TAMPA, Fla. -- There was a subtle tip of the cap Sunday -- or perhaps it was an adjustment, depending on who you ask -- and then Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady put his head down and walked off into the south end zone corner of Raymond James Stadium, perhaps for the last time in his 22-season NFL career, after falling in the NFC divisional round.
Is this how it ends for the 44-year-old signal-caller who put together perhaps the greatest career in professional sports, 20 of them with coach Bill Belichick to orchestrate the New England Patriots’ dynasty, and the past two elevating the Buccaneers from obscurity to NFL prominence?