Tom Brady admits his future with New England Patriots is unknown but downplays retirement talk: 'Hopefully unlikely'
Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady seemed to be indecisive about his retirement after the Tennessee Titans eliminated the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots with a 20-13 win in Saturday night’s AFC wild-card game in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
In the game, Brady threw for only 209 yards and failed to tally a touchdown pass which led Titans' cornerback Logan Ryan to seal the win for Tennessee. What's more, Titans' running back Derrick Henry clinched the title of NFL's leading rusher this season and ran for 182 yards to score the largest total allowed by the Patriots all season.
In what appears to be the Patriots' earliest exit from the playoffs since the 2009 season, all eyes are fixated towards Brady's future. When the 43-year-old was asked about his retirement plans, he said, "I don't know what the future looks like, and I'm not going to predict it."
He added, “I love the Patriots…. [It’s the] greatest organization, and playing for Mr. Kraft all these years and for coach Belichick, there’s nobody who’s had a better career, I would say, than me just being with them. I’m very blessed, and I don’t know what the future looks like, so, and I’m not going to predict it. I wish we would have won tonight, and I wish we would have done a lot of things better over the course of the season.”
Referring to his alleged retirement, he added, "I would say it's pretty unlikely, hopefully unlikely." Patriots coach Bill Belichick did not give any clear stance on the matter when he asked about bringing Brady for another season. "We just finished the game. We're focused on this game, okay," he said.
Earlier, Brady had said he would play till the age of 45. Very few quarterbacks have played in the NFL at Brady's age as effectively as he does.
Moreover, the Houston Texans defeated the Buffalo Bills 22-19 in overtime in the day's other Wild Card matchup. The Tennessee Titans are all set to face the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans will play the Kansas City Chiefs in next week's AFC Divisional Round games.