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      Touchdown? NO! The Chiefs stop Jones on fourth-and-goal.

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySuper Bowl Live Updates: Bucs Closing in on ChampionshipTouchdown? NO! The Chiefs stop Jones on fourth-and-goal.Feb. 7, 2021, 7:31 p.m. ETFeb. 7, 2021, 7:31 p.m. ETCredit…Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesAfter narrowly missing on the Super Bowl dream — a lineman touchdown reception — the Bucs ram running back Ronald Jones II at the Chiefs on two straight runs at the goal line. Kansas City stuffs the first and then, stunning the Tampa crowd, does the same on the next play. This could be a big early momentum shift.The Bucs challenged the call, but the line was so jammed there wasn’t really a view to review, or reason to overturn the call on the field.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      The Bucs’ defensive pressure is responsible for Mahomes’s slow start.

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySuper Bowl Live Updates: Bucs Closing in on ChampionshipThe Bucs’ defensive pressure is responsible for Mahomes’s slow start.Feb. 7, 2021, 7:16 p.m. ETFeb. 7, 2021, 7:16 p.m. ETPatrick Mahomes started the game 1 of 6 for 3 yards passing.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York TimesPatrick Mahomes completed only one of his first six passes, which isn’t surprising when you consider that he’s been throwing on the run from the start of the game. In fact, he’s been doing almost everything on the run.Mahomes’s one completion was for three yards. But he has rushed three times for 24 yards. It all adds to a quarterback who is not being well protected. Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles has thrown a variety of blitz looks at the Chiefs, including sending both cornerbacks on a third-and-8. Mahomes, as he often does, avoided the pressure but had to throw while sprinting, which led to another incompletion — a dart intended for Tyreek Hill that nailed Hill in the helmet. The pass, from the Tampa Bay 31-yard line was the Chiefs’ best shot at the end zone. The drive ended with a Kansas City Field goal.Tyreek unable to bring in the first TD of the game as the ball goes off of his helmet. pic.twitter.com/lpNNsq05B6— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) February 8, 2021
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      Amanda Gorman is the first poet to perform for the Super Bowl.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Super Bowl 2021liveGame UpdatesThe CommercialsHalftime ShowTom Brady Endures at 43Fans Still Traveled for the GameAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySuper Bowl Live Updates: Bucs Closing in on ChampionshipAmanda Gorman is the first poet to perform for the Super Bowl.Feb. 7, 2021, 6:33 p.m. ETFeb. 7, 2021, 6:33 p.m. ETAmanda Gorman at President Biden’s inauguration last month.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York TimesIn her short but already momentous career, the 22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman has accomplished a stunning series of firsts. At 19, she became the country’s first Youth Poet Laureate. Last month, when she recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at President Biden’s inauguration, she became the youngest inaugural poet in American history. And on Sunday, she became the first poet ever to perform for the Super Bowl.Before the game, Gorman delivered an original poem titled “Chorus of the Captains” in a taped segment. Gorman wrote the poem to celebrate three people who were chosen as honorary captains to take part in the coin toss: Trimaine Davis, a Los Angeles teacher who helped his students get laptops for remote schooling; Suzie Dorner, a nurse in a Tampa who works with Covid-19 patients in an intensive care unit, and James Martin, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Pittsburgh who has worked to support veterans, high school athletes and young people in his community.In a performance before the coin toss, Gorman paid homage to the honorary captains:Today we honor our three captainsFor their actions and impact inA time of uncertainty and need.They’ve taken the lead,Exceeding all expectations and limitations,Uplifting their communities and neighborsAs leaders, healers, and educatorsEver since she stole the show with a charismatic performance at the inauguration last month, Gorman has seen interest in her work soar. Her publisher announced that it will print three million copies of her upcoming titles, which include her debut poetry collection and a picture book. Barack Obama, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Oprah Winfrey praised her on social media. IMG Models signed Gorman and will represent her for fashion and beauty endorsements.Appearing at the Super Bowl will likely bring an even larger audience to her work. The N.F.L. contacted Gorman in November, when the league was trying to create a ceremony that would reflect the challenges the country is facing. It decided to open the game by celebrating people who have helped their communities through the pandemic.“We knew that in order to honor them properly — and all of those across the country that they represent — we needed the right words that would match the power of that moment, and there’s no one more perfectly suited to bring those words to the world than Amanda Gorman,” Matt Shapiro, the N.F.L.’s vice president of events strategy, said in a statement.At the end of her poem, Gorman cited the tireless work of Dorner, the intensive care nurse, as proof that “even in tragedy, hope is possible.”We celebrate them by actingWith courage and compassion,By doing what is right and just.For while we honor them today,It is they who every day honor us.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Tom Brady, Defying Age, Heads to Another Super Bowl

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Super Bowl 2021Why the Chiefs Will WinTom Brady vs. Patrick MahomesA Super Bowl Trip Is Worth the Risk to Some Fans17 Recipes for Tiny TailgatesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThrough Genetics, Luck or ‘Prehab,’ Tom Brady Endures at 43The mother of the opposing Super Bowl LV quarterback was a year old when Brady was born. What’s he still doing here?Tom Brady, seemingly defying nature at 43, is about to play in his 10th Super Bowl. Credit…Brett Duke/Associated PressFeb. 7, 2021Updated 9:11 a.m. ETFootball fans know what old quarterbacks look like as they fade away. It is not like Tom Brady.Old quarterbacks hobble around the field, propped on stiff hips and achy knees, their arms ragged and their faces craggy. They look like survivors, elevated in myth but diminished in stature.Vaults and minds are filled with clips of Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Brett Favre and all the other creaky quarterbacks who tempted the fates of time and tradition, shunning retirement until deep — maybe too deep — into Hall-of-Fame careers.When John Elway played his last game, winning a Super Bowl, he was 38. Peyton Manning did the same at 39. Rigid and worn, older quarterbacks usually move as if they might be unable to tie the laces on their cleats.Then there is Brady, a cyborg. He is 43. Does he have a wrinkle on his face? Is his arm bionic? Are his joints made of rubber? He probably can tie his own laces while doing downward dog.“You look at this guy and think, ‘Wow, it’s absolutely incredible,” said Gordon Lithgow, a professor and vice president of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, Calif. “Is he actually aging at a slower rate than other people?”That is the question football fans are asking ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl LV between Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs.The answer appears to be yes, at least in football terms. The hard question is why.“There’s no way that elite athletes are immune to aging,” Lithgow said. “You can see quite a precipitous drop-off in performance — even though they are way above average, it’s still happening at the same rates.”Brady, who is in his first season with Tampa Bay after 20 years with the New England Patriots, will be the oldest player to participate in a Super Bowl, at any position. He is the only quarterback to start a Super Bowl after age 40, and he is about to do it for the third time.Brady was born in 1977, the summer of “Star Wars,” Son of Sam and the death of Elvis (at 42, notably). Brady has been alive for every victory in Tampa Bay franchise history. (The Buccaneers were 0-14 in 1976, their inaugural season.)The 18-year age gap between him and Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the biggest ever between Super Bowl starting quarterbacks. When Brady was born, Mahomes’s mother was 1.Brady, who will face Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl, is a contemporary of Mahomes’s mother.Credit…Jason Behnken/Associated PressBrady was selected in the 2000 N.F.L. draft and has been a starting quarterback since New England’s second game after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Each of the 11 other quarterbacks drafted in 2000 (Brady was the seventh taken) has been out of the N.F.L. for at least nine years. This will be his 10th Super Bowl. He has won six of them and earned the game’s Most Valuable Player Award four times.“If anyone has any superlatives that haven’t been used yet, you know how to get in touch with me,” said Jim Nantz, the Super Bowl play-by-play announcer for CBS. “My reservoir is bone dry.”Sports fans are accustomed to the inevitability of late-career declines by stars. But this season Brady threw 40 touchdowns, the second-highest total of his career. Still mobile in the pocket, he was sacked at a lower rate than his career average. Hardly a weak-armed version of his past self, he recorded an average air distance on his throws, whether completed or not, that was longer (9.1 yards) than in the previous two seasons with New England.Brady looks more like his younger self than like a doddering old quarterback.Is he the best athlete ever? How can that be measured?Brady may not be the best football player, or even the best quarterback. But through an incalculable algorithm of excellence, consistency and time, Brady might come out No. 1.Peddling His PliabilityBrady, though, might not be No. 1 in the hearts of football fans. Age and accomplishment bring respect to older athletes, but Brady and the Patriots dynasty of the past two decades proved especially hard to adore for those outside New England. They won steadily behind their cranky coach, Bill Belichick, and the cool Brady, who long ago shed any underdog charm he brought into the league as a sixth-round draft pick.The Patriots rarely dazzled. They were seldom fun. They were respected in the way that steamrollers are. They swapped coordinators, shuffled the roster and got older, yet Belichick and Brady kept winning. It was hard to explain. Any awe came from their relentless efficiency.Controversies surrounding accusations of cheating — Spygate in 2007, Deflategate in 2015 — cling loosely to their championships, like dryer sheets on fresh laundry.Brady’s skills have never been obvious, but he was always there, smiling and holding the trophy. It could seem a bit much — his persistent winning, his sunny but vapid California disposition, his supermodel wife, his Uggs.Now he is recast with the Buccaneers, an innocuous franchise that elicits little emotional reflex, playing for an affable coach in Bruce Arians, an anti-Belichick. And Brady, wearing a new costume, performs like a carnival act — Come see the ageless man! — as audiences gather in wonder for another look, if not the last one.Nantz has twice thought he had broadcast Brady’s last game — two years ago in a Super Bowl victory, last season in a playoff loss. Will this Super Bowl be the end? It does not seem so. Brady talks of playing to 45, maybe beyond.His age is now his business. Brady has marketed his longevity, packaged it into something called the TB12 Method, and explained it in a 2017 book espousing muscle “pliability.” The goal is a spongy elasticity that can absorb all that life throws at a body, even that of an aging quarterback.Brady’s longevity is now his business. His company offers TB12 Performance Meals, “freshly frozen for your active lifestyle.”Credit…Maddie Meyer/Getty Images“Balderdash,” one physiology professor has said of the pliability theory.Brady’s long career is not just vital to the pitch. It is the pitch. The main headline on the TB12 home page reads, “Still Here,” mocking our amazement. The implication is clear: The elusive Fountain of Youth might come boxed in a “TB12 Immunity Gameplan Starter Kit” ($175).There are no N.F.L. logos, no mentions of the Patriots or Buccaneers — just the lure of youthfulness and positivity. Whenever he retires from football, Brady will still be in our lives, selling not cars, pizza or insurance, but aspiration and lifestyle — part Jack LaLanne, part Gwyneth Paltrow.Items for sale include TB12 Performance Meals, “freshly frozen for your active lifestyle.” Brady’s diet is mostly plant-based — but no strawberries, because he detests the smell of them, a trait that football opponents have somehow been unable to exploit. He fills his body with protein shakes, TB12-branded electrolytes and lots of water — “Drink at least one-half of your body weight in ounces of water daily,” he instructs on the site.TB12 also sells dietary supplements, exercise equipment (lots of stretchy bands and vibrating rollers and balls) and clothing (including shirts reading “20 Seasons” and “Tampa Brady”).Acolytes can make an appointment with a TB12 Body Coach, “your partner in performance and recovery,” either virtually or at one of several TB12 locations in Massachusetts and Florida. “Replacing injury and rehab with pliability and prehab” is a catchphrase. Sleep and mindfulness are also promoted at TB12 as key components to good health.The prevailing mood is calm, which feels counter to football’s grunting culture of power and testosterone. All that is missing are candles scented like Tom Brady.Does his philosophy work? Is that the key to his football longevity, or is Brady merely the beneficiary of great genes and luck?After all, he has not missed a game because of injury since 2008.“Genetics is probably less than 10 percent of the equation,” Lithgow, the aging expert, said. “That means that there’s a whole lot of stuff out there, in terms of environment, everything we’re exposed to, that actually plays a much, much larger part — which is kind of good news, actually. It means that maybe we have some ability to control our own rate of aging.”Brady and his “method” suggest that he has found the optimal blend of diet, exercise and sleep. Those factors certainly affect aging, Lithgow said.“But — and it’s a big but,” he said, “with any of these interventions or systems, we can’t say anything about them until they’re subject to a normal double-blind clinical trial.”“If you find something that works for you, that’s great,” Lithgow added. “That’s just looking after yourself, and it’s not science, and it’s not something you can necessarily recommend for your next-door neighbor because they may respond completely differently to it.”For someone so adept at selling himself, Brady has been shrouded in suspicion of his own making. In 2015, he was the focus of Deflategate, the N.F.L. investigation into whether Brady instructed team employees to reduce the air pressure in footballs below the league standard to gain some sort of advantage. (Brady was suspended in 2016 for four games, the only ones he has missed since 2008.) In recent years, a relationship with the controversial fitness guru Alex Guerrero has further cast Brady as someone trying to hide something.Alex Guerrero, a fitness guru who is Brady’s partner in TB12, is also the quarterback’s trainer, counselor and adviser, as well as godfather to one of his sons.Credit…Scott Eisen/Getty ImagesGuerrero, a purveyor of holistic medicine, was charged in 2004 by the Federal Trade Commission with deceptively marketing an herbal supplement called Supreme Greens. Infomercials starring “Dr. Guerrero” (he has no doctorate or license to practice medicine) claimed the product could prevent and cure cancer, diabetes and heart disease, among other maladies, and spur substantial weight loss. The case was settled in 2005, and Guerrero was required to pay $65,000 or to give up his 2004 Cadillac Escalade.That is about when Brady and Guerrero began working closely together. They founded TB12 in 2013. In 2015, a New York Times article referred to Guerrero as Brady’s “best friend” and “his spiritual guide, counselor, pal, nutrition adviser, trainer, massage therapist and family member.” He is a godfather to one of Brady’s sons.Guerrero’s constant presence around the Patriots reportedly caused friction with Belichick, who kept Guerrero off the team plane and limited his sideline access in 2017. In 2018, another player working with Guerrero, receiver Julian Edelman, was suspended for four games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.Brady has made theater of not discussing Guerrero. During a weekly radio obligation in Boston in 2018, he refused to answer questions about Guerrero and hung up.After Brady’s contract expired last year, the Patriots reportedly did not offer a new deal. Only two teams, the Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Chargers, took serious runs at him. Brady left for Tampa Bay, taking Guerrero with him.In October, Brady posted birthday wishes to Guerrero on Instagram. “It’s not often in life we find people that share so many common beliefs,” he wrote, in part. “Love you big bro!!”A Merchandising PhenomenonWhatever Brady is doing, his ability to defy his age has captured the collective imagination of football fans.When the N.F.L. playoffs began, they seemed like a seniors tournament. Drew Brees (42), Philip Rivers (39), Ben Roethlisberger (38) and Aaron Rodgers (37) all led their teams into the postseason. Each is likely to end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.Only the oldest of the elders, Brady, reached the Super Bowl — again.Last year, Mahomes merchandise (jerseys and numbered T-shirts) set sales records during the two weeks before the Super Bowl, according to Fanatics, which operates online stores for the N.F.L.Brady merchandise surpassed the two-week total for Mahomes items just three days after Tampa Bay won a spot in the Super Bowl, the company said.Buccaneers fans on Tampa’s Riverwalk. Brady has said he would like to play in the N.F.L. until he is 45 and perhaps beyond.Credit…Eve Edelheit for The New York Times“The greatest who ever walked,” said the former quarterback Tony Romo, who will be Nantz’s broadcast partner for the Super Bowl.Romo had a 14-year N.F.L. career, long by most standards. But he is three years younger than Brady, and he retired four seasons ago with a sore back.Fans know what old quarterbacks look like. They can see one in the broadcast booth on Sunday.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      How the Chiefs and Buccaneers Got to the Super Bowl

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      How the Chiefs and Buccaneers Got to the Super BowlJason Behnken/Associated PressNearly everyone expected Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to be back in the Super Bowl. Far fewer people thought Tom Brady, at 43, could take Tampa Bay this far.Here’s a look at the road to Sunday’s game for both teams → More

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      Peyton Manning Selected for Pro Football Hall of Fame

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPeyton Manning Selected for Pro Football Hall of FameThe selections of Charles Woodson and Calvin Johnson for the Hall of Fame were also announced at the N.F.L. Honors on Saturday. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named the most valuable player.Peyton Manning, the former Colts and Broncos quarterback, was selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He was known for his intense game preparation.Credit…Jack Dempsey/Associated PressFeb. 6, 2021A pair of Aarons pulled off an N.F.L. hat trick Saturday night.Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers earned his third Associated Press Most Valuable Player Award, while Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald took his third top defensive player prize at N.F.L. Honors.Another notable trio for the night: Charles Woodson, Peyton Manning and Calvin Johnson, who were selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.Also taking home awards were two members of the Washington Football Team: quarterback Alex Smith won the Comeback Player of the Year Award in one of the most inspirational stories of 2020, and edge rusher Chase Young was recognized as the top defensive rookie.Derrick Henry, the Tennessee Titans’ 2,000-yard rusher, won the Offensive Player of the Year Award, and the offensive rookie honor went to Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski was named the coach of the year, and Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll earned assistant coach honors.Rodgers had perhaps the best season of his 16-year career, leading Green Bay to a 13-3 regular season, the N.F.C.’s best mark. Just a few months after questions arose about his comfort level with the Packers — and their choosing a quarterback in the first round of April’s draft — Rodgers, who turned 37 in December, tore up the N.F.L. Rodgers topped the league with 48 touchdown passes with a completion rate of 70.7 percent. He was picked off just five times.The night also belonged to Manning, the quarterback whose meticulous attention to detail helped turn the 21st-century gridiron into a chessboard on turf. The son of Saints legend Archie Manning and brother of two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning will be joined later this year in Canton by another first-ballot lock, Woodson, the defensive back who beat out Peyton Manning for the Heisman Trophy in 1997, and then spent nearly two decades trying to stop him. Johnson, who was known as Megatron, was also a first-ballot selection, his mere nine years of playmaking excellence with the Detroit Lions more than enough to persuade the panel.Also making it were guard Alan Faneca, who made nine Pro Bowls and missed only one game over 13 seasons with the Steelers, Jets and Cardinals; and John Lynch, the hard-hitting safety who burnished his reputation in Tampa Bay, which plays Kansas City for the Super Bowl title Sunday.Cowboys receiver Drew Pearson was selected in the senior category; former Raiders Coach Tom Flores, as a coach; and longtime Steelers scout Bill Nunn as a contributor.Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers won his third Most Valuable Player Award on Saturday after leading his team to a 13-3 record this season.Credit…Mike Roemer/Associated PressIn a nod to Covid-19, the voters eschewed their traditional all-day meeting Saturday in favor of a virtual gathering on Jan. 19. The winners’ names were made public at the N.F.L. Honors awards ceremony Saturday night. Jaguars left tackle Tony Boselli and Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas were among the finalists whose names were not called.Manning going into the hall was all but preordained. That’s fitting, in a way, because he was known for his intense preparation during the week and at the line of scrimmage, doing all he could to eliminate doubt about the result of every play before it happened.His work in the video room, his “voluntary” off-season throw-and-catch sessions with receivers, his quizzing of coaches and teammates alike during practices — all were the stuff of legend.When Manning retired after leading the Broncos to the title in 2016, he had the career records for passing yardage (71,940) and touchdowns (539), among others, and was part of the conversation as Greatest Of All Time.Drew Brees and Tom Brady have eclipsed those numbers. Brady, playing in his 10th Super Bowl on Sunday, will with a win on Sunday join Manning as the second quarterback to lead two franchises to a title. Still, he’s well aware of Manning’s role in making the modern-day passing game what it is today.“Like any great quarterback, there’s a lot of responsibility that you take on,” Brady said in the past week in reflecting on Manning’s place in the game. “You want to make sure everything’s a reflection of how you see the game and you want to make sure everyone’s on the same page. And when everyone’s seeing it through the same set of eyes, it’s a great way to play football.”He ushered in an era that turned the reading of the Xs and Os from an art to a science, setting the template for a modern-day passing game very much reliant on pre-snap reads that lead to quick decisions and allow the smartest of quarterbacks to get out of bad plays before they happen.All those smarts, of course, belied a physical gift that allowed Manning to play for 18 years, including a comeback from four delicate neck surgeries that left him unable to grip a football at first.Weeks after the second operation, Manning sneaked off to a Colorado Rockies batting cage to throw, but his first toss went about 5 yards before fluttering to the ground. Not three years later, Manning threw 55 touchdown passes — that record still stands as the most in a season — and started in the Super Bowl for the Broncos. Two seasons after that, he wasn’t in much better shape, ailing with an arch injury that cost him half the season and what was left of his limited mobility. But he guided the Broncos to a win in Super Bowl 50 — then left the field forever.Manning both entered and exited the N.F.L. the same time as Woodson, the cornerback who went to one Super Bowl in his first eight years with the Raiders, then went to Green Bay to win his only Super Bowl title, before finishing out his career as a safety in Oakland.He finished his career with 65 interceptions and 13 defensive touchdowns, tied for the career record with Rod Woodson and Darren Sharper.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      A Guide to Super Bowl 2021: What You Need to Know

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      The game will be broadcast on CBS and streamed free on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports app, which is available on various smartphones and streaming platforms. Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will provide the commentary, as they did two years ago (last year’s game was on Fox). ESPN Deportes will provide Spanish coverage.

      You can also follow along with New York Times reporters on our website and app, where we’ll be discussing the game, the ads and the halftime show. We highly recommend it!

      Among the broadcasters worldwide are Seven Network (Australia), CTV (Canada), L’Équipe (France), DAZN (Germany), the BBC (U.K.) and Viasat Sport East (Uzbekistan). More

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      Why Some Women Don’t Want Antonio Brown in the Super Bowl

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Super Bowl 2021Why the Chiefs Will WinTom Brady vs. Patrick MahomesA Super Bowl Trip Is Worth the Risk to Some Fans17 Recipes for Tiny TailgatesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySports of the TimesWhy Some Women Don’t Want Antonio Brown in the Super BowlThe Buccaneers receiver has been one of the most electrifying players in the N.F.L., but he is facing accusations of sexual assault and harassment.Antonio Brown of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has been one of the best receivers in the N.F.L., but has faced serious accusations of abuse against women.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesFeb. 6, 2021, 9:00 a.m. ETGet over it.That was the message Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown tried to convey this past week.The past doesn’t matter, he seemed to say. With the Super Bowl upon us, the only concern should be about his ability to catch passes on Sunday.Brown’s preferred talking points were his love for quarterback Tom Brady, his team’s drive to beat the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs, and his comeback.That comeback did not involve an injury that eroded his electrifying talent on the field. Those skills have remained sufficiently intact for Brown, 32, to find a plush spot in the N.F.L., in spite of the history he did not want to discuss at a requisite pre-Super Bowl news conference.“I’d be doing a disservice if I talked about things that are not a focus of this game,” he said.Those things include withering verbal abuse aimed at the mother of three of his children and recorded on video. And an accusation of sexual harassment that was described in detail in a national magazine. And a looming lawsuit accusing him of rape, a claim that Brown has vociferously denied.Now, he is one win from a championship ring after off-the-field trouble sent his career into one of the most stunning tumbles experienced by a star athlete in recent memory.Tampa Bay gambled on him in a way that no other team dared, signing Brown to a one-year contract in October after he had been out of the game for a season and a half. The Buccaneers did not heed commentators who, looking at the pattern of trouble around Brown, said he needed time away from the league — possibly for good, but at least until his lawsuit was resolved.The team also chose to look past the #MeToo movement and its fundamental lesson: Women with stories of pain, and of powerlessness in their dealings with famous men, should be heard and taken seriously.Let’s remember that one in four women are subjected to abuse by intimate partners during their lifetimes, according to a government report. Let’s think of what they endure every time they see athletes like Brown, with unresolved accusations around them, take the field.Let’s listen to Brenda Tracy, who describes herself as the survivor of a 1998 gang rape by a group of men that included two Oregon State football players. The players weren’t criminally charged, but they were suspended by the coach for making “a bad choice.” Tracy became an advocate for abused women, working toward change by sharing her story with anyone who will listen. Colleges across the country have hired her to speak to their athletic teams.“I won’t be watching the Super Bowl this year,” she told me. “With Antonio Brown out there, it’s just too much.”Ahead of the big game, Brown characterized himself as a changed man — humbled, grateful, and in control. He spoke in quiet, careful tones. He gave the sense that he sees the accusations as a chance to prove that he can conquer adversity, mostly by catching Brady’s passes.“I want my legacy to be a guy that was persistent, a guy that never gave up, no matter the odds, no matter the hate,” Brown said.Tom Brady said recently that he and Brown had “connected right away” as Patriots teammates. Credit…Brynn Anderson/Associated PressWhat he really wanted was to move on.Let’s not. Let’s look at the claims, made by a personal trainer named Britney Taylor, in the lawsuit.In court filings, Taylor said that Brown assaulted her twice in 2017. She also asserted that Brown raped her in 2018.Through his legal team, the wide receiver has denied the accusations. He has countersued, accusing Taylor of defamation. Brown and Taylor were involved in a “consensual personal relationship,” his lawyer said in a statement.It is important to remember that the court proceedings can still be avoided if the two parties reach a settlement. It is not a criminal trial, in which Brown would face the possibility of prison.But Britney Taylor isn’t alone.In a Sports Illustrated article, an artist made detailed accusations of sexual harassment by Brown. The wide receiver also once targeted the mother of three of his children with a profane tirade and then posted a video of the incident on social media.On Twitter in 2018, he threatened a reporter from ESPN’s The Undefeated who wrote an article about Brown’s thorny personal life and turbocharged social media use. Brown ended up apologizing through a statement: “It is not OK to threaten anyone, and I need to be better spiritually and professionally.”That year he also settled a lawsuit that accused him of throwing heavy furniture from his 14th-floor apartment and nearly hitting a toddler.Brown’s exasperating behavior as a teammate prompted the Pittsburgh Steelers to trade him to the Oakland Raiders in 2019. Just before the start of the season, the Raiders dumped him for similar reasons.He landed briefly in New England, early in Brady’s final season with the Patriots. The lawsuit accusing Brown of rape soon became public, followed by the artist’s accusations of harassment. His third employer of that year cut him loose.Brady, who said recently that he and Brown had “connected right away” in New England, endorsed Tampa Bay’s decision to bring the receiver aboard midway through this season. When Brown arrived in town, he initially lived in Brady’s home.Yet Brown and the Buccaneers seem like an odd pairing. The team has two full-time female coaches, and there were only eight in the entire league this season. The Women’s Sports Foundation has honored Coach Bruce Arians for supporting women in the N.F.L.But Arians proved that talent matters more than principle.Sadly, that’s too often the bottom line for male stars in major sports. If you are accused of abusing or harassing women and are easy to replace, your job is probably gone. It doesn’t take a conviction, trial or arrest. (See Jared Porter, the former New York Mets general manager who was fired after accusations that he had repeatedly sent inappropriate texts to a female reporter.)If you are a star, well, your entitlement is virtually unlimited.Brown signed with the Buccaneers just after completing an eight-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The reason for that penalty? He had pleaded no contest to burglary and assault charges after a dispute with a truck driver.He had every opportunity to express remorse for that incident this past week. He did not. So again, let’s listen instead to women, to people who won’t be in front of a huge global audience this weekend.Mindy Murphy runs The Spring of Tampa Bay, the largest shelter serving domestic violence survivors in Hillsborough County, home to the Buccaneers.When the N.F.L. tried to change its culture a few years ago, after Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was caught striking his fiancée, Murphy helped conduct training with the Buccaneers on abuse.Now she feels disillusioned.Seeing Brown chase a Super Bowl ring is a “disservice to what survivors have experienced,” she said. “When a team in the N.F.L. says, ‘We are going to hire him, and he deserves a second chance,’ or they say, ‘We don’t know for sure what’s happened, because it happened behind closed doors,’ they reinforce the idea that it’s not a good idea to speak up.”Remember that while watching the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl, and also remember Brown’s past.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More