Several years ago, analyst Max Kellerman of ESPN made a statement that he would later regret when he declared that Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady’s career, then playing for the New England Patriots, was “falling off a cliff”. Brady then proved Kellerman wrong when he led the Patriots to their sixth Super Bowl title after a 13-3 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LI. When Brady joined the Buccaneers last season, Kellerman admitted that his statement was wrong. On Sunday, retired wide receiver and now broadcaster/analyst Keyshawn Johnson hit the “cliff theory” when he declared that “I’ve never seen Tom Brady fall off” on the show Keyshawn, JWill and Max (KJM) on ESPN.
“There’s a game, there’s one or two games, a game or two stretch where he doesn’t like the first eight games of the season,” said Johnson, per transcription of the show’s YouTube video.
Johnson hits the mark
The former wide receiver said that when the Patriots lost to the Tennessee Titans in the Wild Card game, it’s because Brady didn’t have any weapons. “And then he comes back the next year and wins the Super Bowl because he has weapons. The velocity on the football is there. Oh he’s not hitting the deep ball anymore. He ain’t got Randy Moss,” he said. Johnson was on point as the 44-year-old Brady currently leads the league in touchdown passes with 30 and completions with 309 and second in passing yards with 4,303.
Brady is also leading the betting odds for the Most Valuable Player trophy, ahead of youngster Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and veterans Matthew Stafford of the Rams and Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers. Brady is also ahead of other young quarterbacks such as Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys and Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals.
Arians doesn’t want to leave anything to chance
The Buccaneers will take on the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday in a divisional round game. But while Brady is 9-0 against the Falcons, including 8-0 in the regular season, head coach Bruce Arians doesn’t want to leave anything to chance as Atlanta has all the weapons to challenge the defending Super Bowl champions.
According to D. Orlando Ledbetter, of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Arians said the Falcons game is a big game for the Buccaneers as it is a division game on the road. Arians is also worried about Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, saying he looks younger “than he has in four or five years.” “He’s still got a great arm and he’s extremely smart. I’ve been impressed with Matt for a long, long time,” said Arians. The Buccaneers defeated the Falcons in Week 2, 48-25, in Week 2 in a game where Brady threw for 276 yards, five touchdowns and zero picks. According to ESPN, Brady has thrown for 2,973 yards and 24 touchdowns with just three interceptions in nine career starts against the Falcons, including the postseason.
