Two decades ago, the notion of a quarterback playing into his 40s was absurd.
Now, here the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are, at 7-5 and trying to make a Super Bowl run with the certified G.O.A.T. at quarterback in 43-year-old Tom Brady. Had this been the ’90s, or even in the 2000s, Brady would have been long retired. Troglodyte defensive coordinators would have ensured it with barbaric gameplans designed to inflict punishment.
These days you can’t really do that anymore. Officials protect great quarterbacks, and it’s for the best. This is a passing game now, and the rule changes have allowed us to enjoy dynamic, evasive quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson, men who wouldn’t have held up physically in the past.