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Tom Brady made his retirement from the NFL official on Tuesday, announcing his decision to hang up his cleats from his Instagram account after 22 years as a pro. He enjoyed a long and storied career, regularly sweeping his rivals in the AFC East with the New England Patriots and winning a Super Bowl title in a brief detour with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And no team gave Brady more trouble more often than the New Orleans Saints. He faced the black and gold nine times in the regular season, going 4-5 for a winning percentage of .444. Only one team beats that — the Seattle Seahawks, who beat him twice in three meetings. He retired with a record of .500 or better against every other team in the NFL. Of the other four teams he played exactly nine times, he went 6-3 against the Carolina Panthers, 7-2 with the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans, and an embarrassing 9-0 over the Atlanta Falcons. No wonder Atlanta gave up a 28-3 lead to him in Super Bowl LI.
New Orleans sacked Brady 28 times across those nine games, trailing only his old AFC East punching bags. And their rate of 3.11 sacks per game trumps what the Miami Dolphins (66 sacks in 36 games, 1.83), Buffalo Bills (64 sacks in 36 games, 1.78), and New York Jets (56 sacks in 37 games, 1.51) accomplished. No team fared better against Brady as often as the Saints.
What about takeaways? The Saints intercepted Brady 11 times, with ranks fifth-best behind the Dolphins (27), Bills (25), Jets and Indianapolis Colts (16 times each). They’re tied for the fifth-most fumbles against him, too (6). Only the Kansas City Chiefs limited Brady to a worse passer rating (87.4 in ten games) than New Orleans (88), among teams to play against him nine or more times.
It’s almost a shame the Saints didn’t get to play against this Hall of Fame-bound quarterback more often. Almost every game made memories: some great, like Bill Belichick pulling him during a devastating 38-17 blowout loss in 2009, or the 9-0 home loss orchestrated by a banged-up Taysom Hill with Sean Payton watching from his couch in 2021; and other memories are tough to look back on, like the uncalled hold on Junior Galette to set up Brady’s game-winning touchdown pass in 2013 or an early-season 36-20 rout in New Orleans in 2017. For better or worse, every game the Saints played against Brady and his teams was memorable. The NFL won’t be the same without him.
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