Tom Brady has a knack for getting into the conference championship. Brady will appear in his eighth conference championship in the last 10 seasons when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. And though he made seven appearances in the last nine AFC Championship Games, Brady will make his first appearance on the NFC side this weekend.
The magnitude of this pattern isn’t lost on his Buccaneers teammates.
“He’s the greatest player to ever play the game,” receiver Mike Evans told reporters on Zoom on Wednesday. “You add him on any roster, and I’m sure the outcome would be somewhat like this. He always gets his team to the playoffs. He’s a winner. He’s a natural-born winner, leader, all that. At this point in his career, he’s just playing chess, and we’re definitely very happy he’s on our side.”
Brady, 43, finished the 2020 season completing 65.7 percent of his passes for 4,633 passing yards with 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. It was one of the best statistical seasons of his career, even with a slow start, perhaps due to a limited amount of offseason work with his new team.
Though he slogged through one of his worst statistical seasons in 2019 with the Patriots, Brady joined the Buccaneers in free agency this offseason, which meant joining a team with an outrageously talented arsenal of offensive weapons, like Evans, Mike Godwin, Cameron Brate and others. Upon signing Brady, the Buccaneers also added pass-catchers Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown.
Though Evans is giving Brady a large portion of credit, that supporting cast is absolutely a big reason why the quarterback has enjoyed so much success in 2020.
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