12/18/24
February 01, 2022
Tom Brady Retires: After 22 seasons, Tom Brady is taking his seven Lombardi trophies, five Super Bowl MVPs, three NFL MVPs, six All-Pros, 15 Pro Bowls, most touchdown passes and most passing yards and going home.
Be an iconic twist of fate if the QB needy Bucs decide that #11 Blaine Gabbert isn't their next man up and bring in the Garoppolo.
I admire Brady's technical evolution at the position. If you look at the mechanics from his first two training camps with the Pats, his throws were mostly all shoulder - inefficient, with a slow release. He learned how to stand tall and deliver the ball.
I'm glad he's able to walk away in this manner. I had been worried that the issue would be forced by an injury that closed the book without him having any say in the matter.
posted by beaverboard at 12:22 PM on February 01, 2022
Tom Brady has made good use of his throwing coaches. The more recent is former MLB pitcher Tom House, but most, including myself, had forgotten Tom Martinez, who coached Brady from high school. Brady was a baseball catcher, good enough to at least gain some attention from MLB scouts, but catchers tend to have some bad throwing techniques. They rarely have time to stand and set their feet, so it is mostly all arm strength. I am not surprised that Brady was not a good NFL passer at first. With the benefit of hindsight, I am not surprised that he took advantage of his coaching and applied his well known work ethic to improving.
posted by Howard_T at 12:59 PM on February 01, 2022
Makes me sad as a Bucs fan to see the TB12 era end, but I'm glad it happened. Watching the Buccaneers transform from the Sucs to an NFL powerhouse made everything else in 2020 a lot more palatable. I have a picture of Tom Brady warming up at Raymond James Stadium for a 2012 preseason game. If someone told me then, that TB12 would be a Buccaneer in 8 years, there would be 0 chance I would have ever believed them.
posted by FLsportsman at 05:19 PM on February 01, 2022
Tom Brady once went 10 years without winning a Super Bowl and I find that hard to believe. He was so good for so long in New England that it seemed like he was always winning them.
posted by rcade at 06:40 PM on February 01, 2022
What made Brady great to me was his competitiveness. He was on a different level in that regards and I'd place him in the class of Jordan and Kobe for his refusal to accept defeat.
posted by cixelsyd at 08:26 PM on February 01, 2022
Following up on what Howard talked about, here's what the Boston Globe published about Tom Martinez.
Since the Globe has a vigorous in-your-face paywall, I copied and pasted the text rather than link to the article.
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By Christopher Price, Globe Staff
For Olivia Martinez, Tuesday was bittersweet.
The widow of Tom Brady's original throwing guru Tom Martinez " who worked with the Patriots' quarterback from his early high school days in Northern California through his first three Super Bowl titles before he passed away in 2012 " saw the news that the prized pupil of her late husband had finally decided to retire at the age of 44.
It was a proud moment for the Martinez family. You can't tell the story of Brady's ascent to football greatness without including Martinez, the one professional constant in Brady's life from his teenage years through his first three Super Bowl wins.
The two first connected when Brady was a rattled high schooler struggling with mechanics. Over the years, the two maintained a close bond, with the quarterback leaning on Martinez and his wisdom on a consistent basis through his college career, and into the NFL. (This CBS Sports feature from 2011 takes a deep dive on the relationship between the two.)
"He's a great man," Brady said of Martinez.
"I remember the conversations my husband would have with Tom and Tom's father about the importance of doing things correctly," she recalled Tuesday night in a phone interview. "He would say, The better your form is and the better you throw, the longer you'll be able to play.' I also remember him telling Tom that If you do what I tell you to do, and you keep doing it religiously, you can play until you're 45.'"
Brady gave Martinez the game ball from his first NFL win against the Colts in 2001, and would routinely fly him into to Foxborough throughout the year when he needed an occasional tune-up until he passed in 2012.
"On a day like this, the thing I'd say that if Tom [Martinez] was living today, he'd be bursting with pride at the enormous success that Tommy has achieved over the years," said Olivia. "I think he even exceeded his own expectations in terms of what he was eventually able to accomplish.
"I think of all the things they could have continued to do together. ... I just know it would have been wonderful if they had been able to continue their relationship."
Martinez still recalls her first impressions of the future NFL MVP.
"To me, he will always be that fresh-faced, enthusiastic, intelligent, caring young man we first met all those years ago," she added. "He has stayed true to himself all these years, which is hard to do, and I'm just so proud of him and all that he has done. He deserves all the accolades he's getting.
"And kudos to his family for raising a wonderful kid " I just can't say enough about his parents and the kind of people they are. They raised some great children."
Martinez passed in 2012 on his 66th birthday after suffering a heart attack during dialysis. Brady moved on to work with Tom House, but he still kept his connection with the Martinez family.
"I can't say we communicate as much as we did in the past " he's moved in different company the last few years," Martinez said with a laugh. "But I still watch all his games closely, and stay in touch with his parents. They're a wonderful family. And I'm glad that now they'll be able to spend more time together."
posted by beaverboard at 10:57 AM on February 02, 2022
Love him or hate him, Brady has to be a first-ballot HOF inductee
I always cheered against him, and don't have any particular fondness for him as a human being. But not only do I think he's a first ballot HOF inductee, I think they should consider building him his own wing.
posted by tahoemoj at 02:16 PM on February 02, 2022
Thanks, beaverboard, for the Christopher Price piece on Tom Martinez. It adds a lot of depth to the Brady retirement story.
posted by Howard_T at 06:12 PM on February 02, 2022
The cold day in Hell finally arrived.
Love him or hate him, Brady has to be a first-ballot HOF inductee.