Top 10 Greatest Tom Brady Moments of All Time
#10: Brady Becomes a Starter
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It’s not very often that a quarterback loses the starting position due to injury, the job usually waiting for them when they get back. However, it wasn’t very often that Tom Brady was playing backup, either. In all fairness, Drew Bledsoe was an above average quarterback with the Patriots, but the trajectory of the team changed forever when he was knocked out by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis in just the second game of the 2001 season. Though we didn’t know it at the time, the incoming twenty-four-year-old Tom Brady would take over as starter and never let go. Though the Patriots lost that game, Brady would win eleven of the next fourteen in what would be a historic season, as evidenced by a later entry.
#9: 2018 AFC Championship Game
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With the Patriots traveling to Kansas City for the right to go to the Super Bowl, people were questioning whether New England’s dynasty was coming to an end as another began with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Though they may have been onto something with the latter, Brady showed that he could still compete with the most agile athletes in the league. Both teams wanted this one badly, with a combined thirty-eight points being scored in the fourth quarter alone. Needing overtime, Brady showed why you better pray he doesn’t win the coin toss. Despite being faced with 3rd and long three times, Brady marched his team down the field to set up the game-winning touchdown. Mahomes never even got to have the ball.
#8: 2021 Regular Season
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Tom Brady’s final season was arguably one of his best, leading many to question if he even needed to retire at all. Well, perhaps he just wanted to break the records for most career starts, passing yards, and completions, all of which he did in his twenty-second season. Heck, he even became the first player to notch a whopping 600 career touchdown passes. Though he didn’t go out on top, his final game showed exactly why he was such a force to be reckoned with. The Buccaneers were down twenty-four points, but Brady somehow managed to claw back and tie the game up with just forty-two seconds left. While the Rams eliminated the Bucs on a last-second field goal, Brady still played like a champion.
#7: 2004 AFC Championship Game
If the last entry showed Brady could overcome any deficit, this one shows that Brady could overcome any malady. At this point having won his first seven playoff games, Brady’s streak was put to the test when he had to go to Pittsburgh to face one of the only two teams to beat him earlier that season. What’s more, Brady had dealt with the flu the night before, posting a temperature of 103º F. He certainly didn’t play like someone sick, however, setting the tone early with a sixty-yard touchdown to get the Patriots a ten-point lead. The Pats never looked back, winning by fourteen and sending Brady to his third Super Bowl, which he would also win.
#6: 2007 Regular Season
If Tom Brady had a better year than 2021, it was in 2007. Heck, the whole New England Patriots never had a better year, becoming the first team to go 16-0 in the regular season. Though their year was ultimately overshadowed by their Super Bowl loss to the Giants in a thriller, it can’t take away from all they accomplished beforehand. Brady for starters claimed his first of three MVP awards, as the Pats broke single-season records for touchdowns and points scored. They were so good in fact, that the team only failed to score twenty-five in those sixteen games twice. They’re often called the best team to not win the Super Bowl, and a lot of thanks definitely has to go to Brady.
#5: Super Bowl XLIX
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As good as Tom Brady was all year round, playoff Brady was unlike anything else, as our last five entries will testify. Facing a Seattle Seahawks team and a “Legion of Boom” defense that cruised to a Super Bowl win the year prior, the thirty-seven-year-old Brady once again defied time to show why he was the last quarterback any team wanted to meet. Down by ten points, Brady threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to give his team the lead. Of course, most people remember this game for the goal-line interception that ultimately sealed the Patriots’ victory, but they definitely never would’ve been in a position to win if not for Brady.
#4: Super Bowl LV
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Brady’s only Super Bowl as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Super Bowl LV was also the first time the big game was played at one of the teams’ home stadiums. As much of an advantage as that was for the Bucs, their biggest advantage was having Tom Brady. Despite again facing a Kansas City Chiefs team looking primed to establish a new dynasty after winning the year before, Brady again proved why you couldn’t bet against him. He threw for three touchdowns as the Bucs cruised to a twenty-two point victory. Not only was Brady named Super Bowl MVP a record fifth time, but he also claimed his seventh ring, more Super Bowl victories than any single team. Does that mean the best football team is Tom Brady?
#3: The Tuck Rule Game
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In a game that will live in NFL infamy, Tom Brady still managed to come out on top. In a snowy playoff game against the Oakland Raiders, Brady and the Patriots needed to drive down the field to get a game-tying field goal. Just out of field goal range, Brady had the ball stripped by cornerback Charles Woodson, with a Raiders recovery seemingly ending the game. But due to the now-defunct “tuck rule,” Brady was determined to have started a forward pass before losing possession, thus resulting in an incompletion. Brady of course would cause further controversy by not only setting up the game-tying field goal, but the game-winning one in overtime. You practically needed whole rules in place just to beat this guy.
#2: Super Bowl XXXVI
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Just two games after the infamous tuck rule, Brady appeared in his very first Super Bowl, something we’d get very accustomed to in later years. Brady led the Patriots to a fourteen point lead late in the third quarter, but the Rams would come back, tying it up with only 1:30 left. Legendary commentator John Madden initially suggested the Patriots kill the clock and play for overtime, but even he soon recognized that ninety seconds was way too much time to leave Brady. With no timeouts, Brady marched the team down the field and masterfully set up a game-winning 48-yard field goal. Though Adam Vinatieri deserves credit for hitting it, this is when Brady first showed just how clutch he could be. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. 2000 NFL Draft Tom Brady Was the 199th Pick. How? Lombardi Trophy Toss Perhaps Foolhardy, Brady Showed He Can Throw Anything Shaped Like a Football Marrying Gisele Bündchen One of the Biggest Athletes and Biggest Supermodels Makes for a Serious Power Couple Returning to New England Brady’s Bucs Won a Close One Against His Old Team 2014 AFC Divisional Game The Patriots Erased Two 14-Point Deficits in a Win Over the Ravens
#1: Super Bowl LI
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Forget the almost twenty-four point comeback against the Rams. This time Brady was down a whopping twenty-five points in the Super Bowl, no less. Indeed, the Falcons had put this away, leading 28-3 in the third quarter. Yet somehow Tom Brady was able to string together four point-scoring drives, having to score two consecutive two-point conversions just to tie the game. The fourth quarter had the Falcons playing scared, and for good reason, as the Patriots forced the first ever Super Bowl overtime and got the ball to start it. True to form, Brady led the drive down the field to set up the winning touchdown, completing an epic comeback and cementing his status as an absolute legend.
