National Football League

Is Tom Brady's Super Bowl path easier this time around?

Updated Jan. 18, 2023 10:59 a.m. ET

All eyes are on Tom Brady as the NFL postseason gets underway to see if the GOAT can repeat as a Super Bowl champion.

Brady and the NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers (13-4) are set to take on the Philadelphia Eagles (9-8) in the wild-card round Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX). The winner will battle the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round the following weekend for a spot in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 30 (6:40 p.m. ET, FOX).

The Eagles will get another crack at a Buccaneers team that beat them 28-22 back in Week 6. After that loss, Philadelphia went 7-4 over its final 11 games to earn a playoff berth, while Tampa Bay is on a hot streak, having won seven of its last eight games on its way to clinching the No. 2 seed.

There's a lot of football left to play this postseason, and the regular season was another eventful one for the 44-year-old QB after leading the Buccaneers a Super Bowl victory during his first season in Tampa.

This year, Brady is heading into the postseason with a different challenge — a slew of injured teammates.

Heading into Super Wild Card Weekend, the Bucs are without wideouts Antonio Brown (released) and Chris Godwin (torn ACL) and likely without running back Ronald Jones (ankle). It is still up in the air whether Leonard Fournette (hamstring) and Giovani Bernard (hip), both of whom spent the last few weeks on the Bucs' injured reserve list, will take the field Sunday.

Star tight end Rob Gronkowski has been in and out recently while he deals with four cracked ribs and a punctured lung suffered against his former team, the New England Patriots, earlier this season. What's more, receivers Mike Evans (hamstring) and Breshad Perriman (hip) aren't fully healthy either, logging limited practices this week.

That said, the question remains: Was last year tougher for Brady to win a Super Bowl than this year could be?

On Thursday's "Undisputed," Shannon Sharpe revealed why he believes, without a doubt, that last year was a tougher situation for Brady to overcome than what he faces this time around.

"If I'm not mistaken, [the Buccaneers] brought everyone back. The reason it's so hard to repeat is a lot of times some of your best players' contracts are up, and they go to greener pastures," Sharpe said. "Skip Bayless told me ‘Tom Brady is the MVP,' and he said … 'It's a travesty if he doesn't win.' So how — if you're [the] two-seed this year, you're the [presumed] MVP, and you're gonna have at least two games at home if you win — is it a more difficult role this year than it was last year when you had to … take the show on the road all three weeks?

"No. It's not even close."

Sharpe's co-host Bayless, on the other hand, broke down why this year is "much more difficult" for Brady, pointing to the Buccaneers' long list of injured stars on both sides of the ball, particularly Godwin.

"If Tom Brady managed to pull this off this year, it would be much more special than even last year," Bayless said. "Let's look at this year's regular-season stats, shall we? Who led the Buccaneers in targets this year? Chris Godwin did, and that was 13 more than Mike Evans. Chris Godwin is gone. Who led this team in catches this year? Twenty-four more than Mike Evans, Chris Godwin did. … Who led in yards receiving for the Buccaneers this regular season? It was Chris Godwin with 1,103, which was 68 more yards than Mike Evans.

"Tom Brady has lost his primary threat at receiver. The guy that … is going to be a big hole in the arsenal because he is a primary-possession type receiver … and he is no longer there," Bayless added. "You don't think this is a tougher road with no Chris Godwin and no AB? And a defense that has fallen to — Pro Football Focus ranked them 10th overall. Last year they took off, they were the best defense. … This is a much tougher road than it was a year ago."

Will Brady be able to pull off the win Sunday and keep Tampa Bay's Super Bowl dreams alive?

Only time will tell, and in the meantime, the Bucs are focusing on bringing the heat with the players they have ready to roll this weekend.