Opinion | Tom Brady is still the greatest ever

Joe Perrino, Sports Editor

On paper, Super Bowl LV presented the best quarterback matchup in Super Bowl history. The greatest to ever do it, Tom Brady, was taking on a new, up-and-coming, flashy yet poised Most Valuable Player-winning, 25-year-old Patrick Mahomes. Many, including me, believe Mahomes may one day pass Brady in the “greatest of all time” conversation. 

Today was not that day. 

Brady completed 72% of his passes, throwing for three touchdowns and no interceptions, in leading his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to an easy 31-9 victory over Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs. 

To one who did not watch the game, nine points and Mahomes’ shoddy box score may lead them to believe the young star played poorly. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Sometimes I get so caught up in the quarterbacks playing each other in a big game that I forget there’s 10 other players on the field.

I fell victim to this mindset Sunday afternoon.

While Mahomes played far from perfectly, some of the plays he made inside and outside of the pocket were otherworldly. The Chiefs’ offensive line, missing two regular starters in Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz, was dominated by a Tampa Bay pass defensive attack that had only four men rushing the passer — keeping Mahomes running for his life the entire game. In the fourth quarter, he was able to evade the rush, leave the pocket and make shockingly accurate throws despite 300-pound bodies hurling at him from a multitude of angles.

How was Tampa able to attack him so effectively?

With both of Kansas City’s starting offensive tackles injured, allowing Tampa Bay to drop its linebackers and safeties back in coverage — meaning they could more easily track where the wide receivers and tight ends were going on each passing play — while the defensive line chased Mahomes around behind the line of scrimmage.

While Mahomes was out there running like a chicken with its head cut off, Brady played just about as clean a game I’ve seen from him.

He completed most all of his underneath passes, tossed a couple touchdowns, got some help in the running game and benefited from a spectacular defensive game plan.

Is this outcome what I expected? Not at all. Am I happy about it as a Mahomes fan? Not at all. It doesn’t change my opinion that Mahomes will eventually be better than Brady, but that does not mean Mahomes won’t have a long road ahead of him to get there. For now, the 43-year-old Brady still sits atop the throne.