By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports activities Columnist
They got here in from the entrance and from the again, two males combining to make a single, all-encompassing battering ram, able to pulverize their supposed goal, which occurred to be a 44-year-old soccer participant who goes by the identify of Tom Brady.
The defensive linemen in query, Trey Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai of the Cincinnati Bengals, burst by the protecting shell designed to cease them Saturday, trying to take down the Corridor of Fame QB, which is what they’re imagined to do, in fact.
Brady’s response?
“[He] simply folded up like an inexpensive tent,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians mentioned.
He did certainly. Brady, the break up second he realized that solely violent issues have been going to occur if he remained on his ft and tried to squeeze out a cross, crumbled into nothing on the sixth play of the Bucs’ preseason opener.
Brady dropped himself to the bottom a second earlier than Ossai and Hendrickson spilled excessive of him. Moments later, he popped up, headed for the sideline and stayed there, and the Bucs went on to lose their 2021 NFL preseason opener by a remaining rating of 19-14.
If you happen to’re a Tampa Bay fan, it was in all probability momentarily terrifying to see Brady submerged beneath two big defenders. For a impartial intrigued by the opportunity of Brady going for an absurd eighth Tremendous Bowl ring, it was slightly regarding that he was on the market to start with.
However greater than something, the snapshot went a fraction of the way in which towards explaining how the Nationwide Soccer League’s oldest energetic participant has simply saved going, with a combination of a number of smarts, slightly luck and an uncanny instinct for doing no matter it takes to maintain taking part in professional soccer for what may as nicely be eternity.
A day or so later, a good distance away and in a totally completely different sport, there was some information about one other old-timer who additionally occurs to be a real legend of his craft.
Roger Federer is 40, positively youthful in comparison with Brady however displaying some vital similarities to the previous New England Patriots quarterback who headed to Florida and picked up one other title.
Federer hasn’t essentially gotten higher with age, however he has caught round masterfully, staying very related and extremely aggressive within the sport of tennis for so long as anybody can bear in mind. He’s tied with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for essentially the most Grand Slam titles ever (20), and he gained three in 4 makes an attempt in a wonderful spell as just lately as 2017 and 2018, when he additionally returned to No. 1 on the earth.
Nonetheless, Federer has revealed that he should bear knee surgical procedure for a 3rd time, admitting that he has solely a “glimmer of hope” that he’ll have the ability to resume aggressive motion as soon as his rehab is full.
“Sadly, [doctors] advised me for the medium to long run, to really feel higher, I’ll want surgical procedure, so I made a decision to do it,” Federer mentioned on his social media. “I might be on crutches for a lot of weeks after which additionally out of the sport for a lot of months.”
Federer is now sure to overlook the US Open, and whereas the hope is that