Tom Brady Has Made G.O.A.T. Feel Inadequate

What is there left to be said about this guy? Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr., conqueror of football and Father Time, just capped a fairytale season by claiming his 7th Super Bowl title in his first year in a new city. Oh, and for a team that entering this year had the worst winning percentage in NFL history.

The Greatest of All-Time, the G.O.A.T., a distinction bestowed upon the one individual who stands above the rest. Well, at least it's supposed to be that way. These days, G.O.A.T. gets tossed around a bit too much. We have G.O.A.T. arguments on every corner. There are G.O.A.T.'s applied to new categories each week. Apparently there are now G.O.A.T. of G.O.A.T.'s? It's G.O.A.T.-inception out there. Hell, if Patrick Mahomes had guided the Chiefs to a victory last night, wasn't that supposed to vault him into the G.O.A.T. conversation?

The acronym has lost a bit of its luster in my mind, but when applied to Brady, it worked. He's the G.O.A.T., the greatest of the greats. In fact, if you Google "goat" Tom Brady is littered among the search results at the top of the page, before even the actual animal...Yet, after this latest triumph, one which would make a Hollywood script writer think twice about its believability, it may be time to rethink simply posting a picture of a furry barnyard animal alongside Brady and thinking it's sufficient.

G.O.A.T. implies the greatest to do something, and to reach that level, all that a person must do is one-up the next in line. Brady did that when he won his 5th Super Bowl title after the 2016 season, passing Joe Montana in the process. (He's since played in three and won an additional two). He did that as he pulled away from Drew Brees in the all-time TD chase this season. By week four of next season, he'll own the all-time passing yards record too.

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In the postseason, he has 34 career victories. Only the Steelers, Cowboys and Patriots have more (the Pats have seven playoff wins in their 43 years of existence without Brady under center). His 7th Super Bowl title has given him one more than any bleeping franchise in league history. His seven rings and five Super Bowl MVP's are now three and two ahead of Joe Montana, respectively.

Tom Brady hasn't just one-upped anyone. He's lapped everyone to ever play the game.

He's obliterated any argument a naysayer would dare make. He's proven the "system" was him. He's taken his talents elsewhere, at the age of 43 - an age when most QB's once considered his contemporary's are being enshrined into the Hall of Fame - and he's fostered the same results we witnessed over the last 20 years in New England.

Despite the media-concocted narrative that Brady can be selfish and a bad teammate or egotistical (despite literally every former teammate to go on the record saying the opposite), he wouldn't take the bait at the podium Sunday night when teed up by Jim Nance.

"Where does this one rank compared to the others," a prodding Nance asked.

"No, I'm not making comparisons," Brady replied. "I'm so proud of all these guys...this team is world champions forever, you can't take it away from us."

Humble and classy as ever. He had a chance to deliver the ultimate middle finger to Bill Belichick, to anyone who doubted he could succeed outside of New England, yet as he's done his entire career, Brady took the high road.

But I won't, I'll absolutely stoop to that level and let you know that TB12 is now 1-for-1 without Belichick, while Bill is now 0-for-8, with a record of 59-69 sans Brady.

On the field and off, this guy has done it the right way while doing things no one ever bothered to think of, because they just didn't seem possible.

So what's left to be said? Michael Jordan was the Tom Brady of basketball? Tiger Woods is the Tom Brady of golf? Jeff Bezos is the Tom Brady of business?

Brady's greatest accomplishment wasn't last night's win, nor was it 28-3. It won't be the endless records he retires with or going down as the winningest player in the history of modern North American team sports.

Brady's greatest accomplishment is that he's beyond compare of anyone that has preceded him and very likely anyone to succeed him. To quote the iconic baseball movie The Natural, "the greatest there ever was and the greatest there ever will be," Brady has made the ultimate compliment of "Greatest of All-Time" seem inadequate.