If you know anything about what makes Tom Brady tick, you know how consumed he was with getting championship No. 4. It has been an obsession since 2005, so winning that fourth Super Bowl in Arizona two weeks ago was a huge check on the bucket list.

While the Patriots quarterback reveled in what the victory meant for the team, it also got him on even footing with Joe Montana for most championships by a quarterback, and largely cemented his legacy as one of the NFL’s all-time greats, if not the greatest.

So does that mean the pressure’s off No. 12 going forward? After securing the magic No. 4, can he just relax as if playing with house money heading into his 16th season? Might he even be better in 2015 with the weight and burden of that mission now lifted off his shoulders?

Taking age out of the equation, it’s an interesting premise to ponder.

For Brady, it’s always been about the next one. And going after No. 5 with the all-important fourth one secure, his mind will be freer. He won’t be flashing back to Super Bowls losses to the Giants, and a slew of less than successful postseasons. Without the urgency to make plays to reach the elusive fourth title, it might make Brady less apt to make the kind of uncharacteristic mistakes he made this past season, throwing bad interceptions before halftimes and/or in the red zone.

NFL analyst and former Patriots fullback Heath Evans, who knows Brady pretty well, believes the opposite to be true. He believes his friend might be even more driven next season. That’s just who he is.

Pressure? Brady, who’ll be 38 next season, loves the challenges that don’t seem possible for him to achieve.

“His favorite ring has always been the next one,” Evans told the Herald Friday. “When Tommy is still playing, he’s going to chase success like no one else has ever done before. Obviously, you group him with Bill (Belichick), who never relaxes, and these guys aren’t taking their foot off the gas. It’s what’s always made them great. It’s what’s going to keep them great. And I don’t think Tommy has it in him. It’s the pursuit of what’s next that’s always made him great.”

Five Lombardi Trophies would certainly end any debate about the greatest of all time. And, as we’ve seen, Brady tends to perform best when the goals are the toughest, and the doubters are in full throat.

In 2014, the motivation chips started stacking up on his shoulder early on. In April, the Patriots drafted Jimmy Garoppolo, his potential replacement, in the second round of the draft.

It’s one thing to draft a quarterback to groom in the latter rounds, it’s another thing entirely when you draft one with a valuable early pick. In other words, message sent.

In June, Pro Football Focus writer Sam Monson set off a firestorm by theorizing that Brady was no longer an elite quarterback. Monson didn’t even have him rated in the top five in the league.

In Monson’s view, Brady was on a major decline. The debate that ensued about Brady’s game raged for weeks.

It picked up again with the Pats’ Week 4 pummelling at the hands of the Chiefs, Brady ultimately being yanked in that game.

Add in trade talk, more discussion about him being washed up, and, lo and behold, Brady had one of his best years, culminating in a Super Bowl performance against the Seahawks most quarterbacks can only dream about. His two fourth-quarter drives in a record-setting comeback were insane.

SiriusXM NFL host Jim Miller, a former Patriots backup quarterback, told the Herald Friday that it went beyond the record stats for Brady.

“Numbers don’t equate good quarterbacking,” he said. “That’s not what it is. Quarterbacking is so much more involved than that. It’s making the right situational decisions, it’s attacking the right guys on certain downs and distances. It was all on display in the Super Bowl. Tom Brady dissected the No. 1 defense in the NFL. He trashed them in the fourth quarter. He trashed them. There’s no other way to put it.”

Beyond the “Drive for Five,” there will be other motivators for ultra-competitive Brady. Broncos legend John Elway still stands as the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl at age 38.

Said Evans: “Here’s what I know, if Elway was older than Tom when they won on Feb. 1, Tom is going to want another one, just to say he was the oldest. He always finds the outside stimulus or whatever to fuel him. . . . People call it a chip on his shoulder, I don’t even think it’s that. I just think he knows what he’s capable of, and what he’s capable of is hoisting Lombardi (Trophy) every year. And I just don’t think he’s satisfied with anything else.”

Brady did get No. 4, and silenced a bunch of doubters and critics along the ride. Bottom line: He’ll be just as consumed to snag No. 5.

Allen gets his kicks

Patriots punter Ryan Allen set a Super Bowl record with his 64-yard punt in the third quarter two weeks ago. He had another punt, a key 49-yarder, that pinned the Seahawks deep in their end.

Reached last week out on the West Coast, Allen said he knew he had a great kick the minute the record-setter left his foot.

“When you do everything right, it almost feels like you don’t even hit the ball,” said Allen, a former Oregon State star. “A golfer will probably tell you the same thing if he gets a nice fluid swing. The ball just jumps off the club. This one just jumped off my foot. When I kicked it, I could tell I got a pretty good piece on it.”

Allen was funny describing the scene in the final seconds when Malcolm Butler picked off Russell Wilson at the goal line to give the Pats the win.

As the holder for Stephen Gostkowski, he was prepping for a possible game-tying field goal, taking sideline snaps from Danny Aiken.

“It was crazy. Once (Butler) caught it, the place erupted,” Allen said. “But we were preparing for a kick, so you couldn’t tell if that (cheering) was for us, or them for a second or two. We jumped off the ground and looked up. But then you could tell the players and staff were getting excited. It was insane. It’s putting a smile on my face just talking about it.”

You could tell the smile stayed as Allen talked about the parade. He couldn’t believe how many people showed up to salute the Patriots and their championship.

“Driving up on the bus, on the radio, they were talking about whether people were going to come out because there was so much snow . . . and an hour-and-a-half before, there weren’t very many people outside,” Allen said. “So we weren’t sure what the turnout was going to be. But what an experience. Just being there, and seeing how many people were outside, and inside the buildings, and on top of the roofs. It was pretty surreal.”

Rex’ choose control

Leave it to Rex Ryan to make some big news in wake of the Patriots coronation. Bringing controversial guard Richie Incognito to Buffalo has a few layers, and then some.

During the Jan. 14 press conference introducing him as head coach of the Bills, Ryan talked about “building a bully.” So then he goes out and inks one of the worst kind.

Incognito, who infamously bullied then-teammate Jonathan Martin during their 2013 season in Miami, is being given a reprieve by Ryan, when many thought his career might be over.

So why did Ryan really go out on a limb to sign an average offensive lineman with this kind of baggage?

To show he could. Ryan didn’t have this kind of say over picking the groceries with the Jets. Apparently, the Bills are giving him some latitude. So he’s going to use it and what better way to showcase his influence than with a controversial player.

“I’m about the biggest anti-bullying guy there is, especially off the field and in the community,” Ryan told WGR-AM radio. “I want the toughest, physical football team on the field, and gentlemen off the field.”