Tom Brady marching the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers against his former New England Patriots team and coach Bill Belichick on Sunday Night Football will certainly conjure memories of how the legendary quarterback cemented his GOAT status in Foxborough, Mass. With the game almost upon us, we look back at some of Brady’s greatest accomplishments in New England.
The Super Bowl wins
Brady was already a ringmaster long before grabbing his seventh Super Bowl championship this past February. His six Super Bowl victories with the Patriots solidified his GOAT status by giving him the most Super Bowl wins of all-time.
- It all started in February 2002 at Super Bowl XXXVI, when Brady led the Patriots to the first Super Bowl victory in their franchise’s history via a nip-and-tuck game edging of the then-St. Louis Rams, 20-17.
- February 2004 at Super Bowl XXXVIII had Brady once again leading the Patriots to victory in a close affair — this time a 32-29 win over the Carolina Panthers in Houston. The game was notoriously the scene for the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” triggered by Justin Timberlake during the Halftime Show.
- Back-to-back and three Super Bowl wins in the last four years is what Brady stamped at Super Bowl XXXIX in February 2005 when he led New England to a 24-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
- It’d be a long drought without a Super Bowl win for Brady — 10 years to be exact — until the QB would taste victory on the grandest stage once again via a 28-24 ‘W’ over the Seattle Seahawks in Arizona.
- Talk about greatness, Brady rallying the Patriots from a 28-3 deficit to the Atlanta Falcons to secure the largest comeback in Super Bowl history in February 2017. Another chapter in the greatness of the one and only Tom Brady. Not to mention, a fifth Super Bowl championship.
- One for the thumb and getting to an even plane with another GOAT in Michael Jordan is what Brady did in Super Bowl LIII by leading the Patriots to their sixth championship via a 13-3 edging of the Los Angeles Rams in Atlanta. Brady completed 21 of 35 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown in the win. It also marked Brady’s ninth Super Bowl appearance with the Patriots. Not bad for the sixth round and 199 overall selection in the 2000 NFL Draft.
Four Super Bowl MVPs with the Patriots
It’s one thing to lead a team to the Super Bowl. It’s another to be the game’s best player under the brightest lights of them all. Brady has collected five Super Bowl MVPs — four of which came with the Patriots. Those four Super Bowl MVPs stood as the most all-time, before he rewrote it with a fifth.
- Brady’s first Super Bowl MVP came in his first championship win back at Super Bowl XXXVI against the Rams, where he threw for 145 yards and a lone touchdown. With the game tied late and no timeouts, Brady led the Patriots down the field with a drive to set up kicker Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning field goal.
- Two years later, Brady earned his second Super Bowl MVP with a louder performance in the form of 354 yards passing and three TDs.
- At Super Bowl XLIX, Brady generated an even bigger outing as he completed 37-of-50 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns for his third Super Bowl MVP.
- How’s this for dominance? At 39, Brady became the then-oldest player to earn Super Bowl MVP honors after completing 43-of-62 passes for 466 yards and two touchdowns for his sixth ring with the Patriots. And he did it authoring the largest comeback in Super Bowl history as the Patriots overcame a 25-point deficit. That Super Bowl LI performance and record was topped by his own Super Bowl LV feat with the Buccaneers earlier this year. Amazing.
Other Super Bowl records with the Patriots
- Passing yards (2,576)
- Completions (256)
- Attempts (392)
- Passing touchdowns (18)
3 League MVPs
Of his three league MVPs, the (almost) perfect season of 2007 really stood out. The MVP campaign had Brady completing 398 passes for 4,806 yards and a career-high 50 touchdowns. The only blemish was that the Patriots’ perfect season came to a screeching halt with a Super Bowl XLII loss to the New York Giants. The other two MVPs came in 2010 and 2017. He was also a two-time Offensive Player of the Year for 2007 and 2010.
Other significant records and achievements with the Patriots
- Brady’s 85,959 career passing yards (including playoffs) with the Patriots had him as the all-time passing king for QBs — a record that he’s adding to today with the Buccaneers.
- By the time his career with the Patriots ended, Brady owned postseason records for victories (30), passing yards (11,388), completions (1,626) and TD passes (73). Of course, he added to all those numbers by leading the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win earlier in the year.
- Brady delivered 45 game-winning drives as part of 36 fourth-quarter regular-season rallies.
- That’s not including his eight fourth-quarter comebacks and 12 game-winning drives in the postseason.
- 14 Pro Bowl selections
And don’t look now, but Brady only needs 68 passing yards against the Patriots on Sunday night to break Drew Brees’ record for most passing yards. Join DAZN News on Sunday night for all the live updates, results and highlights from the Buccaneers vs. Patriots.