Tom Brady is eyeing back-to-back Super Bowl crowns and it comes as no surprise that he is the last quarterback to walk off with two straight NFL championship rings.
The 44-year-old Brady begins his pursuit of the achievement as well as Super Bowl ring No.8 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night in the opening game of the NFL season.
The Buccaneers easily handled the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in last season’s Super Bowl and that set Brady up for another repeat.
His New England Patriots’ teams won consecutive titles in the 2003 and 2004 seasons — against the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles, respectively.
The biggest task in Brady’s eyes is making sure complacency doesn’t occur.
“I think that’s what you’ve got to guard against,” Brady told the Tampa Bay Times.
“You can’t think that ‘Oh, it’s just going to go the way it went (last) year… so let’s just play with the same level of effort’
“My only point is we know what to expect.
“But it’s not like we won 20 games last year. We won 15. We were 15-5 (counting the post-season). It’s not like we were undefeated, and we were blowing teams out.”
Brady passed for 4,633 yards and 40 touchdowns in his first season in Bruce Arians’ offence after playing 20 seasons for the Patriots.
Meanwhile, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will be back on the field for the first time since sustaining a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle nearly 11 months ago against the New York Giants.
Prescott also has been dealing with a strained throwing shoulder, an injury that occurred in practice on July 28.
He was a full practice participant on Monday and is in no danger of missing the game.
Not surprisingly, he’s pretty eager for kick-off to arrive.
“I’m just excited for everything this game entails, from warm-ups, to pre-game, to the first whistle to the last, and everything in between,” Prescott told reporters.
Prescott was off to a superb start prior to the gruesome injury. He passed for 1,856 yards and nine touchdowns in less than five games and said he is expecting similar production.
“I plan to come out better than I was last year, to be honest,” he said.
Dallas struggled to a 6-10 record and missed the playoffs for the second straight season.
AAP
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