Four years ago today, Tom Brady forged another incredible milestone in a career already bursting with records, championships, and moments that have defined modern football. At the age of 44, he was not only still playing in the NFL—something that would have seemed improbable decades ago—but doing so at a level most quarterbacks in their prime couldn’t match. On September 10, 2021, Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a thrilling 31-29 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL season opener. It was a game that was less about the result and more about what it symbolized: that Brady, even in his 22nd NFL season, remained a force to be reckoned with.
That night, Brady threw for 379 yards and four touchdowns, completing 32 of his 50 pass attempts. It was a performance filled with surgical precision, command, and poise. For any other quarterback, that stat line would be a career night. For Brady, it was just another reminder that the passage of time hadn’t dulled his edge. More than just a numbers game, the performance was a reaffirmation of everything Brady stood for—longevity, leadership, and the almost maniacal obsession with excellence that had defined him since he first stepped onto the field for the New England Patriots two decades earlier.
By then, Brady had already won seven Super Bowls—six with the Patriots and one with the Buccaneers—cementing his place atop the GOAT conversation. That seventh championship, won just months prior in February 2021, was particularly significant. It wasn’t just that he’d won another title; it was where and how he did it. Leaving New England after 20 years, a dynasty built in tandem with Bill Belichick, Brady took a chance on a struggling Tampa Bay franchise that hadn’t made the playoffs in over a decade. Within one season, he transformed them into champions. That Super Bowl win, a dominant 31-9 victory over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, silenced any lingering doubts about Brady’s ability to win without the Patriots system around him.
So when he took the field again in September 2021, the stakes were different. There were no questions left to answer about legacy or ability. And yet, Brady played as if everything still hung in the balance. That’s always been part of his mystique—the relentless pursuit of more, even when more seems unnecessary. Every down, every throw, every audible at the line of scrimmage was carried out with a level of intensity more common to players trying to earn their first contract than a man who had nothing left to prove. Against Dallas, he led two touchdown drives in the first quarter and engineered a vintage two-minute drill to set up the game-winning field goal by Ryan Succop with just seconds remaining.
Watching Brady command the offense, you could see the meticulous preparation in every decision. He knew where every receiver would be before they made their break. He manipulated the defense with his eyes, baiting safeties and linebackers into opening up passing lanes. His connection with Rob Gronkowski, rekindled in Tampa after years of dominance in New England, remained as lethal as ever. They connected for two touchdowns that night, bringing a nostalgic energy to the performance that reminded fans of their dynasty days, but now with a Florida backdrop instead of Foxborough.
What made that milestone so remarkable wasn’t just the statistical output or the victory. It was the context. Brady was redefining what was possible for athletes over 40, especially in a sport as physically brutal as football. Quarterbacks were once considered ancient by their mid-30s. Injuries, declining arm strength, and the wear and tear of the game typically sent them into retirement long before age 40. But Brady’s dedication to his body, his strict regimen of nutrition, pliability, and recovery—popularized under his TB12 brand—was showing real results. He didn’t just look good for his age; he looked good, period. Better than most, regardless of age.
The significance of that night was not lost on fans, analysts, or even his peers. Younger quarterbacks like Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Dak Prescott—who stood on the opposite sideline that night—openly spoke of Brady with reverence. Many had grown up watching him play, idolizing him, and now had to compete against him. That generational overlap, the idea that a player could dominate across two full decades and still outplay the very stars who succeeded him, is virtually unheard of in professional sports. Jordan didn’t do it. Gretzky didn’t do it. Even Serena Williams, one of the most dominant athletes in her sport, saw a decline toward the end. Brady, somehow, remained in his prime.
It’s worth noting that this wasn’t a one-off game, a nostalgic throwback to greatness. That entire 2021 season, Brady was putting up MVP-caliber numbers. He led the league in passing yards (5,316) and touchdown passes (43) at the age of 44. No one had ever done that before. The very idea of a 44-year-old leading the NFL in anything other than perhaps veteran presence or mentorship seemed absurd. But Brady continued to rewrite the rules. Not just the record books, but the fundamental expectations of what age means in professional football.
The performance against the Cowboys was also a perfect encapsulation of his mentality: close games, pressure situations, time ticking away—these were the moments he lived for. And more often than not, he delivered. The “clutch gene,” so often discussed in sports, is difficult to define but impossible to miss when it’s on display. Brady had it. He always had it. Whether it was the Tuck Rule game, the 28-3 Super Bowl comeback, or this early September duel against Dallas, his calm under pressure was never in question.
Looking back, four years later, that night feels like a turning point—not in his career, which had already been loaded with turning points—but in how we understand athletic longevity. It wasn’t just that Brady was still playing; it was that he was still the best. That game was the beginning of what would be his penultimate NFL season. He’d return in 2022 for what would truly be his final year, and while that campaign was marked with more challenges—on and off the field—the echoes of his brilliance remained. But 2021, and particularly that opening night against Dallas, was pure, undiluted Brady.
He had nothing to prove, and yet he played as though everything was still on the line. It’s that mindset that turned him from a sixth-round draft pick—199th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft—into the greatest quarterback the game has ever seen. And it’s that mindset that allowed him to not only sustain success but to elevate as others faded. It’s easy to call him the GOAT now, but that title wasn’t earned with just Super Bowls. It was forged in nights like that one—week one of the 2021 season—when the lights were bright, the stakes were high, and he delivered once again.
Brady’s career is filled with statistical marvels and unforgettable moments, but what separates him most is the consistency of greatness. He didn’t just have peak seasons; he had peak decades. The Dallas game was his 300th regular season start, another milestone that underscored his durability and dominance. To perform at that level in your 300th start is like a musician performing their best symphony after thousands of rehearsals and decades on stage. It defies expectation. It defies logic.
Even now, years after he finally walked away from the game, the ripple effects of his career—and games like that one—are still being felt. Teams look at quarterback longevity differently. Players focus more on recovery and nutrition. Coaches give more freedom to veteran players who have earned their stripes. And fans, well, fans got to witness something truly unprecedented: a career that not only spanned generations but conquered them.
Four years ago today, Tom Brady didn’t just win a football game. He added another chapter to a legacy so vast and layered that it may never be replicated. It was another reminder that, even as the clock kept ticking, he remained timeless.
