Tom Brady Named NFC Offensive Player Of The Month, Continues To Redefine What's Possible For Quarterbacks
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Somehow, some way, Tom Brady still continues to prove people wrong.
His latest evidence has come in the form of NFC Offensive Player of the Month honors for October, which was awarded to Brady on Thursday.
It was Brady's 11th career Player of the Month Award, but obviously his first as a member of the NFC.
The 43-year-old Brady completed 66 percent of his 159 passes for 1,157 yards (7.3 yards per attempt) with 12 touchdowns and just one interception for a 110.0 rating. He also rushed for a touchdown. The Bucs went 3-1 during the month.
That was a notable step forward from September, when Brady threw six touchdowns and three interceptions, averaging 6.9 yards per attempt for a 92.0 passer rating.
In terms of which people Brady is currently proving wrong, the answer would be ... everybody. The deeper Brady goes in the uncharted waters of playing quarterback in the NFL past 40, the more he rewrites history and redefines boundaries and limits that have prevented everyone else from even considering to play the game at its highest level at that age.
Here's how Brady's age 43 season (which still has nine games remaining) looks compared to the other quarterbacks who dared to play at that age.
Tom Brady, 2020
7 games (so far)
176-for-268 (65.7%)
1,910 yards, 7.1 Y/A
18 TDs, 4 INTs
102.7 passer ratingGeorge Blanda, 1970
14 games
29-for-55 (52.7%)
461 yards, 8.4 Y/A
6 TDs, 5 INTs
79.4 passer ratingDoug Flutie, 2005
5 games
5-for-10 (50%)
29 yards, 2.9 Y/A
0 TDs, 0 INTs
56.2 passer ratingVinny Testaverde, 2006
7 games
2-for-3 (66.7%)
29 yards, 9.7 Y/A
1 TD, 0 INT
137.5 passer ratingWarren Moon, 1999*
1 game
1-for-3 (33.3%)
20 yards, 6.7 Y/A
0 TDs, 0 INTs
57.6 passer rating*Moon turned 43 in November of the 1999 season; his lone appearance came 11 days before his 43rd birthday.
Add it all up, and you could do this:
Tom Brady in the month of October of 2020:
105-for-159, 1,157 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, 1 interception
Every Other Quarterback To Ever Play At 43, Combined, For Their Entire Age 43 Seasons, In The History Of The NFL:
37-for-71, 539 passing yards, 7 touchdowns, 5 interceptions
Clearly, none of those old men were starters, and none of them were winning player of the month honors. They were basically glorified QB coaches, employed to help deliver some knowledge to their fellow QBs while mostly looking the part while standing on the sidelines. (Coincidentally enough, Bill Belichick coached two of them in New England. But as we know, he opted to not make it a trifecta with Brady in 2020.)
Brady currently ranks second in the NFL with his 18 touchdowns, trailing only Russell Wilson. He's sixth in passing yards and 10th in passer rating. Most notably, after dealing with some expected hiccups in September in a new offensive system with no preseason and a limited offseason, Brady appears to be getting better.
Also of note is the fact that in the month of October, Brady authored arguably the most embarrassing on-field gaffe of his career. Since that visible mistake on national TV, Brady has been lights out (6 TDs, 0 INTs, 69.4% completion rate, 118.7 rating, 2-0 record) and even made a joke at his own expense.
Really, the only place that Brady has shown his age is on social media, where he shared a meme with false information without doing any research. That is a very "uncle on Facebook" move, no doubt.
But as a football player, Brady is doing something that nobody on earth has ever really fathomed possible.