Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has a list of accolades that compares favorably with just about anyone to ever have played the game.
On Saturday, when he’s expected to start against the Detroit Lions, he’ll play in regular-season game No. 300, a plateau reached by only two other players (kickers excluded because, well, they’re kickers).
Brady will join fellow immortals-to-be Brett Favre and Jerry Rice and will add to his legacy that includes myriad accomplishments, big, small and peculiar.
Brady already has:
• Appeared in more playoff games, 41, than anyone in NFL history.
• Won more Super Bowl rings, six, than anyone in NFL history.
• Won more Super Bowl MVPs, four, than anyone in NFL history.
• Recovered more fumbles, 41, than any other active player (of course, many of the fumbles are of his own making).
Favre appeared in 302 regular-season games with the Falcons, Packers, Jets and Vikings. Rice narrowly holds the edge, with 303 career games for the 49ers, Raiders and Seahawks.
Brady, if he does decide to come back next season, would be in a position to pass both Hall of Famers. He signed a two-year, $50 million contract with Tampa this summer.
And, yes, we have the information for you old-timers muttering, “What about George Blanda?!” Blanda, originally a quarterback, deserves an asterisk because his 340 games include his final nine seasons working primarily as a kicker—beginning at age 40.
Solely a kicker, Morten Andersen is the all-time leader with 382 appearances, followed by fellow not-quite-fully-qualified-football-players Adam Vinatieri (kicker), Gary Anderson (kicker), Jeff Feagles (punter), Blanda, Jason Hanson (kicker), Phil Dawson (kicker) before Rice and Favre.
Hanson has the most career appearances with one team, playing in 327 career games all for the Lions.
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