Terry Bradshaw confirms he once used 'Thomas Brady' alias

As the story goes, Pittsburgh Steelers legend, four-time Super Bowl champion quarterback, and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Terry Bradshaw checked into a Louisiana hospital on March 3, 1983, to undergo elbow surgery. Like many well-known figures would do in such a scenario, Bradshaw used an alias to keep the procedure a secret. 

The name he chose: Thomas Brady. The original TB12 unknowingly linked himself with the current and, to some, only NFL TB12. 

Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Bradshaw had never before publicly confirmed he used the Brady name. That's no longer the case thanks to Ed Bouchette of The Athletic. 

"Tom Brady! How lucky am I?" Bradshaw told The Athletic. "There’s no question he and I are linked at the hip — same initials, same number. I had hair back then. I was a sex symbol. I had it all going then." 

Brady has achieved feats never approached by most NFL players and holds numerous records, most notably the marks for Super Bowl championships (seven) and Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards (five). 

Bradshaw had an answer for that. 

"Oh my goodness. Let me tell you this, and you’re only going to get this from the original TB, all right? I went 4-0 in the Super Bowl. All right, first one. The second one to do it was the greatest of all time, Joe Montana. All right? He tied my record, never broke it," Bradshaw explained. 

"Then comes Tom Brady. I’m 4-0, Joe’s 4-0. Brady wins his seventh. Win eight, win nine, who cares? Now you take seven victories but you subtract his three losses and you come up with four. Four, four, four. That’s all I got to say and I got to go." 

We've got bad news for Bradshaw. While Brady turns 44 in August and is currently dealing with an ailing knee, he's already preparing for the 2021 season less than a month after guiding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their Super Bowl LV triumph.