Sunday night’s matchup between the Patriots and Packers — a 31-17 win for New England featuring Tom Brady out-dueling Aaron Rodgers — was probably the last time we’ll ever see those two Hall of Fame quarterbacks go head to head, with the two teams not scheduled to square off again until 2022.
Brady is 41 and Rodgers will turn 35 in December, making it rather unrealistic to expect both guys to survive until the next scheduled Packers/Patriots game. But maybe it’s not off the table: Peter King of NBC Sports wrote in his “Football Morning in America” column on Monday Brady does indeed want to play until the next matchup.
According to King, Brady said “after the game he fully intends to be around for the 2022 Brady-Rodgers match.”
Wouldn’t THAT be something? Seeing Brady, at the ripe old age of 47, carving up whatever guy is running the Packers’ defense as they try and make one last run for a second Aaron Rodgers Super Bowl.
If we could get someone to set odds, what would Brady be to play in this game? Maybe +350 or something in that range? Would he definitely be less likely to play than Rodgers, who has been battling injuries the last few years as he tries to avoid getting hit quite as often? Sign me up for this game if it can still happen.
Brady’s said he made a deal with wife Gisele to play two more seasons, but we’ve also heard him say he wants to play until he’s 45 before. Brady’s been dropping hints left and right for the last year or so about when he plans to depart the game, but nothing concrete’s really surfaced.
It’s possible Brady is growing tired of playing football, but it’s also easy to imagine him becoming rejuvenated once the season begins and he starts to grind with Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels. The Patriots are, once again, in an impressive position when it comes to potentially winning a Super Bowl.
This is something we’ve been talking about for years now. And it’s something that’s been talked about in the Brady-Bundchen household for a few years as well.
My personal guess is he tries to win one more Super Bowl in the next two years, and if he pulls it off, he walks away on top. Brady has to believe he can keep grinding out Super Bowls but he also knows how difficult they are to win and how terrible he feels when he loses one.
If he can do it and drop the mic on top of the world, then we might not see him matching up against Rodgers after all.
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