see who would reign. 

Now it is time to give Tom Brady his credit. This was his 10th Super Bowl appearance in his 21-year career. Out of those 10 Super Bowl appearances, seven have now resulted in championships. This championship might have been the most difficult because he had to deal with the drama of changing teams in the off-season, and he had to adjust to the new coaching staff with players he did not know. Brady was able to recruit two former teammates in Gronkowski and Brown, but the process of adjusting to a new team is always difficult at first. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also had to go through Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers just to get to the Super Bowl. Then, they had to face Mahomes who is the most prospective quarterback in the league. 

Brady dominated the game early, throwing three touchdown passes in the first half. His first two touchdown passes were to long-time Patriots teammate Rob Gronkowski, and his third touchdown pass was to Antonio Brown, who played for the Patriots last season. The Kansas City Chiefs responded with two field goals in the first half, making the score 21-6 at halftime. When the game resumed, both teams had a considerably slow second half; Tampa scored 10 points and Kansas scored three, all of which came in the third quarter. 

While Brady deserves a lot of credit for this win, the Buccaneers’ defense came into the game with a plan and perfectly executed it. Their plan was to pressure Mahomes and double team Tyreek Hill since those players are the largest offensive threat. Tampa Bay pressured Mahomes all night because he was sacked three times and they consistently forced him to throw wild pass attempts down the field. Hill was double-teamed nearly the entire night and had under 100 receiving yards for the game. This made it extremely difficult for the Kansas City offense to be effective, which allowed their team to only score nine points, all of them coming from field goals. Mahomes did not score a touchdown for the first time in his NFL career.

Sports fans watching Brady play in the NFL today are like those who watched Michael Jordan play in the NBA. Whether you love him or hate him, we are witnessing one of the greatest football players of all time and we must respect his talent. 

Featured image from Sports Illustrated 2021. All other images from CNN 2021.