Mahomes is great, maybe even an all-timer. He’s not Brady

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The New York Jets had the best reaction upon Tom Brady confirming his retirement Tuesday. After all, there was no franchise arguably more tortured, more humiliated by the quarterback over his 22-year career than those Jets. 

“This better be real,” the Jets tweeted.

It is. And I wish it wasn’t. 

No one can blame Brady for walking away from the NFL at 44. He’s already widely recognized as the sport’s greatest quarterback of all time. His accomplishments, particularly his seven Super Bowl rings (the most by a player in league history), may never be topped.

But don’t mind me if I’m a little disappointed. 

Just five months ago, Brady embraced the idea that he could play until he was 50. “I think I can,” Brady said on a podcast in September. Yes, Brady would soon walk back that remark, but if anyone could do it — it was Brady. This is a man who in the just-completed regular season led the league in passing yards with a career-high 5,316 yards. The 17th game helps inflate that mark, sure, though it bears repeating: The guy is 44 years old. 

But since that quip about playing another six years, Brady’s reconsidered. He wants to spend more time with his family and dive into interests outside of football. And that’s more than his right.

His retirement leaves an unusual void. It’s not often you see someone universally considered the GOAT — the greatest of all time — retire while he’s still seen as among the best. And while it’s undeniable that the NFL has a dynamic, entertaining bunch of young stars led by Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes putting up incredible numbers at quarterback, make no mistake: Brady is still in a class of his own.  

“I have always believed the sport of football is an ’all-in’ proposition — if a 100% competitive commitment isn’t there, you won’t succeed, and success is what I love so much about our game,” Brady said in a statement. “I’m not going to make that competitive commitment anymore.” 

Football will not only survive, it undoubtedly will thrive without Brady, just as the NBA was fine after Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and a new generation of stars rose to the forefront.

But with all due respect to Mahomes and his generation, they are missing something that made Brady so memorable. Brady was fun to root against.

So your team didn’t get close to the Super Bowl? That’s OK — most years you could watch just to cheer for whoever was on the sideline opposite Brady (not that cheering against him made much difference). There were good reasons Brady so often topped lists and surveys of the most-hated NFL players. 

The chiseled face, the model wife. The healthier-than-thou lifestyle. The temper tantrums on the sidelines. The scandals — from Spygate to Deflategate — bothered some, others didn’t like his seeming embrace of Donald Trump. If you were a fan of any other team in the NFL other than the New England Patriots or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you probably just got sick of how much he won.

Growing up a fan of the Denver Broncos, I couldn’t help but loathe Brady — and that was long before Peyton Manning signed with Denver and kicked that rivalry into a higher gear. 

To me, the most disrespectful moment of Brady’s career wasn’t a pass, a touchdown or a celebration. It was during the 2011-12 playoffs when, with three minutes to go and the Patriots up 45-10 over the Broncos, Brady suddenly punted the ball 48 yards down the field on third-and-10, putting the ball on the 10-yard line. 

The result was so in hand — so assured — that coach Bill Belichick willingly had Brady punt a down early rather than just dial up a short-yardage run and trot his punt team onto the field. And the Patriots could easily do that because of their dominance.

A fight, unsurprisingly, broke out afterward.

“Look at this!” CBS’ Jim Nantz said as Brady’s punt soared through the air. “He’s going to love this.”

What I wouldn’t give now for another Brady punt. Another Brady pass. Another textbook two-minute drill.

At some point, I got over my “hate” of Brady. This job pretty much requires you to leave fandom at the door, but it went beyond that, too. There was something dazzling about watching Brady in the latter part of his career. The inevitability of Brady’s fourth-quarter comebacks, the way he could dissect defenses at will, was amazing to see.

Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that Brady is walking away now still capable of playing at an elite level. He always prided himself in trying to separate himself from his peers — and indeed, he’s different from Manning and Drew Brees, two rivals whose abilities had clearly dropped off by the time they chose to retire.

But on the chance that Brady gets the urge to play again? Well, that would be more than fine in my book.

Maybe just be careful in telling the Jets. 

Matt Paras covers the NFL for The Washington Times.