It’s finally over, Bills fans.
Tom Brady’s two-plus decade reign of dominance over the NFL came to a conclusion Tuesday, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback officially announced his retirement.
Of course, here in Buffalo, it was more like a reign of terror. Of all those responsible for the Bills’ 17-year playoff drought, Brady played the largest role for someone who didn’t collect a paycheck in Orchard Park.
His dominance over the Buffalo Bills is the stuff of legend, or nightmare fuel, depending on your perspective. He went 33-3 as a starter against the Bills, his most victories over any other team in a career that spanned 22 seasons and ends at 44 years old as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards (84,250) and touchdowns (624) among his vast array of accomplishments and records.
“Congratulations on the career of all NFL careers,” the Bills tweeted Tuesday. “We were honored to have been in your division so long to watch your greatness first hand.”
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Even the Bills, however, couldn’t get through that tweet, following it up with this: “JK (just kidding) we’re still getting over it.”
Brady will go down in history as not just the best quarterback of all time, but perhaps the greatest athlete to ever participate in a team sport. He made an unfathomable 10 Super Bowls – winning seven of them – both individual records that figure to stand for a long, long time.
"I have always believed the sport of football is an 'all-in' proposition – if a 100% competitive commitment isn't there, you won't succeed, and success is what I love so much about our game," he wrote in an Instagram post announcing his retirement. "There is a physical, mental and emotional challenge EVERY single day that has allowed me to maximize my highest potential. And I have tried my very best these past 22 years. There are no shortcuts to success on the field or in life.
"This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore. I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention. I've done a lot of reflecting the past week and have asked myself difficult questions. And I am so proud of what we have achieved. My teammates, coaches, fellow competitors, and fans deserve 100% of me, but right now, it's best I leave the field of play to the next generation of dedicated and committed athletes."
Brady’s career was not without controversy – be it both silly and serious. He became public enemy No. 1 in Buffalo – if he wasn’t already – when he said the hotels in Western New York are “not the nicest places in the world” during a Super Bowl news conference in 2012.
That barb only ratcheted up the dislike for Brady among the Bills Mafia, but truthfully, it had always been there. He was always a bit too perfect for Buffalo, with his supermodel wife, his never-drink-coffee diet and his 8:30 p.m. bed time. That doesn’t play well in a town where the bars close at 4 a.m.
In 2016, Brady served a four-game NFL suspension as part of the “Deflategate” scandal, which accused the Patriots of knowingly deflating footballs to make them easier for Brady to throw.
After returning from suspension, he went on a tear, leading the Patriots to the Super Bowl. Still, the accusations stained Brady’s impeccable reputation, and gave Bills fans another reason to despise him.
Brady reached the playoffs 19 times in his career, won a remarkable 18 division titles and made it to the conference championship game 14 times. Other than the Deflategate suspension and the final 15 games of the 2008 season after he suffered a torn ACL in the Patriots’ season opener, he started an incredible 316 times in 318 career regular-season appearances, taking over after former Patriots starter Drew Bledsoe was hurt in Week 2 of the 2001 season.
Bledsoe was traded to the Bills the following offseason, and Brady’s remarkable run started and went on … and on … and on.
Brady haunted the Bills in all sorts of ways. He put together one of the best performances in the history of Highmark Stadium on Nov. 18, 2007, going 31 of 39 for 373 yards and five touchdowns – four of which went to Randy Moss in the first half of a 56-10 win on "Sunday Night Football." In Week 2 of the 2015 season, he threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-32 win.
He got better with age, too. After turning 37, Brady went 17-4 in the playoffs and won four Super Bowls. He went 95-30 and threw for 35,371 yards, 265 touchdowns, 69 interceptions and 100.2 quarterback rating in his final eight seasons. Overall, he won 243 games in the regular season – another NFL record – and went 35-12 in the playoffs – playing almost the equivalent of three more full regular seasons. He was league MVP three times, Super Bowl MVP five times and voted to the Pro Bowl an absurd 15 times.
This past season, at 44, Brady led the NFL in passing yards (5,316) and touchdowns (43). We’ll tell our kids’ kids one day about seeing him play.
Even going to Tampa Bay after 20 years with the Patriots did not end Brady’s dominance of the Bills. He threw for 363 yards and had three total touchdowns in Tampa Bay’s 33-27 overtime win over Buffalo in December.
“Obviously, Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback to ever play,” Bills safety Micah Hyde said before that meeting.
Fellow safety Jordan Poyer explained what made going up against Brady so difficult.
“I’ve played Tom quite a few times, and even when you watch these games on TV, (it) really is a chess match throughout the game,” Poyer said in December. “He sees everything from body language to eyes, leverage, depth, so as always, it's always a fun challenge you're going up against Tom Brady.”
That challenge is now over for the Bills, and the rest of the NFL.
It’s the end of an era and a legendary career, even if most Bills fans will simply say “good riddance.”
