By Rich Levine
CSNNE.com
The countdown's officially on.
If the rumors are true (and there's reason to believe they are), then Tom Brady is about to sign an extension with the Pats. Whether they call it a three- or four-year deal is just a matter of semantics (to quote Tom E. Curran). The bottom line is that Brady will be under contract for four more years in New England. It means that he will be 36 when the deal expires; 37 before the start of any subsequent deal.
It means that for all intents and purposes, Tom Brady has only four more chances to win a Super Bowl with the Pats. And when you think about it in that way, man, it doesn't seem right.
There was a time when there was no ceiling on the number of titles Brady might win.
As he stood on the podium in Jacksonville (February of 2005), holding his third Lombardi Trophy in four seasons, Brady was 27 years old, the best quarterback in the league and only getting better. He was playing for perhaps the greatest coach in NFL history and an organization that had mastered the complexities of the Free Agency era.
As he stood there, I remember watching from the stands at AllTel stadium, and wondering how many more he had in him. Probably three, I thought. Maybe two? OK, at the very least one. But at no point, did I ever believe I was watching Tom Brady hoist that trophy for the final time. The guy was a perfect 9-0 in the playoffs! That was unheard of!
In January of 2006, the Pats lost in the second round to Denver. It was a fluke, I thought. After all, when are Troy Brown and Kevin Faulk ever going to fumble in the same playoff game? They should have won. Then they would have easily beaten Pittsburgh at Gillette and destroyed a weak Seahawks team in the Super Bowl.
In the winter of 2007, an epic second-half collapse against the Colts ruined their chance to steamroll the Bears in Miami. Another fluke. Belichick and Brady would win that game 99 out of 100 times. Still this one hurt more than any Patriots loss before. Not only should they have had that game, they actually had it. It was theirs!
David Tyree and the Giants ruined another sure thing in the winter of 2008. That fall, Brady's knee ruined yet another. Last winter, they were hardly the favorite to win, before Wes Welker knee sealed their fate.
And that brings us to now.
Tom Brady, the kid who owned the NFL playoffs, who was not only destined for great things, but the greatest, is now 33. He's the third-oldest starting QB in the AFC (soon to be second once Jake Delhomme is eventually benched). He's five seasons removed from his last title, and with his "imminent" extension, will have four more years to win another. That's it, four tries. How crazy does that sound? And that doesn't even account for lockouts, injuries or anything that might sabotage the Pats chances from now until the winter of 2014.
I know Brady has said that he wants to play until he's 40, and that this new contract might not be his last. But considering the indecision on his side this time around, and the familial desires and duties that will only increase each year, who knows what might happen? Brady's always quick to talk about how his childhood hero, Joe Montana, was traded. It's almost like he expects to play for another team at some point in his career. After all that's transpired, would you really be shocked if he went off to L.A., San Fran or even San Diego? Would you blame him?
Or then what if he stays? Brady will still be a good quarterback at age 37, but only two guys in history have ever won a title at 37: Johnny Unitas (who only played the first half of that Super Bowl) and John Elway (who had Terrell Davis).
Who knows, maybe Brady's Terrell Davis is coming. But he can't wait much longer. The Pats have to start getting better, not worse. Because the fact is that while they're still a competitive football team in 2010, they have gotten worseand have done so every season since that upset loss in Arizona. Thanks to injury, age and unfortunate draft picks, they are less prepared to win the Super Bowl today than they were at this point last year. Last year, they were worse off than they were in 2008, and in 2008, worse than they were at the beginning of 2007. It's a vicious cycle, and you've got to wonder when it might stop. Or if it's going to stop at all.
I don't want to make this sound like a sky-is-falling scenario. A lot can happen in four years. It's just that Brady and the Pats can no longer afford to fall back on "fluke" excuses. We can no longer feel comfortable talking in coulds and shoulds and maybes. It's not that they can't do it, it's that at this point they just have to do it already. They have to get better. They have to improve. And do it now. That means no more playing for the future on Draft Day, or whiffing on the picks you actually make, or being stubborn in negotiations that leave your team less talented that it could be. That means finding a way to make it work, instead of trotting out a defense that can't crack Sam Bradford.
And that's a lot easier for me to say, as I sit here drinking a Diet Mountain on my recliner. But I'm just working off the expectations this quarterback, coach and organization have already set. I'm transporting myself back to the stands at AllTel Stadium, to that quarterback on the podium who I would have bet my life on winning at least one more Super Bowl before his time was done, and I'm wondering what the hell happened. I'm wondering if that was it.
It doesn't have to be that way. There's still time for Brady to find ring No. 4; just not a lot. He's got four more tries. That's it.
The countdown's officially on.
Rich Levine's column runs each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on CSNNE.com. Rich can be reached at rlevine@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Rich on Twitter at http:twitter.comrlevine33