COMMENTARY
Sometime around 6:15 on Sunday night, as Crazy Train takes over for Carmina Burana and 65,000 Pats fans are ready to smash their heads through a brick wall, Tom Brady will jog out of the Gillette Stadium tunnel for his NFL record 33rd career playoff game.
Now on the surface, that number might not blow your mind. Those “33 games” don’t pop off the page like, say, NBA all-time leader Derek Fisher’s 259 career playoff games or MLB all-time leader Derek Jeter’s 158. But for some perspective, Brady’s 33 playoff starts are six more than Peyton Manning, currently second on the all-time quarterback list, which means Brady’s started 22 percent more playoff games than his closest competition.