Tom Brady’s 2022 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Behind the numbers
When you’ve won everything in your career, it’s quite normal that you stop pushing as hard as there’s nothing left to prove. That, however, does not seem to be the case where the Bucs’ legendary quarterback is concerned.
In a season that’s seen him add even more records to an already extensive list, the seven-time Super Bowl champion finally broke the ‘curse’ he endured against the Dallas Cowboys throughout his career, which is to say there’s yet another playoff game for Tom Brady to play in what’s been one more record-breaking season for the QB.
Tom Brady closed the 2022-23 NFL regular season strongly.
If you’ve got used to hearing about Tom Brady’s records, we forgive you. To be fair, the Bucs’ signal caller has so many records on his CV, that one could be excused for growing tired of hearing about them and he recently added two more to the list. Indeed, during Tampa Bay’s regular season closer against the Atlanta Falcons, Brady managed surpass a pair of records despite only playing in one half of the game. During the first half, the former Patriots QB completed 13 of 17 pass attempts for 84 yards with one touchdown and zero interceptions. If you’re wondering why he didn’t participate in the second half, that’s because the Bucs had already clinched the NFC South title, so there was no need to risk their star with the Wild Card Game against the Cowboys looming. Yet, the question remains, ‘what records?’
Add 2 more records to Tom Brady’s list.
First up, there was Matthew Stafford’s record for the most pass attempts in a single season. The Rams’ QB who recently extended his deal in Los Angeles had previously set a record with 727 pass attempts back in 2012 when he was playing with the Detroit Lions. Brady of course, went a step further by finishing this season with 733. Now, it’s worth mentioning that Brady did in fact play one more half of football than Stafford, however, the record now belongs to the Bucs’ signal caller.
As for the other record, believe it or not, but Brady actually broke one of his own records that day - the nerve of the guy. By completing 13 of his aforementioned 17 passes, he moved up to a total of 490 on the season which leapfrogged the 485 that he established as a record in 2021. Across the 17 games that he played this campaign, the 45-year-old quarterback completed 66.8% of his passes for 4,694 yards with 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Now, it’s quite clear that the Bucs offensive play wasn’t the best this year, but where Brady himself is concerned, he was able to orchestrate no less than five game-winning drives which of course clinched a playoff spot for the third straight time since he’s been with the team. If you’re looking for a word to describe the scenario, we’d recommend legend.
Dallas Cowboys end Brady’s dominance
While it’s clear that Brady still has what it takes to compete at the highest level, he was not able to engineer a win for the Bucs on Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys – a team he’s never lost to in his 23-year-career – in the Wild Card Round. Indeed, the apparent dominance that Brady enjoyed over America’s team, finally came to an end with a 31-14 defeat. With that, the question now is, ‘what next for Tom Brady?’ While he’s given no definitive word as yet, we’d recommend that you watch this space.