TAMPA, Fla. — At this point, it's getting hard to come up with more superlatives to describe Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. He's far and away the greatest quarterback to ever take the field in the NFL, but what he's doing this season continues to rewrite record books and dazzle the fans.
Through two games this season Brady has thrown for 655 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions. As first pointed out by Peter King of NBC Sports, in Brady's most productive season with the New England Patriots, 2007, he threw for 576 yards and six touchdowns in his first two games. He ended up throwing for 50 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards in that 2007 season.
Fourteen years later, he's well on his way to shattering that number. While it's only two games and anything can and does happen in the NFL, if Brady could keep the current pace, he'd throw for more than 5,500 yards seasons and far more than 50 touchdowns. Again, it's only two games in the season and the two defenses he's faced aren't good, but it's well within reach to throw for more than 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns this season. Incidentally, the current record is held by Brady's old nemesis, Peyton Manning, who also holds the single-season passing yards record at 5,477.
The nine touchdown passes Brady has thrown so far in 2021 are also the most he's ever thrown in two games...in his career. Which incidentally, will be marked Thursday with the 20th anniversary of the hit that then-New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe took from New York Jets linebacker Bryan Cox that knocked him out for the season and trusted Brady into the starting lineup.
And we can't forget to mention another record Brady will shatter this season, all-time passing yards. Currently, retired New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has the record with 80,358 career passing yards. After two games, Brady stands at 79,859 passing yards. At the 2021 pace of 327.5 yards per game, Brady should break the record in Week 4 when the Buccaneers play at the New England Patriots. It will be a scene even Hollywood would have a tough time writing.
When he finishes, only Tom knows. But for Bucs fans and the NFL in general, they hope its not for a few more years!
