Tom Brady’s played in some pretty important games during his career, including his nine Super Bowl appearances over the past two decades.
Brady holds the NFL record with 31 playoff wins and 30 of those came during his time with the New England Patriots — where he met and exceeded every expectation that was put on him. ESPN’s Mike Reiss put together a list of his Top 10 playoff performances and No. 10 was a Super Bowl matchup where he threw for 505 yards.
For former tight end Jermaine Wiggins, none of those performances surpassed the importance of Brady’s matchup against the New Orleans Saints this weekend. Brady’s in his first year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and he’s already in the second round of the playoffs.
Here’s Wiggins’ explanation for his comment.
“For Tom Brady, you could say this, that as he sits in his mansion down in Tampa, this is the most important game of his NFL, not even NFL, but his football career,” Wiggins said on WEEI’s ‘The Greg Hill Show’.
“Because it’s all about he’s been tied to Bill Belichick and winning championships and winning big games for his whole career,” Wiggins continued. “Now he’s in a position where he went to a place and the expectations for Brady and that team went through the roof. You are now in a position where it is the divisional game, a game that everybody expects you to have won prior to the season starting. … Now, if you lose in the divisional game against a team that has already beat you twice during the regular season and beat you badly, now you know what the national narrative becomes? Brady can’t do it without Bill Belichick.”
The Brady vs. Belichick conversation will be a lifelong debate and the 43-year-old could cement his legacy with a Super Bowl appearance — but, it doesn’t take away from the greatness already achieved.
This game may be important, but it’s more impressive that Brady’s still on the field and performing at an elite level.
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