Tom Brady vs. Patrick Mahomes; Old Legend vs. Legend in Making

As the last two teams standing in the 2020 NFL Football season set out to claim their place as Super Bowl champions, the two world-renowned quarterbacks are set to face each other on Sunday, February 7th in Tampa Bay. In less than a week, we will see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers go against the Kansas City Chiefs. But the backdrop of this game is clearly the matchup of “The Greatest Quarterback of All Time” in Tom Brady facing off against arguably “The Greatest Quarterback of the Century” in Patrick Mahomes.

Both the players, however, are similar in more ways than one. Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes were aspiring baseball players until they set out for a football career. They sat as rookies during their first season and later took the reins of the team in their second season. Brady was thrust into the starting lineup against the New York Jets after starting QB Drew Bledsoe was knocked out. 20+ years later, the coming Super Bowl to be Brady’s 10th appearance (one of many records he owns. Patrick Mahomes was groomed behind starter Alex Smith and Smith was traded to make way for the young phenom. Mahomes answered the call by winning the league MVP in his first full season. In his second season, he led his Chiefs to their first Super Bowl win in 50 years. He helped earn legendary head coach Andy Reid his elusive Super Bowl championship. Now the ageless Brady is faced with the only challenge to his title of the GOAT, Patrick Mahomes. He is the youngest player to make it to the Super Bowl multiple times. Winning this Super Bowl would not only put him on the path to making NFL history, but he would also be the youngest player to win two titles.

The Super Bowl will be the fifth matchup between the two football stars; Brady and Mahomes both bagged two previous wins. In total, the Chiefs have outscored the Buccaneers by one point, with the score being 121-120. The most recent matchup was Nov 29th game where the Chiefs defeated the Bucs 27-24. Patrick Mahomes earned his first ring at the same age as Brady earned his first at 24. Yet if there is anyone that could surpass Brady, it would be the Chief young quarterback.

While Brady has had one of his best seasons with a 102.3 passer rating, 40 TDs, and 4,633 yards passing, Mahomes still has better stats with only 15 games; a passer rating of an amazing 108.2, 38 TDs and 4,740 yards passing. Brady has instilled confidence in his team and, with a strong defense, may just be able to get his 7th ring. However, Patrick Mahomes is a rising quarterback and is well seasoned to play under pressure. It will all depend on whether the Kansas City Chiefs defense is slowed down by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Patrick Mahomes is off to such a great start in his young career, his is the air-apparent to the throne of GOAT. He can win multiple MVPs and Super Bowls with the talent and weapons at his disposal. If anyone can catch Brady’s records AND Super Bowl wins, Mahomes is the one. But can anyone really catch Brady? It’s hard to get to the Super Bowl, let alone win it. Mahomes can quickly get two when most legends (insert Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees) only have managed 1 in their career. In my opinion, Mahomes will fall short of 6 rings but he will finish his career with 3-4 rings and all kinds of records. Then we must prepare ourselves for the hottest debate since Jordan/LeBron.

No matter how many assumptions on the game are made based on statistics and previous games, this match will be full of suspense. While the course of the game is ever-evolving, history will be made in the next two weeks. The world will witness who chose to get back up and who was knocked down.