When he left the New England Patriots and joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a two-year deal worth $50 million in the offseason, critics expected veteran Tom Brady to fail. Critics claimed that the 43-year-old he’s washed up and would not succeed outside the system implemented by coach Bill Belichick in New England. But the 43-year-old Brady proved them wrong as he finished the regular season with 4,633 passing yards with 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions as he led the Buccaneers to an 11-5 record and the No 5 seed in the NFC. Brady’s 40 touchdown passes were the second-highest in his 20-year career, becoming the first 43-year-old in NFL history to throw that many scoring strikes.

Overall, he had 43 touchdowns in the regular season, including his three rushing scores.

He also finished third in terms of passing yards in the regular season, behind young signal-callers Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs. They tallied 4,823 and 4,740 passing yards, respectively. In terms of touchdown passes, Brady finished in a tie for second with Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks in touchdown passes, behind Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers, who had 48.

Brady silences critics anew

While his numbers speak volumes and enough to silence his critics, Brady made sure to drive home his point by posting on his Instagram account the Instagram story of Pro Football Focus (PFF) regarding his performance this season as tweeted by Patriots Loyal Fan.

In its story, PFF indicated that Brady finished second in their quarterback grading system with 92.6, behind Rodgers, who got 94.5. Brady was slightly ahead of Watson, who earned a grade of 92.5.

Brady also led the league in terms of deep passes. He had 36 completed passes of 20 yards or more in the regular season, despite being an intermediate passer throughout his career. Brady then shared PFF’s post on his Instagram story with a caption “Washed Up” with two angry emojis with smoke coming out of their nose, as posted by Patriots Loyal Fan.

Washington player grew up in awe of Brady

The Buccaneers are slated to face the Washington Football Team in a Wild Card Game on Saturday at FedEx Field. Washington rookie defensive end Chase Young earlier gave Brady a bulletin board material when he called him out following their 20-14 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. However, Washington linebacker Khaleke Hudson admitted he grew up awe of Brady, per a report by Sam Fortier of the Washington Post. “He’s the GOAT, so like, it’s just a crazy experience. I can’t wait to be out there going against him,” said Hudson, who like Brady, played college ball at Michigan.

Hudson said Brady is the favorite player of his younger brother.

LeSean McCoy ruled out of WFT game

Based on a report by Luke Easterling of USA Today, veteran running back LeSean McCoy won’t play when Tampa Bay takes on the Washington Football Team due to an illness. With McCoy out, rookie third-round pick Ke’Shawn Vaughn can get a share of snaps behind No. 1 rusher Ronald Jones and No. 2 Leonard Fournette.
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