Of the all quotes from Tom Brady‘s appearance on HBO’s The Shop: Uninterrupted to gain traction, the most obvious statement he made has generated nearly as much buzz as anything else he said.
“We’re coming to the end,” he said at one point. “It’s coming to the end.”
Of course it is. He’ll be 44 in a few weeks. His self-imposed expiration date — the 2022 season, which begins with him turning 45 — is a year away.
Even if he somehow goes beyond 45, and he recently suggested he might do just that, he’s far, far closer to the end than the beginning.
So, yes, it’s indeed coming to the end. It would be much more significant if he didn’t say that.
That said, his arm won’t significantly weaken for years to come. The question is whether he’ll still be able to avoid contact with his legs. He firmly has entered (wisely) a duck-and-cover portion of his career, getting rid of the ball quickly (sometimes too quickly) in order to avoid taking a big hit. The defensive players chasing him around are bigger, stronger, faster, and a lot younger.
Father Time remains undefeated for a reason. Father Tom has defied him longer than anyone else. However long it lasts, it surely can’t last a whole lot longer.
Tom Brady knows the train is pulling into the station originally appeared on Pro Football Talk