Tom Brady will continue to rewrite the NFL postseason record book

Posted by Michael David Smith on January 7, 2021, 4:47 AM EST
NFL: JAN 03 Falcons at Buccaneers
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Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady already owns his own page of the NFL postseason record book, and he’ll rewrite that page when the Buccaneers take on Washington on Saturday.

Here are a few of the postseason records that Brady owns, and some notes on how far everyone else in the league is from equaling Brady’s records:

Games played: Brady will appear in his 42nd career postseason game on Saturday. His former teammate Adam Vinatieri is in second place all time, having appeared in 32 career postseason games. Jerry Rice is third with 29 games, and if Titans kicker Stephen Gostkowski plays on Sunday, it will be his 29th postseason game, moving him into a tie with Rice for third all time.

Games started: Brady has started all of his postseason games, so he’ll extend that record to 42 as well. Kickers aren’t considered starters, so Rice is next with 29 starts.

Games as winning quarterback: Brady has 30 postseason wins. Joe Montana is second with 16. In third place, Terry Bradshaw, John Elway and Peyton Manning are in a three-way tie with 14 postseason wins, and Ben Roethlisberger can also earn his 14th career postseason win if the Steelers beat the Browns on Sunday.

Passes thrown: Brady has thrown 1,627 passes in the postseason. Peyton Manning, with 1,027 postseason passes, is the only other quarterback to throw more than 1,000.

Passes completed: Brady has completed 1,025 passes in the playoffs. Peyton Manning completed 649, and no one else even has 500 career completions in the postseason.

Passing yards: Brady is the all-time leader with 11,388 career postseason passing yards. Peyton Manning is second with 7,339, followed by Brett Favre with 5,885 and Joe Montana with 5,772. The next three quarterbacks on the all-time passing yards list are all active in this year’s playoffs: Ben Roethlisberger with 5,256, Aaron Rodgers with 5,027 and Drew Brees with 4,967.

Passing touchdowns: Brady has 73 career postseason touchdown passes. Joe Montana is next with 45.

Brady will keep adding to his records on Saturday, and maybe for quite a few postseason games after that.

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50 responses to “Tom Brady will continue to rewrite the NFL postseason record book”

  1. So just to hammer this home, Brady needs to complete three passes at the weekend to have completed more postseason passes than any one else has even thrown, that’s pretty spectacular.

  2. I love Tommy B. But it is going to be heaven watching chase young and Montez Sweat make his life hell for 3 quarters

    He will be pulled in qtr four

  6. That’s crazy 30 playoff wins .My beloved Chicago Bears have only 17 playoff wins in Bears history. That record Brady has will never get broken.

  7. Brady is approaching the equivalent of having played three full seasons worth of postseason games.

  8. THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME..

    I’ll proudly have my Tompa t shirt under my Brady jersey……

  9. When the discussion of GOAT comes up, and people mention Aaron Rodgers, refer them to this article.

    The only stat that Aaron’s name is mentioned in this article is passing yards, and he doesn’t even have as many as his predecessor in GB (Favre 5,885 vs Rodgers 5,027) and less than half of Brady’s 11,388. We all know that passing yardage in today’s NFL is much higher than in the previous NFL generations.

    Brady, at the age of 32, had over 4,100 yards passing in the playoffs before Rodgers completed his first pass in the playoffs.

    Going back to when Aaron was 32, he had less than 3,500. That means that Rodgers has only added about 1500 yards in 5 years. At 300 yards per year average, it will take Rodgers over 20 years to catch Brady’s current total…

  10. You made me laugh with that comment about Kickers not being considered starters. They are the ultimate starters, the first play of every game is the Kick-off.

  11. i think if he were to win the SB this year, he would have more SB rings than any TEAM in the league.

  12. Not sure if this is worth noting or not, but more seasons than not the Patriots were the #1 or #2 seed, so at most they played three post season games each year — Divisional Round, AFC Championship and Super Bowl meaning these records were reached with the fewest games possible.

    Also, Brady (and by extension the NE Patriots) have played Two Full additional seasons plus Nine Games since 2001. That is a lot of football.

  13. He doesn’t run very well and he’s a product of “the system” system and he can throw the ball only 2 yards in the air and he only is good with flat footballs. As an aside that may or may not be related to these astute and applicable observations, my team lost to the Patriots for all the years Brady was there, like 5 presidential terms worth of time, so you might wanna factor that in.

  14. How could kickers not be considered starters. They literally start each game with a kickoff.

  15. Brady is the GOAT, but it’s unfair to not mention that these records are all built off of one another.

    A car that is the fastest ever in the quarter mile race is probably also the fastest car ever in a 1/8 mile race…and the most torque…and the most powerful engine…

    Brady has played far more games than any other player, and his closest contenders are two kickers and a wide receiver, so of course he will own every statistical passing record. Duh.

  16. The man is a Playoff legend and will continue to add to that legend and it most assuredly will never be equaled or surpassed again.

  18. I feel in past years the haters would have commented that Tommy was a system QB, only won because of Belichick and can’t throw deep

    I wonder what they will say after this year

  22. Stated another way:

    Among active players, Brady has more career postseason passing yards than the career regular season passing yards of Teddy Bridgewater, Baker Mayfield, Mitchell Trubisky, Brian Hoyer, Josh Allen, Jimmy Garappolo, Tyrod Taylor, and Lamar Jackson.

  23. Pressure up the middle and he will deliver 3 interceptions… Not so special any more.

  29. they could change the rules to help qb’s out even more like make the defense play with 10 men and those records will still stand forever

  30. Not too impressive this year. What average QB wouldn’t put up those numbers in that system? And most of his big numbers were against horrible defenses.

  32. I remember when the biggest question was who was the better quarterback Manning or Brady. That question is laughable now it’s not even close. Manning isn’t even in the conversation anymore, and now people wanna see just how high Tom can set the bar, because he’s doing things no one has ever done before, and no one will ever do again. Some people say Mahomes will be the next great one, but you have to look at just how far he’ll have to travel in order to even come close to some of Tom’s records, and it seems impossible. Can Mahomes stay healthy until the year 2040? Think about that

  33. Can Mahomes stay healthy until the year 2040? Think about that

    Probably, quarterbacks will be wearing flags in their wastebands in a couple of years. Also, if Montana played as long as Brady, the records would all be his.

  34. lewansfingermoustache says:
    January 7, 2021 at 11:15 am
    Can Mahomes stay healthy until the year 2040? Think about that

    Probably, quarterbacks will be wearing flags in their wastebands in a couple of years. Also, if Montana played as long as Brady, the records would all be his.

    ——

    How so? Joe couldn’t even manage to make it to the SB a fifth time. Brady has made nine times .

  35. Other than he’s also got the league record for regular season wins and is married to a filthy rich super model, I have nothing to add.

    GOAT.

    Period.

  37. But Montana didn’t play as long as Brady. First he lost the job to Young. Then he flamed out altogether.

  38. bringbackdayswithoutanarrest says:
    January 7, 2021 at 5:13 am
    I love Tommy B. But it is going to be heaven watching chase young and Montez Sweat make his life hell for 3 quarters

    He will be pulled in qtr four
    ———
    Yes Brady might be pulled in the 4th quarter, Bucs will probably be winning by 20 and will rest him for the next round.

  39. Matthew Giarmo says:
    January 7, 2021 at 12:52 pm
    But Montana didn’t play as long as Brady. First he lost the job to Young. Then he flamed out altogether.
    ———-
    Ok and whose fault is that?

  40. Some of Brady’s numbers are so far out there they almost seem fictitious. Not only will most not be surpassed many won’t even be approached.

  41. Ok and whose fault is that?

    ———————

    Most of his injury is due to his running out of pockets and being hid by pass rushers ON FULL SPEED.

    It is like when Montana was hit, he was hit by a car; when Brady was hit, he was hit by a bike.

  42. joediskins says:
    January 7, 2021 at 8:59 am
    Saturday night will be his last playoff game for 2021.
    ——————————————————————-
    Agreed. Washington looked mighty impressive in a must-win game last week against the Eagles practice squad! Tom Brady will surely suffer the same fate as Nate Sudfeld..lol!

  43. But Montana didn’t play as long as Brady. First he lost the job to Young. Then he flamed out altogether
    ——

    Brady exceeds the SUM of Montana and Young.

    Not just in terms of postseason success, but also in terms of regular season accomplishments.

  47. for 20 years NE fans have had to listen to macho duds making tough guy threats about getting to Brady….

    Like he hasn’t seen every attack ever drawn up.

  48. Records will fall when you play forever. Duh?
    —————

    They will not if you suck at QB.

  49. It’s approaching Gretzky-like hockey records where second place is looking farther and farther away and he’s in his own book.

  50. Records will fall when you play forever. Duh?
    —————

    Exactly. And playing forever is part of the formula.

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