They say Father Time is undefeated, but he might have met his match with Tom Brady.
Brady, who turned 42 on Saturday, reportedly agreed to a two-year extension with the New England Patriots on Sunday. The deal understandably is structured to be evaluated on a year-by-year basis, but there’s no reason to believe the decorated quarterback won’t be able to live out his new contract.
Scott Van Pelt at this point can’t help but sit back and laugh at Brady’s longevity, especially considering the “SportsCenter” anchor for some time now has worked alongside a former Brady counterpart.
“Tom Brady’s stubborn fight with the clock on the wall is starting to feel spooky,” VanPelt said Sunday on ESPN. “Like, maybe he’s the guy who’s going to take the game into overtime. In so many ways, I guess he already has. I’ll get back to the news we covered earlier in a second. First, just a frame of how silly all of this is: Back in 2001, Tom Brady saw his first action as a starter in the NFL. So, I was looking at the list today of guys who started at quarterback that season. You can go with the Randall Cunningham or Vinny Testaverde route. They were 38 at the time, and they seemed every bit of it. Instead, let’s look within. That same year, our (ESPN) colleague, Brian Griese, was the starter in Denver. Started 15 games that season for the Broncos. He was 26 at the time. Brady, though he might have seemed younger, was 24. Both fine Michigan men. Brian begins his second decade working with us at ESPN this fall, which isn’t any way a shot at him being an old man. Rather, to illustrate he’s in a well-established, successful second professional act. Brady, meanwhile, continues his first.”
It’s becoming nearly impossible to project when Brady finally might decide to hang up his pads. Testaverde, for one, thinks the Super Bowl champion is capable of being under center until he’s 50. That might come off as a stretch, but at this stage in the came, can you really rule it out?
