Let me begin this column by saying there is no way – nada, zip, zilch – any NFL offensive line should be able to give its quarterback the amount of time New England’s Tom Brady often had to pick out his receivers against a pass defense as good as Jacksonville’s in Sunday’s AFC championship game. Not when New England was flagged just once the entire game – and that was on a kickoff.
You can call a hold on almost every offensive snap, but the Patriots have one flag thrown against them all afternoon?
That said, unless Brady somehow has both his left and right hands cut off between now and Super Bowl LII, rather than merely being forced to play with 12 stitches in his right thumb (as he did against the Jaguars), there would seem to be little chance of the Pats failing to win their sixth Super Bowl title with Brady at the controls when they face Philadelphia on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.
You want to know why they call Brady the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time)? Return to Sunday’s fourth quarter, the Pats down 10 points and Brady’s favorite target – monstrous tight end Rob Gronkowski – knocked out of the game with a concussion.
Even San Francisco 49ers great, the forever cool Joe Montana, might have come unnerved by that challenge.