Every Tom Brady hater can thank the Cowboys for QB’s retirement

The Dallas Cowboys don’t have much to boast about in recent history, but they can say they technically ended Tom Brady’s career.

On Wednesday, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement from football for the second and hopefully last time.

His ardent fans will remember his varied and storied achievements — seven rings, all-time high career passing yards, three league MVPs, and so on — yet his bitter haters will remember that he was eliminated by the Dallas Cowboys this past year.

Yes, the Cowboys did end Brady’s career in the sense that he played them last (and lost). However, it would appear Brady retired after a long and thoughtful reflection on his future rather than because he lost to Dallas that one time.

Semantics, semantics.

The Dallas Cowboys are one of two teams that have never lost to Brady in the playoffs (the New York Giants are the other team). Dallas memorably steamrolled Brady and the Bucs in the Wild Card round, 31-14, in a game in which Dak Prescott threw for four touchdowns and 305 passing yards.

Tom Brady’s final NFL game was a sad playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys

Brady’s stat line pales a little in comparison to Prescott as he threw two touchdowns against one interception. In the bigger picture, though, Brady beats Prescott — and the Cowboys franchise — by miles.

Tom Brady has seven Super Bowl wins in league history; the Cowboys’ franchise has five. Brady has an all-time leading 35 playoff wins. The Cowboys, in their entire history, have just one more. In the regular season, Brady is 7-0 against the Cowboys, throwing for nearly 2,000 passing yards and 15 touchdowns.

Had Brady beat Dallas in January and miraculously made it to the NFC Championship or even the Super Bowl, one could imagine that Brady would want to keep playing football for at least another year.

In that regard, the Cowboys did the rest of the league a favor by eliminated the Buccaneers when they did.

Huzzah! Brady’s out of the equation. Now, if only the Cowboys can end their 27-year NFC Championship drought….