A Brady-less world is where true parity exists.
The NFL world saw what seemed impossible finally happen on Saturday. Tom Brady is retiring from the National Football League.
For as long as football is played there will never be another player like Tom Brady. He is considered by many to be the GOAT of the game we all love.
We could talk about his seven Super Bowl wins, countless records, or how teams that he was on were always contenders of the highest variety, but we know all of that. To be frank, we are sick of all of it in the most respectful way. Brady has dominated the NFL for basically all of this century and has dominated the Dallas Cowboys in the process (Brady went a perfect 6-0 against the Cowboys throughout his career).
But a new day is here for the mere mortals throughout the National Football League. Parity is now truly possible in the NFC which Brady just so happened to join two years ago as he spread his authority over both conferences, somehow amazingly winning the Super Bowl during his first year in it.
Things are wide open in the NFC.
The Dallas Cowboys have a chance to be one of the best teams in the NFC, and things might continue to improve for them in this capacity
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the NFC South this past year which means that the Dallas Cowboys will be playing them in 2022 as winners of the NFC East. That game will take place at AT&T Stadium whenever it is ultimately scheduled, and it is hard not to see how things just got significantly easier for the Cowboys in it.
Taking a step back, the Buccaneers might also be without offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich as he is rumored to become the next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars (who Dallas will visit in 2022 by the way, whether that game is in Jacksonville or an international spot remains to be seen). The point is that the Buccaneers, who have been one of the top teams in the conference for two years now, are very likely going to take a massive step back this coming season.
Speaking of coaching changes, while the Cowboys don’t play the New Orleans Saints in 2022, the reality there is that Sean Payton stepped away this past week. Elite people are suddenly departing from the conference which theoretically makes things less intimidating for Dallas to win the thing, and appear in the Super Bowl for the first time since before Brady was even drafted.
Looking further down the road it is possible that the marathon staring the Cowboys in the face will become even easier as Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson have been rumored to be players on the move this coming year. Should the Green Bay Packers or Seattle Seahawks move on from their quarterbacks, it is extremely likely that they will send them to the AFC so that they do not have to see them for the foreseeable future.
It is very possible that in one offseason the Cowboys see Sean Payton, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson all leave from their immediate scope of competition. The Los Angeles Rams exist and are a threat, but even looking at the team that ended Dallas’ season recently in the San Francisco 49ers, it is possible that even they make a huge move at the quarterback position and turn things over to what will then be second-year player Trey Lance.
Things are changing elsewhere and staying the same for the Cowboys in good ways as Dan Quinn is officially returning as defensive coordinator for the 2022 season. Could fate finally be smiling upon Dallas? We will have to wait and see.