I stopped writing this column for two seasons and Tom Brady is better now than when I left. Back then, there was appropriate awe that he was hanging on as a top-10 regular-season quarterback before he lit up the AFC on the way to his final Patriots title. He fell further in his final New England season, closer to league average. Just 18 months later, it’s obvious that no NFL quarterback has played better since last December, a stretch lasting nine Bucs games.
Brady was Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded passer from Week 13 forward last season — and he just topped the PFF board again in Week 1 of 2021. Justin Herbert, sensational in every respect, was outplayed by a man who was in the NFL when Herbert was 2 years old.
Composing a “Tom Brady is still good” take is one of the most challenging endeavors a writer can embark on — hasn’t it all been said before? — but I’m fascinated about the shape of Brady’s latest peak. He’s a different player, making “wow” throws more consistently. His average depth of target is deeper than it’s ever been. He is way more fun to watch at 44 than he was at 24.
The easy tell of an analyst with an anti-Brady bias is when they question his arm strength. Even in 2019, when he earned his No. 14 year-end QB Index grade, Brady still had his velocity. The melding of what Brady does best with Bruce Arians’ offense has encouraged the veteran signal-caller to take more chances, which helped TB12 lead the league in PFF’s “Big-Time Throws” metric in the 2020 campaign. He made more big-time throws last season than Patrick Mahomes! And Brady had five more such tosses in Week 1 — that’s as many as he posted in any game during his record-breaking 2007 season, one less than Week 1 leader Kyler Murray and the same amount as Dak Prescott. Unlike Murray and Prescott, though, Brady didn’t have a single “Turnover-Worthy Play,” per PFF. Also unlike them, he became the oldest starting quarterback ever to win a game.
There have been multiple Brady peaks, from that ’07 dream season to the 2010-11 up-tempo corridor to the 2015-17 late-30s/early-40s stretch that figured to be the final piece of evidence that his career had a shape unlike any other. Perhaps this mad bomber stretch in Tampa won’t last as long, but it’s time to recognize Brady is not just playing well for his age. He’s playing as well as he ever has.