Brady Is Back

The GOAT retired — and then unretired — at the top of his game.

And on the fortieth day, Tom Brady unretired. In an NFL off-season that has been defined by change, the legendary quarterback’s announcement that he was going to return for his twenty-third season after all might have been the most momentous. But coming back does give Father Time one more shot to beat Brady. Trailing 27-13 in the fourth quarter of what was already rumored to be the final game of his career, Brady stepped up in the pocket. On just the third play of the drive, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signal-caller connected on a beautiful fifty-five-yard pass to wide receiver Mike Evans for a touchdown. It was the beginning of a frenetic comeback attempt that fell short when a defensive letdown prevented the Bucs from forcing overtime. A side-by-side comparison of Brady’s throw to the 2007 touchdown pass that gave the New England Patriots an undefeated regular season and this late period touchdown strike was later posted on social media. At age forty-four, Brady’s movement, mechanics, arm strength, and ball placement were almost identical to how he had looked in his prime over fourteen years earlier, despite his being pummeled by the fearsome Los Angeles Rams’ pass rush all day.  Peter Green/The American Spectator Subscribers, click here to read the full magazine. Not a subscriber? Click here to become a Patriot member today and receive access to The American Spectator in print and online! “Brady made it feel like he would try to achieve everything that was conceivably possible,” wrote Rodger Sherman in The Ringer after the short-lived retirement announcement. “In the end, he settled for simply achieving more than anybody else in football history ever has.” Had that remained Brady’s final game, it would have meant something without precedent in team sports. Football fans would have never seen Tom Brady not look like Tom Brady, even as he played well into his forties. In fact, the least like himself he ever looked was in the beginning of his career, not at the end — s...