Skyler on Sports: Brady and Belichick underwhelm in their reunion
Welcome to the first edition of Skyler on Sports. This column addresses my top three moments in sports over the past two weeks. There will be an emphasis on pro sports, with the NBA and NFL heavily featured. This week’s topics will include quarterback Tom Brady’s return to New England, junior quarterback Kedon Slovis’ performance against Colorado and guard Diana Taurasi’s status amongst the WNBA’s greats.
Brady vs. Belichick
This past weekend arguably featured the most anticipated matchup in regular season history — officially ranked as the second-most watched Sunday Night Football game of all time, Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took on Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. Brady was passed over 198 times in the 2000 NFL Draft, but the Patriots head coach took a chance on the kid from Michigan who nobody wanted with pick 199.
Brady wouldn’t start in the NFL until then starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe got hurt. Brady replaced the injured Bledsoe, which paved the way for Brady to become a starter during his second year in the league. He led the Patriots all the way to the Super Bowl in February 2002 before doing so again in 2004 and 2005.
Three Super Bowls wins amounted to a dynasty in the NFL, but this dynasty was different from previous ones. In 2007, Brady and Belichick completed a perfect 16-0 season as the entire sports world questioned if the 2007-08 Super Bowl favorites were the greatest dynasty of all time. Not only this, but with superstar wide receiver Randy Moss, Brady broke the all-time single-season passing touchdown record as he became the first quarterback to ever throw 50 touchdowns in a season. The New England Patriots made it all the way to the Super Bowl with an 18-0 record, but were thwarted by Eli Manning and the New York Giants in arguably the biggest sports upset of all time.
Four years later, Brady would have his chance at revenge. Brady proved he could beat the best with three Super Bowl victories and playoff wins over quarterbacks such as Kurt Warner, Donovan McNabb, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers and Peyton Manning. However, the winningest quarterback in NFL history would of course rebound as he won three more Super Bowls with the Patriots including a win where Brady led a comeback trailing 28-3 in the third quarter in what many call the greatest Super Bowl of all time.
Brady and Belichick won six Super Bowls in 20 seasons together with the Patriots, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most by a franchise in NFL history. This meant Brady already tied for the most Super Bowl wins by any NFL franchise — by himself. He then went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as he proved he could win a Super Bowl without Belichick against the league’s future: Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. This is still Brady’s league, however, as he threw for nine touchdowns in his first two games this year for one of the hottest starts in NFL history. Belichick hasn’t fared well since their breakup, as the Patriots are on to their second quarterback since Brady’s departure and entered Sunday’s contest 1-2 with their lone victory coming against the lowly New York Jets.
The reality of the game was that it didn’t live up to the hype on the field, but it’s the context of the situation that will make this one of the most memorable games in regular season history. Brady beat his former team as he passed Drew Brees’ record to become the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards. He also became the fourth quarterback in NFL history to beat all 32 franchises along with Brees, Dan Marino and Manning.
Many rumors surround the relationship between Brady and Belichick. It seems as though there was legitimate tension between the two, but even after all the bad blood, they shared a brief hug on the field before the greatest coach and the greatest quarterback of all time had a 20 minute conversation set up by Belichick after the game. What one wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall to that conversation as Brady aims to win his eighth Super Bowl this year.
Kedon Slovis looked like Kedon Slovis again
After last week’s blowout loss to Oregon State, USC rebounded in an offensive explosion against Colorado. Junior quarterback Slovis trained with 3DQB, a quarterback mechanics training run by alumnus Adam Dedeaux, who has trained quarterbacks including Brees, Matt Ryan and Brady. Slovis, who excelled as a freshman, was expected to have his throwing motion and mechanics back to his best this season after his offseason training, and on Saturday, it finally looked like it was coming together for him. In particular, Slovis threw an absolute dart to sophomore receiver Gary Bryant Jr. that made it look like he was in peak form.
Slovis threw for 276 yards to go along with three touchdowns and also threw some bombs to junior receiver Drake London, including a spectacular one-handed snag for a score. Colorado’s offense has been anemic in the past few weeks while its defense hasn’t been stellar either, so people shouldn’t get too high on the Trojans yet, but it was a nice win to enjoy. If USC can see what it did well and apply it on a higher level, this win could prove to be a spark.
Diana Taurasi proves she’s the GOAT of the WNBA
The WNBA playoffs are currently taking place, and, at 39 years old, Taurasi, the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer, continues to prove why she is the greatest to ever do it.
Taurasi went for 37 points on 10 of 13 shooting and 8 of 11 from 3-point land as she became the oldest player with a 30-point game in WNBA playoff history. Taurasi also holds the fourth-highest scoring total in a single game in WNBA history at 47 points, along with a multitude of other records.
Taurasi is known as the “White Mamba”, a nickname given to her by global icon and NBA legend Kobe Bryant. She shares an otherworldly scoring ability, especially in clutch situations, being able to hit shots from anywhere on the floor. Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury are currently up 2-1 on the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Western Conference semifinals with Game 3 set for Wednesday.
Skyler Trepel is a graduate student providing updates on the general sports happenings with an emphasis on professional and collegiate football and basketball. His column “Skyler on Sports,” runs every other Tuesday.