Tom Brady is back!

If the past two weeks in the National Football League haven’t been wild enough, Brady’s revelation that he is coming back for a 23rd season certainly put it over the top.

Just 40 days after announcing his NFL retirement on Feb. 1, Brady took to social media on Sunday evening to reveal that he is coming back to take care of “unfinished business”. 

Brady, who will turn 45 in August, will become the oldest starting quarterback in NFL history when he takes the field for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1.

Brady’s announcement forced oddsmakers that were already busy adjusting March Madness futures and tournament lines to pivot quickly and make some significant adjustments to their NFL futures odds.

Based on the movement that we saw, it’s obvious that no one is overlooking the Buccaneers as a legitimate contender now that we know Brady is running it back with them.

Here’s the TSN EDGE Morning Coffee for Monday, March 14, 2022.

Brady announces return to Buccaneers

The NFL futures market certainly didn’t give us much, if any, indication that Brady considered a return to Tampa Bay following his retirement.

The Buccaneers, which opened at +2200 to win Super Bowl 57, climbed as high as +2800 to win it all before Sunday’s breaking news.

Following the announcement, Tampa Bay went from the 13th choice on the Super Bowl futures menu to the second choice at +750.

Only the Buffalo Bills (+700) have shorter odds to win it.

The Buccaneers also went from the fifth choice to win the NFC Championship at +1500 to a co-favourite along with the Green Bay Packers at +350.

Even without Brady, Tampa Bay was already the favourite to win the NFC South.

However, there was a significant adjustment in that market as well, as the Buccaneers went from +145 to -220 to win the NFC South, which, all things considered, might still be a decent price to bet on Brady.

Meanwhile, the soon-to-be 45-year-old was installed as the fourth choice to win NFL regular season MVP at +850.

Josh Allen (+600), Patrick Mahomes (+600) and Aaron Rodgers (+800) have shorter odds to win that award.

Last week, when Rodgers announced his return to the Green Bay Packers and Russell Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos, I wrote about their experience as two of only six active Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks.

All six of those quarterbacks – Rodgers, Wilson, Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Flacco and Nick Foles – have exactly one Super Bowl ring.

Brady has one more than all of them combined.

Now, Brady is back for another run, and he will try to turn back the clock again as he chases an eighth Super Bowl ring with the Buccaneers.

Gushue’s Wild Card One team wins the Brier

Brad Gushue’s short-handed Wild Card One team overcame the loss of vice Mark Nichols to win the Brier on Sunday.

Gushue’s team, which was the pre-tournament favourite at +135 but closed as a +140 underdog for the final after losing a key piece in Nichols, beat Kevin Koe’s Alberta side 9-8 to win the national men’s curling championship.

With the win, Gushue matched Koe, Kevin Martin, Randy Ferbey and Ernie Richardson for the most career Brier titles with four.

For what it’s worth, the TSN EDGE and TSN CURLING audience were all over the Wild Card One team at +140.

Some 68.8 per cent of the voters that weighed in our TSN EDGE poll picked Gushue’s side to win the championship.

March Madness bracket revealed

With the Brady announcement coming shortly after the bracket was revealed, the March Madness didn’t get the bump it traditionally receives as the lead story in the sports world.

Gonzaga is the No. 1 overall seed and the betting favourite to win the national championship.

Despite landing in a tough West Region that will also feature Duke, Texas Tech, Arkansas, UCONN and Michigan State, the Zags’ odds shortened from +380 to +300 after the bracket was released.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, the pre-tournament favourite has won just seven of the previous 16 tournaments. 

Arizona, Baylor, and Kansas join Gonzaga as the other No. 1 seeds.

The Bears are the only team in that group that is not the favourite to win its region as the No. 1 seed.

While Arizona is the betting favourite to make it out of the South Region and Kansas is the favourite to make it out of the Midwest, No. 2 Kentucky is the favourite to win the East Region.

Make sure you check back in at TSN EDGE throughout the week for everything you need to get ready for the Madness.

Jets close in on wild-card spot

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the overtime winner as the Winnipeg Jets (+110 ML) beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 on Sunday night.

Winnipeg, which has won three of its past four, climbed within four points of the Vegas Golden Knights for the final Western Conference wild-card spot with one game in hand.

Heading into last night’s game in St. Louis, the Jets were +1200 to make the playoffs.

As of this morning, Winnipeg is now +750 to make it in.

If the Jets are going to make the postseason, they are going to need to take care of business in a couple of key matchups over the next nine days.

Winnipeg will host the Golden Knights in a crucial showdown on Tuesday.

Seven days later, the Jets will host Vegas again in their final head-to-head match-up of the season.

Matthews scores; Maple Leafs fall to Sabres

Auston Matthews’ 45th goal of the season wasn’t enough to help the Toronto Maple Leafs earn two points against the Buffalo Sabres in the Heritage Classic on Sunday.

Vinnie Hinostroza and Peyton Krebs each scored twice as the Sabres (+245 ML) rallied from down 2-1 with four unanswered goals in a 5-2 victory.

The Maple Leafs fell to 1-5 straight up in their past six games as a money line favourite of -310 or shorter. 

Meanwhile, the total went over 6.5, as the over is now 16-4-1 in Toronto’s past 21 games.

The Maple Leafs’ opponents have gone over their team total in eight straight games.

Toronto allowed four goals or more in seven of those games.

Meanwhile, Matthews could be facing supplemental discipline after his cross-check to the head of Sabres’ defenceman Rasmus Dahlin.

Matthews, who is the betting favourite to win the Rocket Richard Trophy and the Hart Memorial Trophy, has never faced supplemental discipline in his NHL career.

The Maple Leafs are still a top-six choice in Stanley Cup futures markets, but after back-to-back losses to Buffalo and the Arizona Coyotes, there’s some obvious concern surrounding the team’s immediate outlook with the NHL trade deadline just one week away.

100-1 NASCAR long shot cashes

Chase Briscoe secured his first-career NASCAR Cup Series win at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday.

Briscoe, who was a 100-to-1 long shot to win the race, held off a couple of drivers on the final restart with three laps left to win the Ruoff Mortgage 500.

Briscoe is the second first-time winner through the first four races of the NASCAR season.

The early youth movement is something to keep an eye on as the Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next week.