On the latest episode of The Never Weres Podcast, Tim and I discussed our top three favorite Tom Brady moments. I kept mine pretty broad and Tim had a ridiculous no. 3. So I thought more about it and decided I wanted to make a list of my favorite moments, getting more specific than my list which you can listen to here:
So here are a lifelong Patriots fan’s top 12 (obviously) Tom Brady moments. Two quick notes, I noticed that this same idea has been done in various ways, Top 10’s, Top 22’s, and of course Top 12’s but those weren’t exactly right. The other note is there will be absolutely no Buccaneers moments on this list. I don’t understand people that bought Bucs gear and more or less ignored the Patriots the last two years. Anyway here is the list.
12. 2017 AFC Championship comeback over Jaguars
This game was way closer than expected. The Jacksonville defense was amazing that year. Calais Campbell, Telvin Smith, A.J. Bouye, and Jalen Ramsey all made the All-Pro led the Jaguars to a 10-6 record and the best defense in the league. After they upset Pittsburgh in the Divisional Round, they were set to do the same thing to the Patriots. With Jacksonville up 20-10 in the 4th quarter, Brady went to work. Brady led two touchdown drives in the 4th quarter finally taking the lead with 2:48 left in the game. With a little help from Stephon Gilmore, the Patriots were off to their 7th Super Bowl appearance with Brady.
11. Pass to Gronk to set up the game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl LIII
Super Bowl LIII was a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI between the Patriots and the Rams. Fans lamented this game as being boring. A game dominated by defenses as Bill Belichick and Rams’ defensive coordinator Wade Phillips kept the offenses off-balance. But in the 4th quarter with a chance to take the lead Brady and Gronk had one last dance together as Patriots. There is a cool story about this that on the fly the Patriots called a variation of the same play three straight times. The cap of those three plays was one of the most aesthetically pleasing passes of the Brady/Gronk partnership. Sony Michele scored on the next play and ring #6 was clinched. Just watch this angle:
10. 24-0 Comeback against Manning and the Broncos
The only regular-season game on the list but the Broncos were running away with the league in 2013. Peyton Manning threw for 55 touchdowns and won his 5th MVP. But on this Sunday Night, the Belichick and Brady magic was too much for even a historic Manning season to handle. The night was freezing with gusting winds. The Broncos took a 24-0 lead going into halftime. This is where the genius of Bill Belichick came into play. He deferred the ball in the second half to instead have the benefit of a favorable wind. Dealing with the elements the Broncos stalled and Brady put on an absolute show. 344 yards, 3 TDs, and the offense put up 31 points all in the 2nd half. This set up an overtime win which they won on a wind-aided field goal.
9. The Tuck Rule Game
This was the beginning of it all. The 2001 season was so unexpected. Brady took over for Bledsoe. Belichick stayed with Brady when Bledsoe was healthy. This set up one of the most famous or infamous moments in NFL history. Facing the Raiders in the final game at Foxborough Stadium in a blizzard Brady had his first bit of postseason magic. After scrambling for a touchdown – followed by a hall of fame-worthy spike- the Patriots’ magical season looked over when Brady was hit by Charles Woodson, Brady’s college teammate, and seemed to have fumbled with Oakland recovering. Turns out there was a ridiculous rule that benefitted New England. Brady got a second life and set up Adam Vinatieri for the first of two impossible kicks that would send the Patriots to the AFC Championship and eventually the Super Bowl. (More on that to come)
8. 2018 AFC Championship duel with Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes became the sexy new QB on the block in 2018. For a reason, he is quite good. But to get to the Super Bowl they had to beat Tom Brady and the Patriots. This one was wild. The Patriots took the lead 24-21 with 3:32 left. Mahomes returns serve and the Chiefs take the lead 28-24 with 2:03 left. Brady, with some serious help from Dee Ford, engineers a drive to take the lead back with only 39 seconds left. Thank God, it’s over…nope. Mahomes casually marches down the field to get into field goal position and the Chiefs send the game to overtime. The Patriots got the ball first and they would not give the Chiefs a chance. Brady converted two third and longs to Julien Edelman, a third-and-ten to Gronk and Rex Burkhead capped the drive off with a touchdown run sending Brady to his 9th Super Bowl.
7. 2015 Divisional Round vs. Ravens
The Patriots came back from two 14-point deficits in this game. One of the craziest, heart-stopping games in the Belichick and Brady era. The Ravens, along with the Giants, were probably the two teams that always gave the Patriots trouble and definitely didn’t seem to ever get intimidated by playing New England. Baltimore jumped out and scored 14 points in the first quarter. The Patriots responded with a Brady touchdown run and a touchdown pass to Danny Amendola. Undeterred the Ravens scored back-to-back touchdowns again. This caused the Patriots to go into their bag of tricks. The first thing they did was deploy an unorthodox alignment with an ineligible lineman split wide and a tight end eligible but looking like a lineman. The Ravens left the tight end uncovered and it led to a big gain for the Patriots. This led to a Gronk touchdown. But, the moment of the game was the double pass. The loudest Gillette Stadium has ever been. Brady threw a screen to Edelman, who played QB at Kent State if you hadn’t heard, who hit Danny Amendola for a touchdown. Pandemonium. New England was on fire. The comeback was capped by Brady throwing one of his most beautiful passes to Brandon Lafell, dropping it right in his breadbasket. On to the AFC Championship.
6. 335 Passes without an interception
A forgotten season for Tom Brady was his second MVP season in 2010. The Patriots finished 14-2, Brady had 36 TDs and only 4 interceptions. Brady ended his season with a streak of 335 passes without throwing an interception. The streak ended in the heartbreaking Divisional Round loss to the Jets. Although the season ended too soon this team was a buzzsaw. They scored 30+ points in 11 of their 16 games including a 45-3 drubbing of Rex Ryan and the Jets on Monday Night Football. A forgotten season but one of the best offenses the league has ever seen.
5. The Hero Again
I ripped this title off from Sports Illustrated. This was the cover of SI after the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVIII. Much like their first title. The Patriots were in control, then the opponent – in this case, the Carolina Panthers – stages a comeback giving Brady the ball with a chance to win the Super Bowl. Well, we know what happens. John Kasey kicks the ball out of bounds and Tom Brady gets to start at his own 40-yard line to get into field goal position. After getting across the 50, Troy Brown was called for offensive pass interference giving the Patriots a first-and-twenty. Brady went right back to Brown. Then hits Daniel Graham for a short gain. Facing a third-and-three, Brady hit eventual Super Bowl MVP Deon Branch for 17 yards setting up Vinatieri to kick another game-winning field goal.
4. The 4th Quarter of Super Bowl XLIX
Brady’s fourth-quarter performance in this game was overshadowed by certain coaching decisions and an improbable interception by Malcolm Butler. Against the Legion of Boom defense, Tom Brady had a performance in the final fifteen minutes that would cement a normal player’s legacy as a legend. (It wasn’t even his best work a Super Bowl, it’s coming) Brady was 13-15 (86.7%) 126 yards and 2 TDs. He found Danny Amendola and Julien Edelman for the touchdowns. The same group that defeated Peyton Manning and the Broncos 48-3 in Super Bowl XLVIII.
3. 50 and 23 on the same pass
The 2007 season is the greatest sports disappointment in my life. After the loss in Super Bowl XLII, I heard so many people say I wish they went 11-5 and won the Super Bowl. To me, that wasn’t the point. That season was about 19-0. That season was about the Patriots changing offensive football forever. That season was about the greatest single-season passing pair in the history of the NFL. Randy Moss was catching passes from Tom Brady. This team was must-see TV because you wanted to see how many touchdowns Brady would throw. How many of them would go to Moss and how many catches Wes Welker would have out of the slot. I still can’t get over the Super Bowl loss. But there was a moment in week 17 that was the cherry on top of the whole run. Losing to the Giants, the Patriots offense took the field looking to take the lead and finish off their 16-0 regular season. On second down, Brady missed Moss. I assume they went back into the huddle and said “fuck it, do it again”. They did and Brady hit Moss in stride with a perfectly placed ball for a 65-yard touchdown. Brady had his 50th touchdown pass, breaking Peyton Manning’s record and Moss had his 23rd touchdown reception, breaking Jerry Rice’s record.
2. “You have to play for overtime now”
It is unfair to use this John Madden quote against him but he said that with 1:21 left of Super Bowl XXXVI as Brady came onto the field. Well, 74 seconds later Tom Brady held the ball frozen in one hand after driving into field goal range setting up the impossible. The Patriots were 14-point underdogs. They were about to beat the greatest show on turf. They were going to do it with a guy that was starting his 17th game ever. The first time I cried because of sports was the Patriots’ loss to the Packers in Super Bowl XXXVI. The second time was when Curtis Martin signed with the Jets. I think the third was the 1999 ALCS and I might have been too old. I didn’t cry when the Patriots won the Super Bowl for the first time. I was almost confused. As the winning kick went through the uprights. I turned around and walked into my kitchen to throw away my plate of pizza pockets I had just eaten. I thought there were two seconds left on the clock. I turned around and the patriots were streaming onto the field and my mom was repeating to my dad “JACK THE PATRIOTS JUST WON THE SUPER BOWL”! This was my favorite Patriots moment for fifteen years. It was somehow topped by the same player at quarterback.
1. 28-3
There is nothing to say. You can sit there and say I had faith the whole time. I knew there was a chance. If you watch football and understand football this game was over. Midway through the third quarter, the Patriots were down 25 points. Then they scored and their kicker missed the extra point. Well, now they need two two-point conversions. But Tom Brady is a different person in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. Then another scoring drive but just a field goal. They need a three-and-out. Donta Hightower strip-sack. Holy Shit! Five plays later Brady to Amendola. They call the old Kevin Faulk direct snap up the middle, one conversion down. Julio Jones rips our hearts out. A perfect toe-tap catch and the hope is shattered. No wait…they are going backward. They have to punt! Shit, they downed it at the nine. Brady has to go ninety-one yards. But, it’s Tom Brady. Ten plays, one unfathomable catch from Edelman. Brady handoff to James White, two-point game. Two-point attempt, wide receiver screen to Amendola. It’s good. Out-of-body experience. This doesn’t happen. This game was over. The Patriots win the coin toss and you are not stopping Brady. He is a different level of human. His fourth quarter and overtime stats were 21-26 (80.8%), 246 yards 1 TDs.
There were so many moments left off this list. I only had moments from five of his six Super Bowl wins. There were dozens of regular-season moments. I could have a list of just his games against Manning. I could have a list of my twelve favorite Brady and Moss moments. When he retired and his post didn’t mention anyone from New England just look at the list above he did enough.
(Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
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