NFL | Tom Brady announces his retirement

Star quarterback Tom Brady announced Tuesday morning that he is ending his storied NFL career after several days of speculation.

Miguel Bujold
The Press

“I thought a lot during the week and I asked myself the difficult questions, wrote TB12 on its social networks. I am proud of what we have accomplished. My teammates, coaches, rivals and fans deserve 100% from me, but right now it’s better than leaving the field open to the next generation of dedicated athletes.

“To my Buccaneers teammates of the past two seasons, I love you, I enjoyed fighting alongside you. You have reached deep within you to meet the challenges, and have inspired me to give the best of me. I will always be there for you and want to see you give your best. I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve accomplished together. »

In a lengthy social media missive, Brady also thanks everyone in the Buccaneers organization, from the owner and support staff to fans and teammates. He reserves his last thoughts for his family and his wife Gisele Bündchen: “Our family is my greatest achievement. »

“My career has been an exciting journey that has exceeded all my expectations, filled with ups and downs. When you’re immersed in it, you don’t think about the end. But now I think of all the players and coaches I’ve played with and faced. The competition was fierce, just the way we liked it. But the friendships and relationships that remain are deep. I will think about it often. I am one of the luckiest people in the world. »

An illustrious career

When he replaced Drew Bledsoe at short notice in September 2001, very few people knew who Tom Brady was. Even most hardened NFL fans had next to nothing about this greenhorn, who had been 199^and prospect selected in the 2000 draft after an ordinary college career with the Michigan Wolverines.

The first overall pick in the 1993 draft, Bledsoe suffered a collapsed lung and would miss approximately a month. He would then resume his place as a starter, being one of the most prolific quarterbacks in the NFL at that time. Bledsoe already had a Super Bowl appearance behind him, in 1996, and wasn’t even 30 yet. The New England Patriots was his team. He was their superstar.

But this unknown in the name of the most common, Tom Brady, began to win. A flash in the pan, we thought at the start. A few more wins later, it was then believed that the Pats had found a good reserve quarterback behind Bledsoe.

But Brady and the Patriots were no longer losing. Their defense was the basis of their success, sure, but Brady got the job done. His stats were nothing out of the ordinary, as they just avoided the mistake that killed his club. He was playing within his means, making the right decisions, and the Patriots were winning. And won again.

A team no one saw in the playoffs, let alone after Bledsoe’s injury, finished the season second in the All-American, then found themselves in the Super Bowl against all odds. This is where the beautiful fairy tale would end, against Kurt Warner and the “Greatest show on turf”. The St. Louis Rams had won the Super Bowl two years earlier and were favorites by two casino touchdowns. You know the rest.

With a performance similar to those he had delivered throughout the season, Brady hit the passes he needed to hit and the Pats caused one of the biggest upsets in North American professional sports history. American.

Looking back, however, it wasn’t such a big surprise. Rather, it was the first chapter in the player’s 22-season career that would go on to become the greatest in history.

The sacrifices of a perfectionist

Brady had often indicated that he hoped to play until the age of 45, at the very least. Gisele Bündchen’s husband had even spoken of the possibility of continuing his career until the age of 50, he who will celebrate his 45th birthday in August.

After recording his highest single-season yardage this year, why bow out now?

Brady has often said that it will most likely be because he feels the time has come to spend more time with his family than he retires. As we know, he has always worked hard to be at the top and to stay there.

So it’s a 12-month-a-year investment with all that it entails to be or one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL season after season: meticulous training, a diet bordering on madness, a study of the game that we guess incessant, a rigor in terms of player techniques…

Ten Super Bowls, including seven victories, an endless list of individual honors, countless memorable victories, that’s what Brady has fueled since the beginning of the new millennium. After two decades of sacrifice — especially in the second half of his career — Brady made the decision to live a little. Enjoying family time and, who knows, maybe eating pizza with a glass of wine. Maybe even two!

A coming back?

By leaving the NFL now, Brady does so by not having played too many seasons. The tallest never want to risk losing their skills before hanging on their crampons. They had all slowed down, sure, but Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger didn’t wait to be dismal before retiring.

All three of these players, along with Philip Rivers and Eli Manning, got off to a good start, but none of them were able to leave the NFL after leading the league in passing yards. Brady can claim to have left his sport when he was still as good or almost as at the height of his career. In fact, his career was only a long peak…

How will Brady live out his retirement? Competitive as he is, will he be fully content taking care of his TB12 business? Will he want to get involved in an NFL team, as general manager or even as a shareholder?

After spending a year at home, would Brady change his mind? Would he imitate other legendary athletes like Michael Jordan, Mario Lemieux or Guy Lafleur? Of course, Brady isn’t in his 30s and would rather be making a comeback in his mid-40s. But if anyone can do it…

polarizing

Brady’s insatiable thirst for victory will have charmed many. In Quebec as elsewhere, it is thanks to Brady and the Patriots that many people began to take an interest in the NFL. Their love for football grew as the Pats dynasty grew.

On the other hand, this same thirst for victories has fueled the disdain of many other people. His fans believed that it was because he was a warrior and a perfectionist that Brady bawled the officials or even his teammates. That he didn’t even shake hands with his opponents after painful defeats because he hated losing so much.

To those who weren’t Brady supporters (and heaven knows opinions were polarized about him), it was more about a lack of class and spoiled brat behavior.

There were also the episodes of cheating that marred Brady and the Patriots, especially the famous “Spygate” in 2007. Like it or not, the exploits of Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots will always remain tarnished for many people.

Perfectionist, but very imperfect.

Still, it’s hard not to marvel at Brady’s many accomplishments. If many of his individual records are partly attributable to his longevity, what about his 10 appearances in the Super Bowl? We could tell you that no other player will manage to reach such a total…

Most notable is that all of those Super Bowls have been close games except his last, his only one in a Buccaneers uniform, played last year. Like it or not, Brady will have provided us with highlights like no other player in history has. And the vast majority of the time, he was winning those games. That’s ultimately the most accurate way to describe Brady: the greatest winner of all.

If Aaron Rodgers decides to retire, too, there won’t be a single one left of what could be called the old guard of quarterbacks: the two Mannings, Brees, Roethlisberger, Rivers, and now Brady. All gone.

It’s a new era really dawning, because while Brady was still around, you couldn’t really talk about the Mahomes generation, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and Justin Herbert (all in the American, by the way. by the way…). The future at the most important position is flourishing and very promising. A new era that will surely be as interesting as the one that is ending.

But what a time it was!