Arguably the greatest quarterback of all time Tom Brady turned 40 this past week and throughout his career he has had amazing performances and comebacks.
What better to celebrate this “milestone” than with Prime Time’s 10 best Brady moments.
10. Brady ties playoff game touchdown record in the middle of “Tebowmania”
2011 was an interesting year for football. Tim Tebow came in and led the Denver Broncos into the playoffs with six total comebacks during the season and postseason becoming a sensation to football fans and just regular people everywhere. But Tebow’s star faded as Brady tied the playoff game touchdown record (six) in a 45-10 trampling that sent Brady and the Patriots to another AFC Championship game.
9. That time Brady juked Brian Urlacher
Yes, this actually happened. The moment was so shocking that the fans in the stands gave an absolutely Earth shattering ovation to the quarterback. The broadcast team of Gil Santos and Gino Cappaletti were so shocked by the play, they screamed into their mics when the play concluded and replayed it over and over again during and after the game.
The fact that the one of the NFL’s slowest players was able to fake out arguably the best linebacker in the NFL at the time, makes this play a classic and one of the quarterback’s best moments.
8. Brady’s first comeback victory
The Week No. 5 match up against the then San Diego Chargers was the official birth of “the comeback kid” as Brady led the Patriots back from a 10-point deficit in his first of many come from behind victories in his career. Throwing for 364 yards and two touchdown passes, this was the day the world was introduced to Mr.Tom Brady.
7. 2001 AFC Divisional playoff matchup; Brady’s scramble and spike against the Raiders
In a game where nothing was going right for the Patriots, Tom Brady drove his team down the field and capped off a luck filled drive with a six yard rush into the end zone with a dive and a thunderous spike that undoubtedly changed the momentum of the game.
6. Redemption; Brady to Branch against the Steelers in the 2004 AFC Championship Game
Photo Credits: Patriots.comGlued to his bed with a 103 degree temperature just the night before, a sick Brady came into the game with the goal of avenging a 34-20 loss that ended the longest winning streak in NFL history (21). Brady immediately got to work finding one of his all time favorite targets Deion Branch on a 60 yard touchdown pass that essentially put the game out of reach before it even started.
5. Brady rallies the Patriots back from a 14-point deficit against the Ravens (Twice)
In a playoff game the pressure is almost insurmountable and it’s easy to buckle under the pressure of trying to rally back into the game. Brady commandeered the team to a 14 point comeback not once but twice against the rival Ravens in a game that will forever live in Patriot infamy.
4. Touchdown pass No. 50
Another comeback that had history behind it, Tom Brady’s final touchdown pass of the 2007 regular season sealed the first ever 16 game undefeated season as well as the record for most touchdown passes thrown in a season. The 40+ yard throw was as perfect as it can possibly get hitting the speedy Randy Moss in stride as Brady fist pumped his way into the record books.
The record would later be broken by its previous holder Peyton Manning in 2013 with 55 touchdown passes.
3. Super Bowl XLIX 10-point rally
The Seattle Seahawks had a historically good defense in 2014 and with it being hard enough to score on this team at all, Brady rallied the Patriots back from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to win the franchise its fourth Super Bowl.
2. Super LI 25-point rally
Down 25 points with millions of people watching one of the biggest spectacles in American sports, Brady led an all out aerial assault that started at the end of the third quarter with his team down 28-3 against the Atlanta Falcons.
When the smoke cleared, the Patriots took the Falcons to the very first overtime in Super Bowl history and executing the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history.
Talk about a defining moment.
1. Super Bowl XXXVI Final Drive
Nobody on the planet expected the Patriots to put up a fight against the then St. Louis “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams. With less than a minute and a half to go, experts urged and recommended that the 24-year-old quarterback run the clock out and not take any chances against the best team in football.
However, Brady dropped back to pass on the first play from scrimmage and took command of what was now his team to get them into field goal range to defeat the 14 point favored Rams in what is still one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
It can be heavily debated which one should be No.1. The Super Bowl LI comeback or the Super Bowl XXXVI final drive? But, because of the shock factor and also the fact that nobody knew exactly how good Brady was, it still makes his game winning drive against the Rams “unequivocally the sweetest.”
