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‘His best throws have been tablets’: What pundits are saying about an aging Tom Brady
Brady currently finds himself under .500 through seven weeks for the first time since 2002.
Not many ever expected to see Tom Brady like this.
After leading the league in passing yards and touchdowns just last year, Brady has thrown just eight touchdowns through seven weeks as he finds himself below .500 (3-4) for the first time since 2002.
The 45-year old’s on-field struggles, combined with the well-documented troubles in his personal life, have led media personalities around the league to question both Brady’s decision to un-retire and his future in the league.
The NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt was one of those pundits, telling his co-hosts on Monday’s episode of ‘Good Morning Football’ that he “still doesn’t know why Brady un-retired.”
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“I know it wasn’t for this,” Brandt continued, referencing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ slow start to the season.
SI’s Robin Lundberg shared a similar sentiment, writing this week that, “Tom Brady’s recent struggles only magnify the mistake that was his offseason retirement pump fake.”
Lundberg pointed out that Brady squandered the opportunity to end his career on a high note after winning a Super Bowl without Bill Belichick in 2020, and having one of his best statistical seasons in 2021.
“If Tom had gone out on that note it would have been perhaps the best ride off into the sunset we’ve ever seen, and everyone would have continued proclaiming that he could’ve played at a high level forever,” he wrote.
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“Instead he came back and his best throws have been tablets,” Lundberg continued, referencing Brady’s viral moment from Week 2 of this season.
The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay also noted that “a departure now would feel considerably worse,” for Brady – who Gay refers to as a “Geezer Great” – compared to if he had stayed retired following the 2021 season.
Forbes’ Don Yeager seemingly called Brady’s leadership into question over his decision to un-retire and subsequent struggles.
“All of us age out of our profession. One trait of a leader is to know ourselves well enough to do so with grace,” Yeager wrote in a piece titled, “Why Tom Brady Should Have Stayed Retired.”
He said that former stars “have a hard time seeing what the camera reveals all too clearly …” In Brady’s case, Yeager writes, what is revealed is “less heat and laser like accuracy in Brady’s pass up the middle, resulting in an incompletion that we would swear he never missed before.”
Also noticing Brady’s decline in ability is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who said on “First Take” on Monday that “Tom Brady looks like a shell of himself.”
Smith went to express what most who have watched Brady play this year are thinking – that this season has to be his last.
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“I’ll tell you this much, here’s what’s done – Tom Brady after this season,” Smith asserted. “
“This is it. You talk about that moment where you look at a guy and realize that moment has arrived, even if they turn it around. You look at that guy and you said ‘you did it, this should be it. No more after this season.”
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