Tom Brady (12) New England Patriots - Jeffrey Beall/CC BY-SA 2.0
When Tom Brady arrived at the New England Patriots training camp in 2000, there were no press conferences or swarming fans to greet him. After all, he was just an unheralded sixth-round draft pick who had only been a part-time starter in college. Most New England fans had probably discounted the possibility that the tall gangly University of Michigan product would even make the final roster that season.
Fast forward to the present. Tom Brady just recently retired after a 23-year NFL career after shattering most of the league’s passing records. He is widely viewed as the greatest quarterback of all time and perhaps the greatest NFL player of all time.
New England Pre-Tom Brady
In the 10 years before Brady’s arrival in New England, the Patriots had been an inconsistent team at best. They advanced to the playoffs in four of those seasons, even reaching Super Bowl 31 before losing to the Green Bay Packers 35-13. But they also experienced a six-year span in the early to mid-90s where their combined record was 30-66.
Now, let’s take a brief look back at the career of Mr. Brady and how his presence transformed Patriots football. No single player in the history of the NFL has impacted a team for such an extended period of time as did number 12.
Tom Brady Arrives in New England
Tom Brady survived his first NFL training camp and was added to the Patriots roster as the fourth quarterback for the 2000 season. Drew Bledsoe was the Pro Bowl starter, with John Friesz and Michael Bishop backing him up. As one might expect, Brady saw very little action that year attempting just three passes and completing one.
He returned the next season as Bledsoe’s backup and then destiny struck. Bledsoe was knocked out of the second game of the season against the New York Jets when Jets linebacker Mo Lewis leveled him with a monster hit. Brady finished the game going 5-10 with 46 passing yards in a 10-3 New York victory.
His First Victory
He posted his first victory as the Patriots starting quarterback the next week as New England walloped the Peyton Manning led the Indianapolis Colts 44-13 in Foxboro. He would hold on to the starting position for the rest of the season and into the playoffs. The Patriots finished the regular season with an 11-5 record despite starting the season 0-2. In his first year as a starter, Brady would throw for 2,843 yards and 18 touchdowns.
The Patriots’ march to the Super Bowl led them to Pittsburgh where they played the Steelers for the AFC Championship Game. Then Tom Brady suffered a minor setback. With the Patriots leading 7-3 in the second quarter, Brady was knocked out of the game with a knee injury. Fortunately, Bledsoe stepped in with a gutty performance and led the team to a 24-17 win and a berth in Super Bowl 36.
Super Bowl Champs
Coach Bill Belichick put all of the rumors to bed about a quarterback controversy when he named Brady the starter for the big game. And in a seesaw battle, the Patriots prevailed with a 31-28 victory on an Adam Vinatieri 48-yard field goal as time expired. Tom Brady received the first, but not last, Super Bowl ring of his career.
The Transformative Mr. Brady
The rest as they say is history. Over the course of his 18 seasons as the starting quarter for the Patriots, he would lead them to 17 division wins, 13 AFC Championships Games, nine Super Bowl appearances, and six Super Bowl titles. This is a streak that we will probably never witness again in our lifetimes.
And how have the New England Patriots performed since Tom Brady left the team after the 2019 season? They have a combined record of 25-25 in that three-year span. How much of an impact did Brady have on the Patriots franchise? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
