Taking a moment to marvel at what 45-year-old Tom Brady did vs. Panthers

BOSTON -- The topic of Tom Brady has grown a little tired in New England. It's understandable. Even though Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time, and even though he's forever a part of Boston sports lore, he did leave a few years ago. Both the novelty of Brady playing for the Bucs and the story line of the Patriots making the wrong decision to let him go have run their course. And certainly, the sheer mediocrity of the 2022 Buccaneers has depleted the story of any juice for the better part of this season. At times watching Brady play this year has been dull and tedious, which some never imagined could be possible.

Still ... what Brady did on Sunday requires a brief moment of reflection.

With a chance to clinch the division, the Bucs fell behind the Panthers and then leaned on their 45-year-old quarterback to lift them to victory. Brady came through.

The overall stats are absurd: Brady completed 34 of his 45 passes for 432 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions -- good for a passer rating of 127.3. He also rushed for a touchdown on a QB sneak.

In his 17th week of the year, Brady hit a new season-high in passing yardage and passer rating.

It was actually just the second time Brady has thrown for that many yards since joining the Bucs, as he also threw for exactly 432 yards last year in a loss to the Rams.

The 432-yard performance is tied for the fifth-highest single-game mark in his regular-season career, which spans 23 years. (He did throw for more yards in a game twice in his postseason career, both in the Super Bowl. He's done a lot of things in his life.)

Brady did most of his damage throwing deep to Mike Evans, and the throws were tremendous.

The person throwing those passes is 45 years old. You know that already. But it's still worth a reminder.

This performance came after someone figured out that Brady's spent more time in his life in the NFL than he has outside of the NFL.

(Is now a good time to mention that Brady hasn't missed a game due to injury since 2008? Because that's a whole thing, too. Only three current NFL quarterbacks -- Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan -- were even in the NFL in 2008. Most current QBs weren't even in college yet.)

Mind you, 45-year-olds aren't supposed to be playing professional football. If they are, maybe they're kicking pigskins in the '70s. They're certainly not playing quarterback, with 250-pound muscle-bound speeding bullets seeking to knock their heads off every snap.

In the whole history of the NFL, here's the complete list of players who even tried to play quarterback at age 45: George Blanda. That's it.

Blanda had mostly put his QB days behind him, as he was the previously alluded to kicker in the '70s.

In his age 45 season, Blanda threw 15 total passes. He completed five of them for 77 yards and a touchdown.

That's been basically one single drive from Brady's age 45 season.

It's not new for Brady to shatter records. At age 44, he outperformed every QB ever at that age combined.

Brady has now thrown 107 regular-season touchdowns after turning 43 yards old. If you combine every other quarterback in history's touchdowns after age 43, you get ... 22 touchdowns.

The scoreboard reads: Tom Brady 107, History of the NFL 22. It's a blowout.

Again, it's not necessarily new. And the story of "Tom Brady does something crazy for his age" has been told many times over. 

But this ... this was pretty special. The arm strength, the poise, the leadership, it's all clearly intact even in his 16th NFL game as a 45-year-old, and it's sure to make people wonder if he can play until he's 50. 

Whether he does that or whether he retires this spring, it doesn't really change the fact that what took place on Sunday was a remarkable moment worth a little bit of extra reflection on a busy NFL Sunday. The GOAT is still managing to find new ways to impress in year 23. That's really something.

He's also now up to 4,610 passing yards on the season, which ranks second in the NFL, behind only Patrick Mahomes. And with the 17th game, Brady has next week to dress up the numbers before the playoffs if he so desires. (The smart move would be for the Bucs to rest him, but good luck telling Tom Brady that he can't play football.)

He will -- presumably -- stop one day. But that day clearly hasn't come just yet.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.