Tom Brady may be one of the least-liked NFL players in Pittsburgh, but even the biggest Brady haters can’t deny the greatness that he has displayed over the two decades of his career. 

Besides being a six-time Super Bowl winner alongside Bill Belichick with the Patriots, Brady is now moving into the NFC Championship game with Bruce Arians and the Buccaneers in his first season with the team. 

Although the Green Bay Packers seem to be the favorite in this matchup of veteran QBs, it would be foolish to say that the Packers will have an easy win.

Brady has been a part of some of the greatest comebacks in sports, being involved in 39 fourth-quarter comebacks in his career, including the infamous comeback from a 28-3 deficit against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

With the winning nature of the Patriots, a popular debate was whether it was Brady or Belichick who was most responsible for that team’s greatness. The numbers this season would heavily suggest that Brady was the correct answer.

The Brady-led Buccaneers are in the playoffs for the first time since 2007, whereas Belichick’s Patriots failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

Although the Buccaneers started off the season slow as the team was getting accustomed to the huge number of new additions, they kicked it into high gear to end the season, with Brady finishing in the top three in both total passing yards and touchdowns this season.

The Patriots, with the addition of Cam Newton, struggled this season, and Newton finished the season with more interceptions than touchdowns. Now, the Patriots are in a position where they essentially have nothing going for them heading into next season, a situation they never had to worry about with Brady at quarterback. 

Thus, it becomes clear that Brady has always been a huge factor in the Patriots’ past success, and is a great quarterback regardless of who his coach is.

It’s unfair to say that Brady was the sole reason for all six of those Super Bowl wins, because there is a huge talent gap between every other position on the Patriots’ and Buccaneers’ rosters this year. Belichick is working with a team where Rex Burkhead, a running back, led the team in touchdown catches with three on the season. 

Regardless, Brady’s move to Tampa Bay goes to show that he is not just a product of Belichcik’s system, but rather one of the greatest and longest-lasting quarterbacks the league will ever see

It may be too early to proclaim that Brady could have achieved all that he did without Belichick, and quite frankly that may never be a plausible statement. But Brady is undeniably one of the most spectacular and impressive quarterbacks of all time.

Regardless of whether or not Pittsburgh fans like Brady, they should make sure to appreciate watching him play while they still can.