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A18 SPORTS
Saturday 3 February 2018
Brady and numbers point to another Patriots Super Bowl win

By KYLE HIGHTOWER at age 39 with the Denver
AP Sports Writer Broncos to cap the 2015
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) season.
— Even if numbers occa- Brady has put up num-
sionally lie, most of them bers in his 18th season un-
indicate the New England matched by any player
Patriots are in great posi- in NFL history. He led the
tion to hoist a sixth Lombar- league with 4,577 yards
di Trophy. passing during the regular
season and his five touch-
Why Patriots Will Win down passes are tied for
the most in the playoffs.
The reasons begin in the Brady’s seven Super Bowl
only place they could: with appearances are as many
Tom Brady. as the entire Eagles roster.
Yes, at 40 years old Brady He’s faced a myriad of diffi-
would be the oldest quar- cult scenarios in the cham-
terback to win a Super pionship game, including
Bowl if the Patriots beat the last year’s 25-point hole the
Philadelphia Eagles on Sun- Patriots dug out of to beat
day. He would dethrone the Falcons.
Peyton Manning, who won Brady won that one without New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady throws during a practice Wednesday, Jan. 31,
2018, in Minneapolis.
Associated Press
tight end Rob Gronkowski, Flowers, Kyle Van Noy, Law-
who will be in uniform af- rence Guy and Ricky Jean
ter being cleared late this Francois .
week. New England has also got-
Close games have been ten a strong season from
no problem , for Brady and receiver Brandin Cook
coach Bill Belichick either. after acquiring him from
The total difference in scor- New Orleans this offsea-
ing in those seven games is son. He posted his third
12 points: Patriots 169, op- straight 1,000-yard receiv-
ponents 157. ing season (1,082) and
You want to talk about was second on the team
comebacks? No player in receiving yards behind
in the Super Bowl era has only Gronkowski (1,084).
more fourth-quarter come- Running back Dion Lewis
backs in the playoffs in his has also found new life just
career than Brady’s eight. two seasons removed from
It’s probably why Brady a knee injury. He led the
chuckled this week when team with 896 yards rush-
he was again asked about ing and six rushing touch-
how long he wanted to downs.
keep playing. It’s underlined the football
“Why does everyone want savvy of Belichick, who
me to retire so bad?” Brady with a sixth Super Bowl vic-
said. “I don’t get it. I’m hav- tory would pass Vince Lom-
ing fun. The team’s doing bardi and tie George Ha-
good. I know I’m a little bit las and Curly Lambeau for
older than most of the guys, most NFL championships
but I’m really enjoying it. ... by a coach.
I’m not thinking about re- Belichick will be taking
tirement. I’m thinking about part in his 11th Super Bowl
the Super Bowl and trying as a head coach or assis-
to win the most important tant, the most among any
game of the year.” coach in NFL history. That
As big as the Brady factor amounts to 21.2 percent
is, he’s not the only advan- of all Super Bowls in league
tage New England has. history and 34.4 percent of
The Patriots lost go-to re- all Super Bowls since his first
ceiver Julian Edelman in appearance as the Giants
the preseason to a knee in- defensive coordinator in
jury and linebacker Dont’a 1986.
Hightower to a season- Though there have been
ending shoulder injury in reports of alleged fric-
October. After some early- tion this season between
season struggles, Belichick Belichick, Brady and team
found a way to plug the owner Robert Kraft, it’s
holes, with contributions clear they are on the same
from several previously un- page when it comes to the
heralded players like Trey pursuit of championships.q