Tom Brady is going back to the Super Bowl. For a 10th time. At the age of 43.
Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers knocked off the No. 1-seeded Green Bay Packers 31-26 in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field. They will now face the defending Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium in Super Bowl LV.
**The Bucs will become the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in their own stadium, while Brady will become the oldest player at any position to play in a Super Bowl.
** The Bucs hadn’t been to the postseason in 13 years or won a postseason game in nearly two decades — when Brady’s reign with the New England Patriots had just begun.
THE GAME:
Against the Packers, Brady completed 20 of 36 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns, with Leonard Fournette spinning his way to a fourth score on the ground.
The defense sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers five times — three from Shaq Barrett and two from Jason Pierre-Paul — and forced two turnovers. Nickelback Sean Murphy-Bunting picked off Rodgers in the second quarter and safety Jordan Whitehead forced a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Devin White.
Brady threw three second-half interceptions — twice to cornerback Jaire Alexander and once to safety Adrian Amos — while Rodgers threw touchdowns to tight end Robert Tonyan and wide receiver Davante Adams.
**The Packers had a chance to tie the score, down eight points with the ball at Tampa Bay’s 8-yard line on fourth-and-goal, but they decided to kick a field goal with just over two minutes to go in the game. They never got the ball back.
TRIVIA:
Brady now gets to try and do something his boyhood idol Joe Montana could not: go all the way with a new team in his first year. Montana came close, leading the Kansas City Chiefs to the AFC Championship Game in 1993, but lost to the Bills 30-13.
** Including Sunday’s win, his first in the playoffs against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers at Lambeau, Tom Brady has beaten more QBs (27) and teams (19) and won at more stadiums (12) than any QB in playoff history, by far.
