Tom Brady retired at 44 years old and needed just 40 days to realize he wasn't ready to hang it up. He's not about to let some young whippersnappers push him around on the football field -- or the golf course.
Brady and fellow esteemed NFL veteran Aaron Rodgers will team up to attempt to prove old school is superior to new school when they face off against the faces of the next quarterbacking generation, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, in the match play showdown known as The Match at 6:30 p.m. ET on June 1 at the Wynn Las Vegas.
Brady announced the heavyweight, two-on-two title bout via Twitter on Monday:
This installment of The Match will be Brady's third go-around, and unlike his sparkling football resume, Brady remains winless on the links. He'll have to overcome the sting of defeat from his last round of televised golf, in which he and PGA Tour legend Phil Mickelson fell to Rodgers and PGA Tour star Bryson DeChambeau. Instead of receiving the assistance of pro golfers, it will be an all-NFL affair, as the seasoned duo of Brady and Rodgers will welcome two newcomers in the Chiefs' Mahomes and the Bills' Allen.
Brady and Rodgers have a documented history that extends beyond exhibition golf matches. The two headline a pair of the NFC's top contenders in Tampa Bay and Green Bay, and they squared off in a thrilling NFC Championship Game in the 2020 postseason in which Brady emerged victorious on his way to his seventh career Super Bowl triumph -- a ring secured in a win over Mahomes' Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.
Instead of fighting for bragging rights, Brady and Rodgers will be working together to maintain their claim on old-guard supremacy over Mahomes and Allen, the two AFC superstars who most recently dueled in a legendary AFC Divisional Round contest in the 2021 postseason. Frame it as you'd like: AFC vs. NFC, or establishment vs. revolution. The June 1 showdown won't factor into any football fortunes, but it will promise to provide plenty of entertainment that could stoke the rivalries months before the four put on their helmets and pads.
