Tom Brady will be playing in the 14th conference championship game of his 21-year career on Sunday. And this might be the most impressive of the 14. Because this time, Brady did it as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After 20 years as the foundation of a dynasty in New England, he ventured out on his own this season, and it has culminated with (at least) an NFC Championship Game appearance.
Although, we probably shouldn't be surprised. After all, Brady isn't the first Super Bowl-winning quarterback to change teams late in his career and find success with his new team. The Vikings reached the NFC Championship Game in Brett Favre's first season in Minnesota, and the last time the Chiefs played the Bills in the AFC Championship Game, their quarterback was Joe Montana.
Kurt Warner, meanwhile, took it a step further. He came out of nowhere in 1999, winning NFL and Super Bowl MVP while leading the "Greatest Show on Turf" Rams to a title. St. Louis went back to the Super Bowl two years later, but lost to the Bradicheck Patriots, who were just getting started. Warner eventually made his way to Arizona, leading the Cardinals to their only Super Bowl appearance in 2008.
Then, of course, there's Brady's great rival Peyton Manning, who led the Broncos to four AFC West titles and two Super Bowls during his four seasons in Denver. It culminated, of course, with the Broncos' Super Bowl 50 victory in the final game of Manning's career. If Brady wins two more games, he can join Peyton as the only quarterbacks to start and win Super Bowls for two different franchises.
It's more than just quarterbacks, though. There are plenty of examples from across all sports where a legendary, championship-winning player either led a turnaround or won another championship (or both) after switching uniforms.
The most obvious example I can think of is Patrick Roy. Roy is one of the greatest goalies of all-time and a legend in Montreal, where he led the Canadiens to Stanley Cups in 1986 and 1993. His relationship with the team eventually soured, though, and Roy was traded to Colorado in the middle of the 1995-96 season. The Avalanche would go on to win the Stanley Cup, then another in 2000-01 (when they also had Ray Bourque, who won the only championship of his career).
And, as a New York Rangers fan, I can never forget the impact of Mark Messier and all the other former Oilers on that Stanley Cup-winning team in 1994. Messier won five Stanley Cups during Edmonton's dynasty years, but was traded to the Rangers just before the start of the 1991-92 season. He won the Hart Trophy that year, as the Rangers won the President's Trophy. Then, two years later, he delivered a championship that was 54 years in the making.
Another New York team, the Yankees, has used free agency to great effect. In 1976, they reached the World Series for the first time in 12 years, but were swept by the Reds. In 1977, they signed Reggie Jackson. He was already a superstar and a three-time World Series champion with the A's. In New York, Reggie became "Mr. October," leading the Yankees to back-to-back titles in his first two seasons with the team (and a third World Series appearance in 1981).
In 2005, it was a pair of former Yankees who helped the Houston Astros reach the World Series for the first time. Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens both left the Yankees and signed with Houston prior to the 2004 season. The Astros lost to the Cardinals in the NLCS that season before beating St. Louis for the pennant the next year, when they were swept by the White Sox in the World Series.
More recently, there's Mookie Betts. You all know how much I love Mookie Betts, which I'm free to express now that he doesn't play for Boston. He was the AL MVP in their dominant 2018 championship season. Last offseason, they traded him to the Dodgers, and Mookie proved to be the missing piece, as LA won its first World Series in 32 years.
That previous Dodgers championship, in 1988, featured Kirk Gibson's memorable walk-off home run in Game 1 of the World Series. That was Gibson's first season with the Dodgers after coming over from the Tigers, where he was on the 1984 championship team. So was Jack Morris, whose only season in Minnesota included that legendary Game 7 performance in 1991. He then went to the Blue Jays...and won two more World Series in 1992-93.
LA's other favorite team, the Lakers, has a solid track record of winning titles with players who already had a championship resume. First it was Wilt Chamberlain, who won a title with the 76ers in 1967, then another after his trade to the Lakers in 1972. They made it to the NBA Finals four times in his five seasons. The only time they didn't--1971--they lost to a Bucks team that had some guy named Lew Alcindor.
Alcindor soon changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and was traded to the Lakers in 1975. He'd spend the next 15 years in LA, where he and Magic Johnson were the centerpieces of the "Showtime" Lakers teams that won five titles in the 80s. And now they've got LeBron James, who came to LA after his eight-year run of NBA Finals appearances with the Heat and Cavs. LeBron's second season with the Lakers ended with his fourth career title.
So, Brady is not unique. He's not the first star player to change teams and find continued success. It does speak to his greatness, though. It speaks to all of their greatness, really. Because they made the difference. They turned their new teams into winners, sometimes immediately. Just like they promised they would.
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