A Facebook post on Wednesday morning hints that one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time might not be ready to hang up the cleats and put down the football.
Tom Brady posted this statement:
I just wanted to say to all of our fans, THANK YOU! After a few days of reflection, I am so grateful and humbled by the unconditional support you have shown me the past two decades. Running out of that tunnel every week is a feeling that is hard to explain. I wish every season ended in a win, but that’s not the nature of sports (or life). Nobody plays to lose. But the reward for working hard is just that, the work!! I have been blessed to find a career I love, teammates who go to battle with me, and an organization that believes in me, and fans who have been behind us every step of the way.
Every one of us that works at Gillette Stadium strived to do their best, spent themselves at a worthy cause, and prepared to fail while daring greatly (h/t Teddy Roosevelt). And for that, we’ve been rewarded with something that the scoreboard won’t show – the satisfaction of knowing we gave everything to each other in pursuit of a common goal. That is what TEAM is all about.
In both life and football, failure is inevitable. You dont always win. You can, however, learn from that failure, pick yourself up with great enthusiasm, and place yourself in the arena again.
And that’s right where you will find me. Because I know I still have more to prove.
Asked about retirement following the wild-card loss to the Texans, Brady said, “I would say it’s pretty unlikely, but, yeah, hopefully unlikely.”
Later, to another question about his plans, Brady added:
“Again, I don’t want to get too much into the future and stuff. I mean, this team has fought hard. We battled every day, we tried to get better, we worked hard to improve, and I was proud to be a part of this team. Not only this year, but every year.”
Only twice in Brady’s two decades in New England has his season ended earlier. In 2002, he missed the playoffs at 9-7 and in 2008 he blew out a knee in the opener and watched the Patriots miss out again despite going 11-5.