New team, same Tom Brady. The 43-year old quarterback made history once again, as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers bested the New Orleans Saints for the right to advance to the NFC Championship Game. While Brady had plenty of help from his defense in his latest victory, the all-time great saved his best work for last and once again came up huge in the game’s most important moments.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback Tom Brady Saves His Best For Last – Again
Brady struggled in his first two meetings with the New Orleans Saints, and started off slow in the postseason rematch. His overall numbers aren’t anything special, as the six-time Super Bowl champion ended the night by completing 18 of his 33 attempts for 199 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and an additional rushing touchdown. However, when the lights shone brightest, Brady played his best football.
Tied 20-20 entering the fourth quarterback, Brady needed a few massive drives to put the game away. The 43-year old answered the call, averaging an absurd 1.102 EPA/play in the game’s final quarter. This mark was easily the best among all playoff quarterbacks and was the biggest reason for Tampa Bay’s upset victory. This also doesn’t include a would-be touchdown to Rob Gronkowski that the big tight end struggled to track.
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Win probability tells a similar story, as Brady and the Buccaneers entered the fourth quarter with a 51% chance of coming away with a victory. However, the numbers quickly turned in Tampa’s favors, largely thanks to Brady’s fantastic play. While the largest swings in win probability were caused by the defense, Drew Brees had to be more aggressive after Brady and the Buccaneers started putting up points.
Tom Brady Setting More History
Tom Brady has been so good for so long that he sets some kind of record every time he steps onto the field. This time, the quarterback earned his 32nd playoff win, which means he is officially running laps around the competition. Joe Montana is next on the list (16 wins), while three others are tied at 14 wins. Quite frankly, it’s hard to imagine anyone ever catching this record, especially since Brady seems to be showing no signs of slowing down.
Tom Brady established himself as the king of the game-winning drives early in his career, and he continued to add to his legacy on Sunday night. Brady’s latest game-winning playoff drive was the 14th of his storied career – John Elway is in second place with six. Brady’s game-winning playoff drives alone would give him the third-most playoff wins in NFL history, which is just absurd.
With the win, Tom Brady and Drew Brees have the same amount of postseason wins against NFC teams (8). Brees has spent 15 years with the New Orleans Saints, while Brady has spent one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Because of this, six of Brady’s eight wins over NFC playoff teams have come against the very best the NFC had to offer and resulted in six Super Bowl rings.
Since entering the league, Tom Brady has been a starting quarterback for 19 seasons (not counting his one-game 2008 season). The quarterback has made it to a conference championship in 14 of those 19 seasons, or 73.6%. Brady’s career completion percentage is 64.0%, so Brady is considerably more likely to make it to a conference championship game than he is to complete any given pass.
Tom Brady now has more playoff wins away from Bill Belichick (2) than Bill Belichick has as a head coach away from Tom Brady (1). Belichick failed to make the playoffs in the 2000, 2008, and 2020 seasons with the New England Patriots and missed the playoffs in four of his five seasons with the Cleveland Browns. This isn’t a shot against Belichick – he’s obviously one of the greatest minds in the history of football. It is, however, a reminder of how hard it is to win football games without an elite quarterback. To quote Belichick himself: “players win games, and coaches lose them”.
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