Raymond James Stadium. Tampa Bay, Fla. USA
It is the 1st game of the season and it has been a barn burner. The opponent has battled and battled and battled. The lead you had is gone. Not only is it gone. It has changed hands. Your team is behind 29-28, with a minute and change left on the clock. The odds are the team should lose. It’s over. It was fun but now it’s done.
Hold on. Isn’t there a guy named Tom Brady on your team? Oh, yeah. The guy who helped the Buccaneers win a Super Bowl. Get ready to meet the REAL Thomas Patrick Edward Brady. This is the guy who emerges when the chips are down. When you are playing a white-hot team for the night. You have been knocked down, and are almost out. The referee, who is counting over you, has reached “SEVEN”. Can you get off the canvas and continue when there is just a sliver of a chance of winning. The answer is YES YOU CAN.
With a minute and twenty seconds on the clock and on your own 25-yard line. It begins. This isn’t the time for a nervous nelly. A supposed to be, wannabe someday might be a good quarterback. You need a driven captain to take command of the troops and matriculate them down the field. You need Tom Brady. There will be no quit. There will be no surrender. There will be no time for miscues or excuses. Talent doesn’t mean a darn thing now. Determination and execution do. There is a left side toss to Bernard who gets out of bounds after a pick-up of 8 yards. On 3rd and 2 a pass to Bernard to pick up the 1st down. After a false start in which they had to burn their last time out to avoid a ten-second runoff of the clock. There is a pass to Gronk on the right side of the field and he manages to get out of bounds. With 49 seconds left another pass to Gronk down the middle which gets them down to the 42-yard line of Dallas. With 24 seconds left Brady connects on a 24-yard back-shoulder throw to Godwin on the left side of the field. To advance down to the 18-yard line.
There are 14 seconds left on the clock. But Head Coach Bruce Arians chooses ‘no’ to risk it for the biscuit. He has Brady throw the ball away 3 straight times to take time off the clock. Then Arians sends in Ryan Succop on the field to win the game with 7 seconds left. Succop puts it straight down the middle.
Tampa Bay. Now you know why millions of New England fans left the Patriots to become Buccaneer fans in the blink of an eye. They have watched this type of comeback over and over. This is what Tom Brady gives to the fan. Drive, determination, production. He won’t ever quit. Your team is in the game until the last second ticks off the clock. This is why fans are loyal. Despite all the talk of a great defense. You better have a guy who can win the game when the chips are down. A guy who will put the team on his back and go the distance. You have just met the REAL Tom Brady