Brady retires again

[FrodosFinger]

 

[James in PA]

I thought he'd come back at least 1 more year. Hopefully Erin will follow suit.

 

[sutz]

Should have waited until tomorrow.

 

[Lagartixa]

Was the "40-day retirement" last year a way of avoiding P.E.D. tests at an inconvenient moment?

 

[SoulfishHawk]

I've never understood all the Brady hate. Legend

 

[BASF]

 

[Lagartixa]

I've never understood all the Brady hate. Legend

It's not a matter of hate. It's a matter of having a memory. When he was in his 20s, Brady was seen as a "game manager," and the debate in the aughts was about Peyton Manning's league-altering passing ability (and the league-altering stats that resulted from it) vs. Brady's "game management" and titles.
If you look at Brady's career through age 29, you can see the typical aging curve, with a peak around age 27 and then the beginnings of a decline, for a decent-but-nowhere-near-great NFL QB.
Then suddenly at age 30, Brady had a season that was three times as valuable as his previous season and more than twice as valuable as his previous best season. It was Brady's first season performing at a Peyton Manning level of performance. As the folks on fivethirtyeight pointed out around the time of "Deflategate" (the second time the Brady Patriots got caught cheating), there was no precedent for a sudden jump in performance that enormous at any age, much less at age 30. Brady then proceeded to maintain that same level for about 15 years. Barry Bonds was tried, convicted, and executed in the court of public opinion for much less.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

He's the best we've ever seen. Period.
Sounds more like jealousy than anything. But people have been trying to downplay his greatness for the last 2 plus decades.

 

[Chukarhawk]

It's not a matter of hate. It's a matter of having a memory. When he was in his 20s, Brady was seen as a "game manager," and the debate in the aughts was about Peyton Manning's league-altering passing ability (and the league-altering stats that resulted from it) vs. Brady's "game management" and titles.
If you look at Brady's career through age 29, you can see the typical aging curve, with a peak around age 27 and then the beginnings of a decline, for a decent-but-nowhere-near-great NFL QB.
Then suddenly at age 30, Brady had a season that was three times as valuable as his previous season and more than twice as valuable as his previous best season. It was Brady's first season performing at a Peyton Manning level of performance. As the folks on fivethirtyeight pointed out around the time of "Deflategate" (the second time the Patriots got caught cheating), there was no precedent for a sudden jump in performance that enormous at any age, much less at age 30. Brady then proceeded to maintain that same level for about 15 years. Barry Bonds was tried, convicted, and executed in the court of public opinion for much less.

he's the GOAT. Period. full stop on the idiotic conspiracy theories.

 

[BASF]

It's not a matter of hate. It's a matter of having a memory. When he was in his 20s, Brady was seen as a "game manager," and the debate in the aughts was about Peyton Manning's league-altering passing ability (and the league-altering stats that resulted from it) vs. Brady's "game management" and titles.
If you look at Brady's career through age 29, you can see the typical aging curve, with a peak around age 27 and then the beginnings of a decline, for a decent-but-nowhere-near-great NFL QB.
Then suddenly at age 30, Brady had a season that was three times as valuable as his previous season and more than twice as valuable as his previous best season. It was Brady's first season performing at a Peyton Manning level of performance. As the folks on fivethirtyeight pointed out around the time of "Deflategate" (the second time the Brady Patriots got caught cheating), there was no precedent for a sudden jump in performance that enormous at any age, much less at age 30. Brady then proceeded to maintain that same level for about 15 years. Barry Bonds was tried, convicted, and executed in the court of public opinion for much less.

Discovering that Adderall would increase his focus and release time did wonders would be my guess.

 

[StoneCold]

ESPN commercial next year.

Camera opens on a darkened locker room. Slowly it moves inside panning from side to side. We see a light in the corner and the camera moves towards it. It's a side room and the door is slightly ajar. As the camera movecs closer we see there is a bed in the room and the light is a bedside table lamp. We hear a barely audible voice. The camera slowly moves to the half open door and we see Tom Brady in bed, a stuffed bear under his arm, he's reading "The Tom Brady Story". He reads aloud, "Tom Brady was selected in the 2000 NFL draft as the 199th player." He turns to the bear, "I bet that really chapped his ass." At that moment there is a knock on the door. It's Peyton Manning. Brady quickly hides the book and the bear under the covers.

Manning: I thought you retired?
Brady: Uh, just picking up a few things.
P Manning" Ah, ok. Well just turn out the lights when you go.
E Manning: Peyton let's go! The Doritos bus is leaving.

They leave Tom alone, he goes back to reading. "Tom Brady won 7 Super Bowls." Turns to the bear, "That's a big number isn't it." The bear rolls it's eyes. Close scene.

 

[Double Tribble]

ESPN commercial next year.

Camera opens on a darkened locker room. Slowly it moves inside panning from side to side. We see a light in the corner and the camera moves towards it. It's a side room and the door is slightly ajar. As the camera movecs closer we see there is a bed in the room and the light is a bedside table lamp. We hear a barely audible voice. The camera slowly moves to the half open door and we see Tom Brady in bed, a stuffed bear under his arm, he's reading "The Tom Brady Story". He reads aloud, "Tom Brady was selected in the 2000 NFL draft as the 199th player." He turns to the bear, "I bet that really chapped his ass." At that moment there is a knock on the door. It's Peyton Manning. Brady quickly hides the book and the bear under the covers.

Manning: I thought you retired?
Brady: Uh, just picking up a few things.
P Manning" Ah, ok. Well just turn out the lights when you go.
E Manning: Peyton let's go! The Doritos bus is leaving.

They leave Tom alone, he goes back to reading. "Tom Brady won 7 Super Bowls." Turns to the bear, "That's a big number isn't it." The bear rolls it's eyes. Close scene.

You should send that to ESPN.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

 

[NoGain]

I'm willing to say the GOAT because of that career resume. But I'm not one to say that he towers over his closest competitors. Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, John Elway...each of these guys had some things going for them over Brady.

And I always have a soft spot for Dan Marino when this discussion comes up. He was like the first video game QB when it came to stats. If I was gifted a great team and could plug in any QB at their peak for, say, a 3-4 year period, I very well might pick Marino, or at least give serious pause to the idea. He was the only QB who beat that unbeatable Bears' team of 1985/86 with that terrifying D, and on MNF no less.

Mahomes will probably be in these discussions in the future. Seems so.

 

[Torc]

I'll believe Brady is retired when he isn't on a roster on opening day.

None of the stats matter. When Peyton won his super bowl, he was throwing lame ducks and his numbers weren't great. When Elway won his super bowls, he had a HOF running back. I doubt anyone will beat Brady's super bowl record, definitely not in our lifetimes.

 

[bigskydoc]

Stop me if you've heard this one before...

 

[oldhawkfan]

Again…?

 

[renofox]

It's not a matter of hate. It's a matter of having a memory. When he was in his 20s, Brady was seen as a "game manager," and the debate in the aughts was about Peyton Manning's league-altering passing ability (and the league-altering stats that resulted from it) vs. Brady's "game management" and titles.
If you look at Brady's career through age 29, you can see the typical aging curve, with a peak around age 27 and then the beginnings of a decline, for a decent-but-nowhere-near-great NFL QB.
Then suddenly at age 30, Brady had a season that was three times as valuable as his previous season and more than twice as valuable as his previous best season. It was Brady's first season performing at a Peyton Manning level of performance. As the folks on fivethirtyeight pointed out around the time of "Deflategate" (the second time the Brady Patriots got caught cheating), there was no precedent for a sudden jump in performance that enormous at any age, much less at age 30. Brady then proceeded to maintain that same level for about 15 years. Barry Bonds was tried, convicted, and executed in the court of public opinion for much less.

Different people peak at different ages and we are talking about mental acuity/processing and upper body strength/twitch.

We are not talking about running speed and quickness, which everybody starts losing in their early 30's.

I was in a profession that was extremely demanding and grueling re: acuity/SA, upper body strength, and the ability to run miles carrying 80+ pounds.

My peak performance was age 35-40. That's where I gained my 'old man strength' which is a real thing. I started dropping off around age 40 and at 45 I pulled myself from the field because I was no longer performing at a level where I felt comfortable.

tldr; It is quite possible TB did not use banned substances to extend his career. Accusing him of such without evidence (such as becoming unusually ripped, which he definitely was not) is unjust.

 

[Lagartixa]

The guy's career trajectory looks like a normal NFL QB's through his 20s, a hump that ends up dwarfed by the age-30-to-age-45 part of the curve, which looks like a step function. Something changed in 2007, and it wasn't gradual acquisition of "old-man strength." It was a sudden jump to more than twice his previous best season, and then maintaining that level for 15 years. That's extremely unnatural. I am unaware of any case that could be described as even remotely similar in the history of professional sports.
I didn't say steroids, but I'm pretty sure his health and deeply unnatural performance history is not the result of "drinking water" like he said in the book he sold to rubes. @BASF speculated above that Adderall could help. There are of course many other possibilities, and even some of the ones that would be classified as steroids wouldn't make the player perceptibly more "ripped."
It's also worth noting that Brady's age-30 season came in 2007, which was also the year the NFL implemented the rule for which Brady had been lobbying, under which QBs would get to prepare the balls their team would use on offense in every game. That allowed Brady to overcome his hand size by underinflating the footballs his team would use. It also helped the Patriots have absurdly low fumble rates through Brady's time there. The folks at fivethirtyeight showed that players who fumbled more on other teams stopped fumbling with the Patriots, and former Patriots players, including some of the ones who had "learned not to fumble" in Foxborough after having played - and fumbled - for other teams, then "forgot how not to fumble" when they went to other teams. I'm not at all surprised that Tampa Bay had the fourth-best, second-best, and tenth-best fumble rates in the league during Brady's years there. Underinflating the ball makes it much easier to grip firmly.

 

[ZornLargentPatera]