Yes, Tom Brady is the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards. And touchdowns. And almost every other passing statistic. But what is remarkable — what sets him apart from most athletes in most sports — is that he is still playing at age 45 and still performing at an elite level.
To put that in perspective, we’ve come up with a list of history’s greatest quarterbacks as a comparison. Each week, we’ll look at the final three seasons of a different quarterback versus what Brady has done with the Bucs in, presumably, his final three seasons.
It’s not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, because there are differences in eras and most quarterbacks are retired long before 45. But it does give you an idea of how rare it is to see a player still dominating while holding off middle age.
Brady vs. Roethlisberger
The set-up: He was an elite quarterback who will be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, but “Big Ben” may still be one of the more underrated passers in history. Roethlisberger threw for more than 60,000 yards and won two Super Bowls. Do you know how many other quarterbacks can match those milestones? Brady and Peyton Manning. That’s it. Roethlisberger had a higher passer rating than Joe Montana and won more Super Bowls than Brett Favre or Drew Brees. Not a bad legacy.
The end: Roethlisberger had been dealing with an elbow injury for years before blowing it out on a deep pass in Week 2 of the 2019 season. He was 37 at the time and was coming off a season when he led the NFL in passing yards. Roethlisberger had surgery and missed the rest of the season but came back in 2020 to go 12-3 and throw for more than 500 yards in a playoff loss to the Browns. He made his 12th postseason appearance at age 39 before calling it quits.
Roethlisberger
Years: 2019-21
Ages: 37-39
Completed 824 of 1,275 passes with 55 touchdowns and 21 interceptions for 7,894 yards and a 89.3 passer rating. Was 21-12 as a starter.
Brady
Brady in Week 14: Arguably, the most embarrassing game of Brady’s NFL career. Playing near his boyhood home in the San Francisco bay area, he was under pressure from the pass rush, threw behind receivers, complained constantly to officials and the Bucs were blown out by halftime. Brady has more interceptions in the past two games than he did in the season’s first 11 weeks.
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Explore all your optionsYears: 2020-22
Ages: 43-45
Has completed 1,267 of 1,908 with 100 touchdowns and 29 interceptions for 13,534 yards and a 98.1 passer rating. Is 30-16 as a starter.
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