Brady, Brees and Roethlisberger Just Won’t Go Quietly. Luckily for the N.F.L.

Age brings a measure of wisdom, which is one reason quarterbacks old enough to own Dave Matthews Band boxed CD sets are so effective. There is no coverage scheme or blitz package that Brady and the others cannot instantly diagnose and counterattack after 17 to 21 N.F.L. seasons. The peculiarities of 2020 may even have increased their advantage: The veterans are recalling tactics from memory that their opponents learned this summer in Zoom meetings.

There’s more to the quarterboomers’ success than just residual talent and life experience, however. The Buccaneers, Colts, Saints, and Steelers are going “all in” to win a Super Bowl in their quarterbacks’ golden years by adding weapons, maxing out the salary cap and planning almost exclusively for the short-term future. Younger quarterbacks may get stuck behind jury-rigged offensive lines or with middling receiver corps as their teams economize and strategize for long-term success, but Brady and the others are granted every available immediate advantage.

A reckoning will come for their teams once Brady and the others fade or retire. The Saints are almost $93 million over the projected 2021 salary cap, per OverTheCap.com; the team may have to be relegated to a seven-on-seven league to make ends meet. The Colts and Steelers have no quarterbacks-of-the-future in the wings, and neither team will be in position next year to draft one. The Buccaneers, who are paying Brady a guaranteed $25 million this season, are making the sort of Faustian bargain that guarantees dire consequences. Any of these teams could soon look like the ruins of the Patriots empire, and only one of them (at most) can win the Super Bowl that will make it worthwhile.

That mix of sustained excellence, presumptive entitlement and win-at-any-cost ambition makes it possible to both admire and resent the quarterboomers. In many ways, they are re-enacting a well-trod generational conflict: Old-timers, still vital but also benefiting from past accomplishments, are lording their continued success over youngsters too shackled to bad coaches or endangered by leaky offensive lines to pick themselves up by their bootstraps just yet.

That said, anyone who suffered through Carson Wentz versus Ben DiNucci in last Sunday night’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys knows that we should cherish matchups like Brady vs. Brees while we can.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/sports/football/brady-roethlisberger-brees-nfl.html