Tom Brady walked off the field at the end of his 20th NFL season and said he plans to be back for another, when he will be 43 years old, if not in New England, then somewhere else.
The Patriots quarterback said after a season-ending 20-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday that he has no plans to retire, putting owner Robert Kraft and coach Bill Belichick on the clock to either re-sign him or watch the franchise’s greatest player suit up somewhere else.
“I would say it’s pretty unlikely, hopefully unlikely” that he would retire, Brady told reporters. “I love playing football, I love playing for this team. I’ve loved playing for this team for two decades and winning a lot of games. I don’t know what it looks like moving forward.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Brady completed 20 of 37 passes for 209 yards with no touchdowns, throwing a game-clinching interception that was returned for a touchdown. That left him with with a lower quarterback rating than Ryan Tannehill, who threw for a total of 72 yards in his first career playoff appearance.
It was the earliest post-season exit for Brady and the Patriots in a decade.
“I think we’re all running out of time and chances, every year that goes by,” said Brady, who was without a touchdown pass for the second consecutive post-season game — and just the fourth time since 2001. “I don’t think I’m the only one in that category.”
A six-time Super Bowl champion, four-time Most Valuable Player of the NFL title game and three-time winner of the league MVP, Brady is not under contract for next season. Although he has said he wants to play until he is 45, he is coming off perhaps the worst non-injury season of his career.
“Who knows what the future holds? We’ll leave it at that,” Brady said.
Meanwhile, Titans coach Mike Vrabel posted himself outside the locker room following the win. He wanted to shake the hand of every member of his team as they came off the field.
Between the flood of high-fives and hugs, Vrabel mostly said “thank you” as his smiling players streamed by.
The last player to come down the corridor was running back Derrick Henry.
When Henry locked eyes with his coach, he beamed as well and began shouting: “We want more! We want more!” before the pair shared their own embrace.
Tennessee’s methodical effort against the Patriots and the league’s top-ranked defense was one of the biggest surprises of the opening day of the playoffs, but the Titans made one thing clear afterward: They feel like their best football is still ahead of them.
They advanced to face American Football Conference top seeds the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round.
“That’s the way we like it. We don’t want nothing easy. We want it gritty, we want it dirty,” said Henry, who carried 34 times for 182 yards and a touchdown.
The Titans ground out points through Henry and riding the resurgent play of Tannehill, who is 8-3 since taking over the starting role.
“I’m so proud of this team,” Tannehill said. “It was ugly at times offensively, but we kept fighting and found a way to make a couple of plays at the end.”
The biggest of the night came on the Patriots’ final possession of the night, when Brett Kern’s 58-yard punt put the ball at the 1 yard line before cornerback Logan Ryan intercepted Brady and ran it in for a 9 yard touchdown.
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