Tom Brady on his 49ers love: ‘I wanted to be like Joe Montana and Steve Young’
Tom Brady has undoubtedly accomplished more than any quarterback in NFL history, and he could continue growing his legacy with a seventh Super Bowl win in his 10th appearance Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
John Elway is second in league history with five Super Bowl trips as a starting quarterback — exactly half of Brady’s total, which might make Brady the closest thing we have to an American sports super hero. He’s leading the Buccaneers, a new team he joined last spring, at age 43 and doesn’t have the dynasty of the Patriots backing him for the first time in his career.
Every superhero has an origin story. Brady’s was shaped by growing up in the Bay Area, where he observed the 49ers’ greatness at Candlestick Park from nearby San Mateo, just down the peninsula. Brady went to Serra High School, where he graduated in 1995, months after watching Steve Young set a Super Bowl record with six touchdown passes in San Francisco’s thrashing of the Chargers.
Brady, of course, was in the stands as a child during the NFC Championship Game after the 1981 season when Dwight Clark made “The Catch” that kickstarted San Francisco’s dynasty in the 1980s.
Brady on Monday reflected on the start of his football career in high school and his early influences from the team he grew up rooting for.
“I would never have thought, hey, success is passing yards, touchdowns or Super Bowls,” Brady told reporters over Zoom. “It was always trying to maximize my potential and be the best I could be. When I showed up as a freshman in high school, I didn’t know how to put pads in my pants. I was just hoping to play high school football because I wanted to be like Joe Montana and Steve Young.”
Brady’s Super Bowl greatness
Brady has played 21 seasons and is second all time in passing yards behind Drew Brees with 79,204. His 12,248 postseason passing yards dwarf the guy second in the category, Peyton Manning, who has 7,339.
While there may have been more talented quarterbacks with better arms or more eye popping athleticism, Brady will go down as the greatest to ever do it.
That idea might sting 49ers fans for a couple reasons. First, he had a chance to join San Francisco last offseason when he made his desire to play for the 49ers known after the team lost the Super Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo under center. Brady was on his way out of New England and was interested in playing for his hometown team.
What happened since then is well documented. San Francisco went 6-10 in 2020 while dealing with an onslaught of injuries, including two high ankle sprains to Garoppolo’s right leg that cost him time and production. It was the second time in three seasons Garoppolo’s injuries derailed entire campaigns. He tore his ACL in Week 3 of 2018, leading to San Francisco finishing 4-12 and with the second pick in the NFL draft.
Brady vs. Joe Montana
The other thing about Brady that might have 49ers fans miffed: He’s overtaken Montana, to many, as the greatest quarterback of all time no matter what happens Sunday against the Chiefs. Montana won four Super Bowls and has roughly 51 percent of Brady’s regular season passing yards (40,551), although the two played in entirely different areas.
Brady was asked about being compared to Montana in 2016, before he played against the 49ers in the Bay Area for the first time (the Patriots won that game, 30-17, while Brady had four touchdown passes and no interceptions).
“I don’t ever see myself like him,” Brady said of Montana on a conference call. “He was so spectacular and I think he’s in a league of his own. I’m going to try to keep finding ways to help my team and be the best I can be every week. I feel like I’ve learned a lot over the last few years with my style of play. I love being here, competing and hopefully winning.
“And that’s what Joe did. He was a winner. Every time he took the field, it felt like the 49ers were going to win. I remember rooting for that team when Joe was playing quarterback and you always felt like they were going to win, no matter who they were playing, where they were playing at. Same when Steve (Young) took over. So it was great to be a 49er fan at that time.”
Buccaneers fans could probably relate. Brady this season ranked third in the NFL with 4,633 passing yards, which would have smashed San Francisco’s franchise record held by Jeff Garcia in 2000 (4,278 yards). Tampa Bay went 11-5 and made the playoffs as a wild card team, beating Washington, the Saints and Packers on the road for a chance at winning Tampa Bay’s second Lombardi Trophy.
Now all that’s left is doing what the 49ers couldn’t do last February: Take down the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
