Oh Please. Tom Brady is no iron-man. Bret Favre took more physical punishment in any one year of his career than Brady took in any three combined. And not only because Favre was a lunatic whose playing style invited punishment.
The last decade of Brady's career has been played under these pansy new NFL rules that treat quarterbacks like untouchable golden snowflakes. In Favre's time everyone essential concurred that if quarterbacks got paid tens of millions of dollars more than other positions, then it was only fair that they should be expected to endure a little extra pain now and then. Then all this stuff started to come out about concussions and CTE and so the NFL took steps to protect players. But, in effect, these steps just made defenders more hesitant to follow through on QB hits while leaving most other positions open to the same hits that cause CTE. So, now modern quarterbacks get paid tens of millions of dollars more than their teammates AND get protected like the puny little golden snowflakes that they are.
I'm not saying Tom Brady's resiliency isn't impressive. It is. But let's not forget that his achievement is at least partially due to irritating new rules. Rules that lay out the red-carpet for already overpaid and overpraised China-dolls who no longer have to face the physical and psychological pressures from defenders that once made the game more interesting. Quarterbacks used to have to really earn those extra zeroes and commas by facing down the likes of Lawrence Taylor and Reggie White, who often didn't mind taking a little roughing penalty if they saw an opportunity to lay a good lick on those over-hyped pretty-boys.
If you ask me, the game has really lost something. You can probably tell by reading this that my opinion is influenced somewhat by my defensive-lineman heart, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. The league has taken the teeth away from defense and hasn't really made the game any safer. It's not just Brady's career length that irks me. I don't have anything against Patrick Mahomes as a person, but I can't help but watch his play and suspect that some of his numbers wouldn't be so impressive in a different era. And you'll never convince me that he earns his paycheck the same way quarterbacks used to.
Rant over.