Tom Brady is unlike almost any quarterback to ever bless the NFL gridiron.
Haters can hate, but the 43-year-old is off to the 14th conference championship game of his NFL career. And it takes quite a bit of talent to achieve such a rare feat.
Colin Cowherd, for one, was impressed with Brady in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Divisional Round victory over the New Orleans Saints. And the FS1 host even expressed how he believed Sunday night’s performance was one of Brady’s best.
“(Drew) Brees looked old. Big Ben (Roethlisberger) looked old. Philip Rivers looked old. Tom Brady yesterday just looked great,” Cowherd said during Monday’s episode of “The Herd,” on FS1. “And it was great because there were times yesterday I thought Tom was throwing the ball too hard on some of those in routes to his receivers. I think that’s probably a top five Tom Brady moment for me.
“Forget the fact he was on the road. Forget the fact the Saints, I believe, have the best roster in the NFL. Forget the fact that it’s a top five defense. Yesterday went from Tom Brady won the divorce to, god, New England made a huge, huge mistake.
“I don’t want to hear about his weapons. Antonio Brown got hurt. Mike Evans? Ineffective. Chris Godwin played poorly. Gronk? Non-factor. I don’t want to hear about weapons. And by the way, nobody thinks Brady had the better coach yesterday. That, my friends, was a masters’ class on how to win a playoff game when not everything goes well — wisdom and leadership and moxie and intelligence and efficiency.”
Sometimes, Brady’s antics aren’t exactly the most polite. He’s often seen yelling at teammates and coaches on the sidelines following unsuccessful drives.
But as Cowherd points out, Brady’s intensity does appear to yield positive results.
“Tom Brady yells at teammates. Tom Brady can be rough. Tom Brady barks at coaches. Tom Brady, I’ve heard, is rough at practice. ‘Do it again! Let’s go! Lineup! Let’s do it again! Let’s go!’ And yesterday is the payday for that.
“Sometimes, people are viewed as mean when all they’re doing is holding you to a standard you’re certainly capable of reaching. But nobody’s demanded you reach that standard. Yesterday, Tom didn’t have the system. He didn’t have Belichick. He didn’t have the Foxboro weather. He didn’t have the better defense. No, not really. He just had Tom. 43 years of Tom Brady. That’s all he had.
“If you would have said before the game, ‘Brady’s going to go and play the Saints for a third time. Mike Evans, AB, Chis Godwin and Gronk are going to combine for seven catches, you would have said, ‘Oh my god. This is a disaster.’ Instead, they won going away.”
Brady will try to continue his streak of success this Sunday against the Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Kick off is slated for 3:05 p.m. ET.
