It’s easy to forget now, with Tom Brady copyrighting the heavily mocked catchphrase “Tompa Bay” and his buddy Rob Gronkowski joining him, but there was a time when many pegged the G.O.A.T. as a possibility for the Tennessee Titans.
The reasons why weren’t awful. In Tennessee, Brady could hand it to Derrick Henry, a 250-pound tank disguised as a running back. He could throw it to A.J. Brown, a dependable run-after-the-catch specialist who could serve as a rocked-up Julian Edelman. And most important, Brady could do it all behind one of the game’s strongest and nastiest offensive lines, for a team that just reached the AFC championship game and was coached by a former teammate in Mike Vrabel.