Can He, or Can't He? The Tom Brady Question

Every sports site I check, every station I turn to that covers the NFL, one of the questions I've heard (other than "Is Brett Favre coming  back?") is, "Can Tom Brady bounce back from this terrible injury?"

I mean, they've had people from both sides of the sideline weighing in on this thing from surgeons to former players who have suffered torn ACLs.

Hey, I know how it is; the best QB in the business goes down for a year. It's news worthy to question whether he can come back and be as good as he was, especially as good as Brady was.

Do I know if Tom Brady can be as dominant as he was? Of course not, and neither does any one else... not really. They can all speculate based on past athletes’ experiences and health statistics, but no one knows anything.

And there are writers who want to weigh in on this question as though they somehow have more insight than those already mentioned.

Look, I don't care what anyone writes about, and I certainly am not judging anyone for it. I just find it a little amusing when everyone wants to question whether Brady can come back and not just assume he can based on his track record.

Let’s just run through it shall we? Michigan didn't think he could lead the Wolverines, and they waffled when it came to committing to him, though he led them to a co-championship of the Big Ten conference; the Wolverines were 20-5 under Brady.

Come draft time, no one in the NFL thought too highly of Brady, either. Bill Belichick liked him OK, but not enough to select him higher than 199th overall in the 2000 draft, in the sixth round.

When Brady took over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001, he proceeded to do what he always did, win most games of which he was the starting QB. Even in the 2001 playoffs, Brady and the Patriots proved all nay-sayers wrong (including John Madden second-guessing Brady's winning drive).

Heck, it would be another four years before Brady would fair poorly in the playoffs (in Denver against the Broncos in 2005).

In all, Brady has three Super Bowls, (MVP in 2001 and 2003) and an NFL MVP in 2007 (4,806 passing yards, 50 TDs, and a passer rating of 117).

I know there comes a time when any sports great is and should be questioned as to his longevity and reliability. The list of those names is as long and glorious as sports history is. But I think it may be a little early to be proclaiming, or even hinting, to the end of Tom Brady's career, but that's just me.