PHOENIX _ Forty-year-old Adam Gase marvels at 41-year-old Tom Brady every morning for good reason.
So, the new Jets head coach isn't willing to concede that the Patriots quarterback is nearing the end of a career that will land him in Canton one day.
How much longer will the G.O.A.T. keep playing?
"I don't know, because I wake up and I feel like s---. And he's older than me," Gase said Tuesday at the annual league meeting. "So, let's clarify that. He's unbelievable. I got a lot of respect for him. Just everything he does, the way he takes care of his body. Everything he does in his life is to win. Win on Sundays. He'll do that until the day he stops playing. It's not going to change."
The Jets begrudgingly have had front-row seats to Brady's two-decade long dominance. He's been a perpetual pain in their posterior for much too long, but Gase maintained that he'd prefer to beat the future Hall of Famer rather than win without him in the picture.
"I'm glad he's still playing, because personally, I'd rather go against the best," said Gase, who turned 41 on Friday. "And those two guys (Brady and Belichick) right now are at the top. So, we're striving to get there."
The Evil Empire was weakened this week with the news that perennial Pro Bowl tight end Rob Gronkowski has retired. Gase, however, isn't quite convinced that we've seen the last of Gronk, whose agent didn't rule out a comeback for Gronk in 2019.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Gase said. "When he's not out there, I'll believe it ... He's tough to play against. If he's really retired, he was a great player in this league. He's a Hall of Fame player. He's a tough matchup for every team that he played. Every time you'd see him, you knew he was going to make a play. If it was a big game. He was going to be a part of it."
There's little doubt that Brady will be affected by Gronk's departure. For all of the quarterback's greatness, he's still human. And he'll turn 42 in August.
The end is coming sooner than later. Maybe.
