“Tom Brady did a great job, but we’re not talking about open-heart surgery”: When Bill Belichick downplayed NFL GOAT’s hand injury in 2018 AFC Championship game vs. Jaguars

Tom Brady is an ultimate competitor. We already know this, but on the Patriots, Bill Belichick wasn’t going to him more credit than he thought he deserved.

Brady built up his legacy of being the greatest quarterback of all time in New England under the tutelage of Bill Belichick, winning six Super Bowl rings, setting a number of passing records, and surpassing many legends of the game in terms of reputation and standing.

Now, Brady is a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and despite the shift, he’s proven that he can still be an elite quarterback in the league. In his first season with the Bucs last year, Brady guided a playoff-starved Buccaneers team to a Super Bowl which they thoroughly dominated.

Brady’s had several memorable moments and games that you can talk about where he puleld off some incredible comeback or did something that only he could do, but a very underrated game that people might forget about was his performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2018 AFC Championship.

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Tom Brady played through severe hand injury which Bill Belichick downplayed in 2018 AFC Championship

During practice, Brady was running drills as normal, until he suddenly jammed his thumb into his running back Rex Burkhead’s helmet. The base of his thumb ripped through his skin, and there was a huge laceration on Brady’s hand which required minor surgery later on.

Despite only 8-10 days to recover from injury, Brady still managed to play against the Jaguars, knowing his team needed him against the Jaguars in a battle for who would represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. It’s incredible that Brady even managed to play that game as he thought the injury could’ve been career ending. “I thought this injury was going to be the end of my career,” he said.

Instead, he led the Patriots in an incredible comeback against the Jaguars’ stingy defensive unit, rallying back from a 20-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to win 24-20. He finished the day 26 of 38 for 290 yards and two touchdowns including throwing for 120 yards and both of his touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

After the game, the media was inevitably concerned about Brady’s hand, wondering what went wrong and how he was able to play through whatever injury he had. When asked about the game afterwards, Brady wasn’t very explicit about anything.

“It went pretty good. It went pretty good,” Brady detailed. “Coach Belichick doesn’t like us talking about injuries too much. But just for you guys here, it was just a pretty good cut and I dealt with it the best I could and lucky to have the best teammates in the world because without them we’re not standing up here going to Minneapolis and playing in the Super Bowl.”

Bill Belichick was also asked about Brady’s injury and particularly if he changed up the team’s game plan to accomodate for Brady’s injury. With a smile on his face, Belichick answered in a way only he could.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Belichick answered. “. . . I mean, look, Tom did a great job and he’s a tough guy. We all know that, all right? But we’re not talking about open-heart surgery here.”

Belichick made one thing very clear with that statement. Unless you’re going through open heart surgery, there will be no excuse for you performing poorly. In all seriousness, Belichick probably didn’t want to reveal too much about how the Patriots’ gameplan, not wanting to give away anything that other teams could pick up on.

However, the game still lives on in history as one of Brady’s best performances of his career. Playing with that serious of an injury, Brady still led his team to victory and never stopped going even when the Pats fell behind.

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