In sports, more than almost any other facet of life, we talk a lot about “greatness.”
We have seemingly endless, rage inducing debates that will never reach a resolution on who the greatest of all-time is in each sport.
But now, we can finally put an end to the debate over Tom Brady’s greatness, because what he told a teammate after the NFC Championship proves there is no doubt that he’s the greatest of all-time.
All of Tom Brady’s accolades on the field have been talked about ad nauseam.
Over the past 20 years, he has won six Super Bowls, a combined 10 AFC and NFC Championships, has thrown more touchdowns and total passes than any other quarterback, and ranks second all-time in passing yards and completions.
No matter how often Tom Brady’s detractors want to try to claim otherwise, Brady has proven that he’s, at the very least, one of the best to ever play quarterback in the NFL.
But much like other greats before him, there are absurd stats that pop up from time to time that put Brady in another stratosphere from his competition.
Ready for an amazing stat? Career postseason wins over NFC teams:
Favre 12
Rodgers 10
Montana 10
BRADY 9*
McNabb 9
Staubach 9
Warner 8
Aikman 8
Brees 8
Russell Wilson 8
Steve Young 7
Eli 6* Has played 1 season in the NFC.
— Dirk Chatelain (@dirkchatelain) January 24, 2021
Tom Brady will start his 4th Super Bowl in the last 5 seasons. It’s also his 3rd since turning 40, no other QB has started a SB in his 40s.
He will have as many SB starts in his 40s (3) as Aaron Rodgers (1), Dan Marino (1) and Drew Brees (1) have in their combined careers. pic.twitter.com/aklEH4iCpg
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 25, 2021
According to @EliasSports Tom Brady will be the 1st player in NFL history to play in 10 NFL Championship games.
He'll be the 24th athlete in NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL history to play in 10 championship game/rounds. LeBron and Brady are the only ones to do this in the last 30 years pic.twitter.com/SccpGMpoOg
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 24, 2021
And then there are the stories of Brady’s competitive side, and his will to not only win but to always push for more that also set him apart.
Like the time he walked up to Patriots owner Robert Kraft after the team drafted him with the 199th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft.
“I still have the image of Tom Brady coming down the old Foxboro stadium steps with that pizza box under his arm, a skinny beanpole, and when he introduced himself to me and said ‘Hi Mr. Kraft,’ he was about to say who he was, but I said ‘I know who you are, you’re Tom Brady. You’re our sixth round draft choice,’” Kraft recalled. “And he looked me in the eye and said ‘I’m the best decision this organization has ever made.’ It looks like he could be right.”
Now we have yet another one of those perfect Tom Brady stories that may just help explain how Tom Brady operates.
According to Tampa Bay linebacker Lavonte David, after realizing he was going to the Super Bowl for the first time in his nine year career, David began to cry on the field of the NFC Championship game last week.
And Tom Brady told him to stop crying because they hadn’t won the Super Bowl yet.
Lavonte David says Tom Brady saw one of his teammates crying after they won the NFC Championship Game. Brady went right up to him and said: "What the f*** are you crying for? We're not done yet." 🐐
(via @ATCoveredPod with @BMac_SportsTalk & @P2) pic.twitter.com/FHx8ZqHG0x
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) February 3, 2021
“When I realized that it was real — when I realized all other stuff don’t really matter unless it’s the Super Bowl, [it] was like after we won the NFC Championship … I’m geeked up and I guess somebody was crying, and I heard him (Tom Brady), just like, ‘What the (expletive) you crying for? We’re not done yet.’”
That’s just an absolutely incredible Tom Brady story, and proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he is the greatest of all-time for simply never stopping to smell the roses.
Stories like this also prove that Tom Brady isn’t a real human because anyone else would have at least celebrated the win for a few minutes.
But not Brady, he’s already looking ahead and getting ready to try and win his seventh Super Bowl.
That level of desire to be the absolute best just doesn’t come around very often.
And it’s that type of level that may apparently fuel Tom Brady to continue making Super Bowls look easy for another ten years.
We’ll see on Sunday.
Sports with Balls will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.