Yes Pats’ fans, it was bittersweet to watch the duo of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl championship.
On the other hand, no Pats’ fan should be deluded into thinking that if the Pats’ management had kept #12, New England fans would be celebrating with a victory parade this week.
Tampa Bay started the season with far more talent on its offense than the Patriots and then went out and added Rob Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette, and Antonio Brown — all of whom not so coincidentally scored the Tampa Bay touchdowns.
But analysis aside, the game captured the imagination of fans — and even non-fans –across the country because of the matchup between the greatest QB of all time, now at the age of 43, vs. the up-and-comer, 25 year-old Patrick Mahomes, from Kansas City.
In addition, en route to the big game, Brady had vanquished two other GOAT wannabes, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, while another GOAT pretender, Ben Roethlisberger over in the AFC, had fizzled out.
The Brady-Mahomes matchup was a classic, made-for-TV, duel-for-the-ages.
But in the end, it was #12 who stood tall and confident in the pocket, firing lasers to his receivers, while Mahomes was scrambling around haphazardly and making costly mistakes.
New England fans were fortunate to have had the joy of watching Tom Brady perform his magic for 19 seasons, including six championships in nine Super Bowl appearances.
It was a run of excellence that will not be repeated, either here or anywhere else — because there is only one GOAT.