Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were soundly defeated in the final game of Wild Card Weekend on Monday, falling 31-14 to the Dallas Cowboys. In the game’s final minutes, one natural question took over. Would this be the final game in the storied career of Tom Brady? Different theories were floated by football fans and insiders. And after the game, Brady himself spoke about what may be next.
Brady started his press conference by giving credit to the Cowboys for their performance and addressed what went wrong for both himself and his team during Monday’s game. Then, he was asked a question. What is your process from here when you start to think about what you want to do next?
The next step for Brady will be “to go home and get a good night’s sleep,” he said. Then, when asked about when a decision on his playing future might be reached, he said “It’ll just be one day at a time. Truly.”
Brady’s 2022 season was a mixed bag.
He threw for 4,694 yards, finishing third in the NFL, behind only Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert. That total, however, was significantly behind his total of 5,316 in 2021. This was despite the fact that he both attempted and completed more passes in 2022 than he did the previous year.
Brady also threw 40 touchdowns in 2020 and 43 in 2021, his first two seasons with the Buccaneers. For reference, he only threw 40 touchdowns once in his legendary career with the New England Patriots. But in 2022, he threw only 25 touchdown passes. Not counting 2008, when he suffered a season-ending injury in the first game, Brady has only failed to top 25 touchdown passes six times since 2002, his first full season as a starter.
In many ways, Monday’s loss was a microcosm of the season. Brady threw for 351 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. But he completed only 53% of his passes, both touchdowns were in garbage time and the interception was probably the biggest play of the game.
Brady briefly retired after the 2021 season before deciding to return. So, it’s clearly a distinct possibility. And when he finally does start to think about his playing future, he’ll have a lot to consider.
[Photo Credit: ESPN]
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