Maybe it’s just me, but I have trouble differentiating between Tom Brady and Matt Damon.

No, really.

(And the photo, above, in which Damon is wearing Brady’s uniform, makes things worse.)

To me, they are pretty much the same guy. If asked, “Who starred in all those Bourne Identity movies, I might well pause and say, “Tom Brady?”

Which I know makes no sense on several levels, beginning with “one is a 6-foot-4 NFL quarterback and the other is a 5-foot-9 actor”.

Have to acknowledge this: By a certain age you have trouble quickly identifying just about everyone. Well, and this thing where just about everyone you know reminds you of someone else because by the time you are in your 60s you have seen a lot of people and a lot of them really do look like someone else you’ve seen.

Follow me here. See if this makes any sense at all.

–Both Damon and Brady are Boston guys. The former was born and raised there, the latter moved there in 2000 when he was drafted by the New England Patriots. If I’m watching either guy, I’m thinking “Boston.”

–They have similar coloring; each is pale and sorta blond and WASP-y. They certainly could be cousins … aside from the height thing.

–Their names are not dissimilar. One-syllable given name, two-syllable family name, emphasis on the the first syllable of the family name.

–They are not far apart in age: Brady is 39, Damon is 46. Perhaps more significant, they both became national figures in the same four-year period — Damon in 1997 for Good Will Hunting, Brady in 2001 when he became the Patriots’ starter, leading them to a championship.

–Both are really good at what they do. Brady has led the Patriots to five championships and seven Super Bowls. Damon has an Oscar and has been nominated for three others.

–Both make a lot of money. Brady in 2017 will get approximately $20.5 million for the second half of a two-year, $41 million contract. Damon earned somewhere between $15 million and $25 million last year for The Martian, according to IMDB, and he did other work, too.

–Both appear to be political, albeit on opposite ends of the spectrum. Damon is reliably left-of-center; Brady had a “Make America Great Again” cap in his locker.

It seems to come down to a confluence of things — Boston, age, success, money, maybe ethnicity and type of names. Both are A-list celebrities, and both have been in the public eye for about two decades.

It’s those shared qualities/experiences that lead me to confuse one with the other. More than their looks.

Those are my excuses, anyway, for blundering into The Martian tonight … and seeing the guy in a space helmet but thinking of the guy in the football helmet.