Brady Is Masterful Once Again

Did you finally see it?

His face was hidden in a beard, his voice was shrouded in smoke, his receivers were named Doe, his statistics were no fantasy, but did you finally see it?

Watching Tom Brady icily dissect the Pittsburgh Steelers here Sunday, you were watching more than Tom Brady.

You were watching Joe Montana without the catch, Terry Bradshaw without the cackle, Troy Aikman without the cool.

You were watching a man who could end up as the greatest quarterback of his generation -- Favres and Mannings included -- lead his team to a Super Bowl it will probably win, giving him three titles in four years.

You were watching a guy improve his postseason record to 8-0, the second-best quarterback playoff run in football history behind only a guy named Starr.

If you were watching him all.

You weren’t, were you?

Who does?

The Patriots, even after a dominating 41-27 AFC championship victory over the best defense in football, play a faceless game that results in victories, not legacies.

Brady’s greatest asset on the field is his biggest hindrance in the marketplace.

He blends in.

If the Patriots were really patriots, he’d be the guy playing the drum.

If New England were really New England, he’d be Vermont.

“He’s an offensive lineman at heart,” said guard Joe Andruzzi. “He doesn’t project himself as being better than anybody else.”

Brady stuns the Steelers with a 50-yards-in-the-air heave that gives the Patriots their first touchdown, and everybody is talking about Deion Branch’s speed.

He stuns them again with another first-down bomb, across the middle for 45 yards to set up their second touchdown, and everybody is talking about Branch’s hands.

He sets up their third touchdown with an 18-yard pass in traffic, and everybody wants to compliment David Givens’ toughness.

Including, um, Brady.

“All those guys, they make it pretty easy for me,” he said

Fourteen completions, 207 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions while throwing with a bare hand in 11-degree weather ... and it’s easy?

“You just kind of put the pants on and go there and do your best,” he said.

And then, apparently, act as if you do it every day, and act as if you couldn’t do it alone.

After each big pass Brady doesn’t wildly wag his finger the way Brett Favre does, or pump his fist the way Peyton Manning does, he simply disappears into the Patriot mob.

The same way he did after Sunday’s game, when he slipped so quietly into the postgame interview session that officials didn’t know he was there.

He walked to the side of the room pulling his suitcase, found an empty stool among the media horde, and sat down.

Three Patriot defensive backs sat at the front table answering questions before he was finally noticed and hastily summoned to the front.

You think Dan Marino ever waited for anyone on his defense?

“There’s a bunch of guys who are 8-0 in this locker room right now,” he said of his playoff record, adding, “This is something that is not just me, it’s a group of guys who have a hand in this.”

But who else, with no interceptions again Sunday, has the lowest interception ratio in postseason history, only three picks in 271 attempts.

On Sunday, Ben Roethlisberger had three interceptions in three hours.

Yeah, yeah, you were watching him.

Roethlisberger threw for more yards, ran for more yards, and connected on the same number of touchdown passes (two) as Brady.

Roethlisberger will be taken higher in future fantasy league drafts, hired by more advertising agencies, and sell more jerseys.

Yet by the end of their showdown, Brady had a quarterback rating (130.5) that was more than 50 points higher than Roethlisberger’s.

Yeah, he cleaned Big Ben’s clock.

“The thing I’ve learned, you can’t make mistakes in these games, you just can’t, or you’re going to lose,” Brady said.

Remember a week ago? When it was Peyton Manning receiving all the hype before Brady led the Patriots to a blowout of the Indianapolis Colts?

Yeah, he rang up the guy with the credit card commercial, with a passer rating edge of more than 20 points.

Yet whom do you think will be on the cover of next season’s preseason football magazines?

“Dang, I sure hope people appreciate Brady,” said Adam Vinatieri, one of the only kickers in the league who gets as much publicity as his quarterback. “What more can you say? The guy has been in the playoffs eight times and never lost?”

Yeah, well, what does it say about a man’s reputation when he could soon become perhaps the first quarterback with more Super Bowl victories (three) than Pro Bowl berths (two)?

“I think I’ve had more attention than anybody in the league in the last three years,” Brady said. “I’m definitely not feeling slighted.”

OK, well, then just wait a couple of weeks, when you will again be the second quarterback in the Super Bowl against Philadelphia’s celebrated Donovan McNabb.

McNabb has the soup commercial, but here’s guessing it will be Brady who will be the one burning the roofs of mouths.

“You talk about McNabb, you should, because he’s been the best player on Philly’s team for a long time,” Brady said.

Yes, he is. But no, he hasn’t won a Super Bowl yet, and isn’t it still about winning?

Amid all the end-zone dances and pre-game strip teases this season, isn’t there still room for winning?

Brady trusts that there is, quietly leaving the field Sunday clutching the game ball.

“I’m trying to keep a nice trophy case,” he said, although, if there is any fairness in this game, Canton is watching, and one day he’ll probably have to share those too.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.