Tom Brady is the quintessential bag passer, staying behind his offensive line and throwing the ball everywhere.
Patrick Mahomes is the boy in the schoolyard, who moves to buy time before sending the ball.
Two very different styles from two of the league’s best quarterbacks, each on display Sunday when Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on Mahomes and the defending champs, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the NFL Super Bowl.
“This will be one of the best matches in the history of the sport,” said CBS Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Tony Romo, who will help narrate the match. “This game is what you talk about with your friends.”
Sure, the two quarterbacks will never really meet, only the opposing defense. But just as fans will be interested to see if Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has a better game than Buccaneers counterpart Rob Gronkowski, or if Kansas City wide receiver Tyreek Hill produces more yards than his Tampa Bay counterpart Mike Evans, Brady and Mahomes’ performances will be reviewed long after either of them lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy on Sunday night.
In the box, they say that styles make fights.
That could also apply to quarterbacks.
Brady’s style is a memory of the past, when quarterbacks huddled under center to pitch, carefully stepped back into the bag to assess the field, and then checked their progressions before sending the ball to a wide man. And if no one is there, he is completely happy throwing the ball into the stands and preparing for the next play.
The old school approach makes sense. Brady is 43 after all.
“For a pass rusher, not having to deal with a man who can get out of the bag or run while you’re chasing him, that’s the easy part,” Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said. “But it really is a little more difficult with Brady because he gets rid of the ball so quickly. In two seconds he will get rid of the ball, he will only move once and throw the ball.
It’s a style that has worked well during a career that is sure to lead Brady to the Hall of Fame. He already has a record six Super Bowl rings, and he could join Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks to win a championship with different teams.
The player who spent two decades with the New England Patriots will also have the opportunity to expand his Super Bowl records for yards per pass, touchdown passes, completions and just about any other metric by which success can be measured. of a quarterback.
“The most important thing is their competitive drive,” Mahomes said. “It’s like me. He will leave everything on the field whenever he can. He goes out to win. He doesn’t care if he has to throw for 400 or 100 yards. I have that same mentality. I just want to win no matter what happens. ”
Brady and Mahomes may be similar in that regard, but the 25-year-old quarterback has a different approach.
For starters, Mahomes is much more likely to trade out of the pocket than under center, slapping his hands once to get his guys out of skill position into crazy swings and moves and again to call for the snap. He’ll review his options just like Brady does, but when things break down, Mahomes will use his legs to buy time and his keen intellect to improvise.
He is brilliant keeping his eyes on the field and making late passes. He is also dangerous when he gets a good grip on the ball and starts running.
