'S*x symbol' Terry Bradshaw once joked about viral story about Tom Brady alias

Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady are two of the best quarterbacks of their respective eras. The two have been linked (of sorts) before Brady even stepped on an NFL field. On March 3, 1983, Bradshaw checked into a Louisiana hospital under the name “Thomas Brady” to have surgery done on his right elbow.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer spoke about this during a 2021 interview with The Athletic and the connection to Brady over 30 years later. Bradshaw joked that the three-time NFL MVP's success is thanks to him:

“Tom Brady! How lucky am I? There’s no question he and I are linked at the hip — same initials, same number. I had hair back then. I was a s*x symbol. I had it all going then.”

“Everything Tom Brady has today is because of me, do you know that? Think about it. Every record he owns he had to go through me. Get used to that, Tom Brady.”

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The injury eventually cost Terry Bradshaw his NFL career although his doctor asserted the injury was “minor.” Bradshaw's doctor, William Burdick explained that the then-Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback's injury was similar to having a tennis elbow.

Classic tennis elbow is found on the exterior of the elbow. Burdick added that Bradshaw's ailment was on the inside and that he should do fine.

Yet Bradshaw was far from fine. He threw passes at the Steelers minicamp in May of 1983, re-injuring the elbow. This went against Burdick's advice to wait until later in the summer to begin throwing again. The Steelers quarterback would play in just one game in the 1983 season, which was his final season in the league.

How many Super Bowls do Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady have?

Bradshaw was the first quarterback in NFL history to win four Super Bowls, all coming in the 1970s. He was the Super Bowl MVP twice. In his first four seasons in the league, Tom Brady won three Lombardi Trophies. Brady would win his fourth in the 2014 season with the New England Patriots.

He won a total of six in his two decades with the Patriots. Brady won his seventh and final Super Bowl in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 season.