Tom Brady’s lasting legacy: He proved anything is possible

To his former teammates, Tom Brady’s lasting legacy was proving he could play into his 40s, he could succeed when no one else thought he could, and he was the ultimate teammate. Stephen Savoia/Associated Press

The greatest of all time.

It’s tough to beat walking away with that label as your lasting legacy.

The GOAT.

It certainly fits Tom Brady. No one was better than the player the Patriots took with the 199th pick in the 2000 draft.

But he meant more to the game than just being the greatest to ever grace a football field and the most accomplished winner the sport has ever seen.

What he leaves behind, what he represented as an athlete, transcends sport.

Now that he’s decided to walk away, Brady leaves an indelible memory – and plenty of proof – that just about anything is possible.

Think you can’t be an effective quarterback at 40 or after? Think you can’t reach the pinnacle when people are predicting that you’re going to fall off the proverbial cliff?

His last two Super Bowl wins came at ages 41 and 43. The two before that came at ages 37 and 39.

Father Time used to win. Always. But not with Brady, who formally announced his retirement via social media Tuesday.

He blew the age myth out of the water. He played at a high level up to and including his final year at age 44.

With 22 NFL seasons, he’s given new meaning to longevity. Perhaps that inspires others to keep going, to take better care of their bodies.

“What comes to mind is the influence he’s had on people’s lives. Giving people hope, giving players like Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers and those (older) guys, hope they can play well into their 40s,” said Patriots Hall of Famer Rodney Harrison, who won two championships with Brady. “I’ve heard Aaron Rodgers say Tom’s the inspiration … now Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and these guys, they’re not thinking I’m going to play 10 or 12 years and be done. They’re now thinking they can reach between 15 and 20 years.

“This is what Tom’s instilled across the league, what happens and what you can do if you take care of yourself.”

All true, and there’s even more that’s attached to Brady’s legacy.

Brady was a sixth-round pick and fourth-string quarterback when he first walked into Foxboro. As former Patriots teammate Damien Woody remarked, Brady’s story is the epitome of the American dream, given No. 12’s humble beginnings.

More than that, his legend also includes planting a seed of hope for any team that gets behind in a game, even by an outrageous deficit.

Whether it was the Patriots or Bucs, Brady’s teams were never out of any game. The 28-3 comeback vs. the Falcons in Super Bowl LI stands at the head of the class. And, almost on cue, he came back in the final start of his career from 27-3 down to the Rams in the third quarter, and tied the game with 42 seconds left.

Basically, Brady lit the way.

“Remember when Kevin Garnett won the championship with the Celtics and screamed, ‘Anything is possible’? That’s the vision in my head,” said Woody, who played with Brady for the first two championships. “When you think of Tom Brady and his whole career, it’s true. Anything is possible.

“With Brady’s will to win, you always felt like, ‘Man, we’re not outta this. We got a shot. We can win this thing.’ ”

Hall of Famer Ty Law agreed.

“He showed time and time again that he was never out of any game. And that gets contagious throughout the rest of the team,” he said. “As a defender, we always thought, if you can get Tom Brady the ball back, we were going to win the game.”

He was, after all, the king of comebacks. According to Pro Football Reference, Brady pulled off 51 fourth-quarter comebacks counting the playoffs, and 67 game-winning drives.

“When you’ve got Tom, you’re never out of it,” Buccaneers Coach Bruce Arians said after the divisional round loss.

He wasn’t just providing lip service. That was the belief. And belief is what he gave his teams for two decades.

It’s a powerful tool for a quarterback, providing that kind of hope during dire situations.

“I just remember from my playing days in the 90s, if you were down 10 or 14, you were pretty much cooked late in the game,” said the Sports Hub host Scott Zolak, a former Patriots quarterback. “His ability to come back, the fourth-quarter comebacks, everything, I think the belief that it’s not over til it’s over, that you’re not out of it, that’s how he changed the game.”

It comes full circle when you look at all the wins (278), and championships. Brady was certainly a special, one-of-a-kind athlete, but he also spoke to the those who weren’t necessarily the most athletic. Put in the work, and you can always make yourself better and achieve more.

That was Dan Koppen’s takeaway as Brady’s former center.

“To me, the biggest thing was that he won. That’s what it was about for him, that’s what the sport is about. When you have a guy that puts that much into it, and when you have a guy working that hard to win that particular game, everybody sort of notices that, and if they don’t notice, they’re dumb,” Koppen said. “When you have a 40-year old working harder than a 20-year-old, routinely that was the case.”

Harrison also pointed to Brady as a teammate, how much he cared, and how he handled being a superstar.

“We focus on the touchdowns and Super Bowl victories, but his lasting imprint to his teammates, was knowing all of his teammates first-hand,” said Harrison. “Most quarterbacks probably don’t know the fifty-third guy. Tom knows everybody, has a relationship with everybody on the team, which is very important. It was his humble leadership.

“It was never, ‘Look at me, I’m Tom Brady. I’m the Super Bowl MVP.’ He always conveyed to us he was a small part of the whole. And for me, I’ll always remember just how competitive he was, and how he never wanted to disappoint his teammates. He was always accountable, and that to me, stood out.”

Law put Brady in a class all by himself. Greater than Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Wayne Gretzky, and all of the baseball legends.

“There’s one person that exceeds all of these great names, and that’s Tom Brady,” said Law. “It’s just for the sheer fact he’s done it for so long, he played the most pressurized position in sports, and to do it at that level, for that long, he sits above the rest, in my opinion.”

Added Woody: “For me, personally, I never get tired of watching greatness, whether it was Tom, or Serena (Williams), or Tiger, you never get tired of watching it. Because, once it’s gone, it’s gone.”