A long, long time has passed since Tom Brady and Drew Brees first met on a football field. Sure, not quite long enough for the two timeless quarterbacks to yet resemble their images in that tremendous History Channel meme cooked up by Bradyâs social media crew. But a long time. As Brady and Brees go head-to-head for a ninth and probably final duel on Sunday (6:40 p.m. ET on FOX), it is as fitting as could be that this one, of all of them, matters the most. Breesâ New Orleans Saints are seeking to give their inspirational leader the perfect sendoff before he is expected to stride away in the direction of a commentary booth and a future position in the Hall of Fame. Brady is hunting down sports immortality, attempting to add to the six Super Bowl rings he won in New England by reimagining the modern history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The pair are friends, record-breakers and mutual admirers – and perhaps no one else understands what it has taken the other to reach this point, still chugging at ages 43 and 42. But only one man can emerge from this weekend with those late-career dreams still alive, the other must nurse the sour tang of disappointment. Everything is at stake, yet divisional round week has brought plenty of nostalgia and no shortage of humor, memes notwithstanding. âWe were texting on Monday,â Brees said. âJust kind of chuckling at this whole scenario. Thereâs 85 years and a lot of football experience thatâs going to be on the field on Sunday.â âIâve known (Drew) for a long time,â said Brady, during the Bucsâ media availability. âIâve always had a great amount of respect for him, going all the way back to his Purdue days.â  It was during Breesâ college career at Purdue that the QBs first encountered each other, with Bradyâs Michigan Wolverines coming out on top, 38-12, on Oct. 2, 1999. There is some irony that their matchups started when the world at large didnât know them, in front of 111,468 at Michiganâs Big House, and will end with them as famous as any athletes in America, but playing before a limited Superdome crowd of around 3,000. âIt was loud that day,â Marcus Knight, Bradyâs leading receiver in the Purdue game with 136 yards and a touchdown, told me via telephone this week. âThe Big House was always loud.â Brees went into the game with Heisman aspirations and a growing reputation, and with Purdue ranked No. 11 and Michigan No. 4. Brady was in the midst of a quarterback battle with freshman teammate Drew Henson. âBrees was already Brees, but we werenât that worried about Tom to be honest,â Matt Mitrione told me. Mitrione, a hard-hitting mixed martial artist with Bellator and previously the UFC, was part of the same incoming class at Purdue as Brees, and started 35 consecutive games at defensive tackle. âWe figured our bigger problems would come from (running back) Anthony Thomas.â However, Brady stood tall, and after Michigan burst into an early lead, there was no looking back.  âThe Purdue offense with Drew Brees was spread out and very dynamic,â Knight remembers. âWe knew we had to put a lot of points up to help our defense out. âThis was the year when Tom was really getting the first opportunity to prove himself. You could see it in his eyes that he was looking for the respect he was due. There were other quarterbacks people were talking about, and he wanted to make everyone take notice.â Knight said Michigan benefitted from the shock and awe factor of the huge crowd, with Brees throwing for 293 yards but also tossing a key interception and coughing up a fumble in the first quarter. Knight, who played 21 games for the Oakland Raiders from 2001-02 before spending time in NFL Europe, is now the wide receivers coach at Indiana State and frequently uses the example of Bradyâs college struggles when mentoring young players. âI tell them to look at what he has done,â Knight said. âIf you can come through adversity, believe in yourself when not everyone does, make the most of your moment when it arrives and grasp it, then it is even more of a blessing than if youâd had it easy. Thatâs the story of Tom Brady.â Bradyâs TB12 regimen has become legendary, but, according to Mitrione, Breesâ attention to detail and competitive spirit has always been just as fanatical.  âWe butted heads sometimes in college, I was a partier and he was much more conservative, but I could never throw shade at him because of how hard he worked. Everything was maximum intensity. He would set up these garbage cans to practice deep balls and if he didnât sink them he would get furious with himself. âCompetition is his vice. Iâve never met anyone in sports with the same mental aptitude for competition as him. We would do Ultimate Frisbee for cardio and they eventually had to tell Drew to stop playing for his own safety. Heâd be full-length diving over offensive linemen to try to catch the frisbee. He had to win that badly. When you see that, itâs not so surprising heâs been as successful as he has.â There are lessons to be had in those stories for all of us, yet neither Brady nor Brees are ready to become a fully-fledged part of NFL folklore just yet. There is still serious business at stake and two legacies that can still be further polished. â(Brady) has the most to gain,â former All-Pro Brandon Marshall said on FS1âs First Things First, when discussing what this postseason means to the remaining quarterbacks. âIt is almost like Kobe and Shaq. If Tom Brady goes to win a Super Bowl without Bill Belichick, now we are not talking about him as the greatest football player of all time, I think that thrusts him in the conversation as the greatest competitor in all of sports.â However, Tampa Bay will go in as underdogs (+3, per FOX Bet) and Brees also has the career edge, having bested Brady on five of the eight times theyâve played, including a 38-3 beatdown on Nov. 8. Both superstars have faced countless big occasions like this before, yet this one feels a little different. For time is ticking on both of them, and if things donât work out, there is a long time to think about it afterwards.  Hereâs what others have said … Michael Rosenberg, Sports Illustrated: âWe see them now, near the end of their careers, and marvel at how long they have lasted. But the best way to understand why their journeys lasted so long is to go back to how they began. Brees and Brady were both overlooked Big Ten quarterbacks who needed time, opportunity and the right coaching to get here. They were not overlooked because coaches were dumb, but because their finest qualities are not easy to spot on the practice field or in the weight room: accuracy and poise under pressure, and the ability to process information quickly with large angry men bearing in on them. Brees and Brady are still standing because they could both absorb hits and avoid themâand because mental acuity lasts longer than physical gifts. Both quarterbacks are smart enough to understand their place in history is firmly establishedâand both are driven enough to go after the next like itâs their first.â Cameron Jordan, New Orleans Saints: âWe know they have one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, and we need to be able to have a game plan that affects him. Yeah, he’s been playing football since 1980-something. He’s seen every look that you can give. I saw the meme of [Brady and Brees] facing off on the History Channel. And I didn’t even laugh. I thought that was going to happen. I thought that was just a serious event.â Skip Bayless, Undisputed: âTom Brady is facing the greatest challenge in his NFL career. Drew Brees has owned Tom Brady in their head-to-heads. If Tom Brady could turn this around and win this game, I believe it would be the greatest beatdown, turnaround Iâve ever seen.â |
 âAnyone can see the adversity in a difficult situation, but it takes a stronger person to see the opportunity.â â Drew Brees |
