Written by: Tyler Deakin
Tom Brady played through a torn MCL in his left knee for the duration of the 2020 NFL season. He had surgery immediately after winning Super Bowl LV with the Buccaneers. All of this was kept secret from NFL insiders & the general public alike, so it’s breaking news now even though these events already happened. Brady wasn’t even on a single team injury report last year! This is an impressive feat for a variety of reasons, some of which will be discussed here.
GOAT status confirmed
I hate to admit it, but Tom Brady’s accomplishments are absolutely remarkable at this point. He just secured his 7th Super Bowl ring while playing with a new team for the first time in his career, all despite playing through an injury at 43 years old. What more can he really accomplish at this point in his career? He’s confirmed his status as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT), and will be heading for Canton when he finally retires in 2045. Until then, he’s set to potentially win a couple more rings with an absolutely stacked Buccaneers roster this year.
Buccaneers kept in the dark about injury
I recently listened to Adam Schefter interview Tom Brady’s personal trainer Alex Guerrero on The Adam Schefter Podcast. This was a fascinating interview for a variety of reasons, as Guerrero & Brady share a long history together. The most relevant part of the interview though was when Schefter asked Guerrero about Brady’s torn MCL situation. Guerrero said that he knew Brady was dealing with the injury heading into the season & that he would need surgery to fix the issue after the season. Schefter then mentioned that he was fascinated by Guerrero’s response because he spoke to a Buccaneers staff member who said that nobody on their staff was aware that Brady was hurt. Schefter’s anonymous source then said that Brady never admitted to having an injury, he never missed a practice, & he was always ready to play.
Alternative medicine made this feat possible
Alex Guerrero received his Masters degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Samra University in California. He claims in the Schefter interview that he is frequently able to cut the recovery timeline for his clients’ injuries in half. His success stories are many, but there are a couple in particular that stand out. The first is Tom Brady, who was having elbow problems when they first began working together & so he wasn’t sure how long his football career would last. We all know how that one turned out. Perhaps equally impressive though is that Guerrero got a pair of 85-year-old men to ride their bikes in the Tour de France in a 6-month span! Those are some impressive accomplishments to go along with co-founding the popular TB12 method.
Both team & player could face punishment
The NFL has notoriously allowed players to play through injury; for example, AJ Brown played through knee pain all of last year before undergoing surgery on both knees this offseason. A key difference between Brown & Brady’s situations though is that Brown’s injuries were listed on the team’s injury report, whereas Brady’s were not. NFL policy is very clear on this issue, “all players who have reportable injuries must be listed on the practice report, even if the player takes all the reps in practice, and even if the team is certain that he will play in the upcoming game.” Possible consequences for violation of this rule include team & individual fines, suspensions of executive(s), coach(es), & player(s) involved, & forfeiture of draft pick(s). This is an underrated training camp storyline as we await results from the league’s investigation.
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