TAMPA, Fla. — Football fans, and football writers, have pretty much run out of superlatives when it comes to describing the record setting career of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
Consider, Brady has 35 career playoff wins, 19 more than Joe Montana who ranks second. The closest any active player was to Brady was Ben Roethlisberger who had 13 postseason wins, but he has likely played his final game.
It's not just other players Brady's playoff wins top. His 35 playoff wins equal that of the Dallas Cowboys franchise and is more than the San Francisco 49ers (33) or Las Vegas Raiders (25).
Still, the future Hall of Fame quarterback is quick to share the credit for all of his success.
"I love the game, and I love being out there with my teammates. We just had a lot of success over a lot of years trying to do the right thing," Brady said after Thursday's practice. "Obviously, what we’ve done here the last two seasons has been a lot of fun for me to learn and grow with these players and our organization and put ourselves in a good position. Now we gotta go take advantage of it."
Bucs offensive lineman Ali Marpet said it's no surprise every time a home game is stopped to announce another career milestone for his quarterback.
"Every week, they just announce some record," Marpet joked. "And it’s usual his record that he broke. At the stadium, it’s like 'Oh! Tom broke another record.' It's just unbelievable."
Brady said he's approaching the postseason the same way he always has through his career. He even told the Buccaneers media relations staff that he won't do any extra interviews or appearances the week of a playoff game.
"This isn’t the time for the trips to the movie theaters," Brady said with a grin. "This is a time to lock in on football. All we have is three days left, and we have to earn more."
Brady's former New England Patriots teammate Rob Ninkovich said he wouldn't be surprised if the 44-year-old Brady - who led the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns- retired after this season. Brady's current teammates have made their position clear.
"I don’t want it to happen at all," linebacker Shaq Barrett with a big laugh. "If you want to go out, I mean they always say the best way to go out is on to, but don’t hang ‘em up Tom. Don’t do it, haha!"
The Bucs host the L.A. Rams Sunday at 3 P.M. The winner advances to the NFC Championship game, where they will meet the winner of the other NFC Divisional playoff game, Green Bay or San Francisco.
