Tom Brady is leaving American football after playing 22 years in the National Football League. Brady is ending his career while putting his stamp on the NFL quarterback record book to make it look like his autobiography as he steps from the game.
Brady was drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots with a compensatory pick. He was the 199th player and 7th quarterback to be selected.
Brady started the 2000 season as the fourth-string quarterback but worked his way up to backup the following year.
During the 2001 season, starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe took a hit during the team’s second game and suffered internal bleeding.
With their starter expected to be shelved for quite some time, the Patriots named Brady the starter in their next game against the Indianapolis Colts. Brady lead the team to a 44–13 win and established strong consideration for the starting job. He went on to guide the Patriots to 11-3 in the games he started, finishing 11-5 overall and a first-round bye.
As a result, Brady becomes the permanent starter despite Bledsoe’s expensive contract and went on to show his being clutch in crucial moments and his tendency to generate comebacks in the toughest stage during his first playoff appearance.
He leads the Patriots to turn a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Oakland Raiders to an overtime win in the Divisional round. He was relieved by Bledsoe in the AFC Championship Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers due to a leg injury but got the nod to start during Super Bowl XXXVI a couple of weeks later against the St. Louis Rams.
While the Rams rallied from a 17–3 deficit to tie the game with 1:30 left in regulation, Brady drove the Patriots’ offense down the field to the Rams’ 31-yard line and set up Adam Vinatieri to kick a 48-yard field goal and hand the Patriots a 20–17 win and their first-ever Super Bowl win.
That confirmed Brady’s grip on the starting job, his being the steal of the draft and kicking off his legend for years to come.
Brady eventually finished his career never having a losing season, led the Patriots to 17 Division Championships in 18 years he started (he was not able to practically play during the 2008 season due to an ACL injury), a Division Championship for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 10 Super Bowl appearances, and 7 Lombardi trophies.
He is a three-time NFL MVP, could be four if he gets this year’s nod, and a 5-time Super Bowl MVP. He is the only Super Bowl MVP from two different franchises.
His uncanny durability propelled him to the top of several NFL records.
According to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers website, Brady ranks first all-time during regular season play in:
Wins (243), Pro Bowls (15), Super Bowl MVP Awards (5), Starts (316), Completions (7,263), Attempts (11,317), Passing Yards (84,520), Passing Touchdowns (624), Three-Touchdown Games (101), and Four-Touchdown Games (39).
In the postseason, he leads in: Appearances (19), Games Started (47), Wins (35), Super Bowl Appearances (10), Super Bowl Wins (7), Completions (1,165), Passing Yards (13,049), Passing Touchdowns (86), Game-Winning Drives (14), Fourth-Quarter Comebacks (9)
He also engineered the best closure of a career.
After spending 20 years for a single franchise, who seemingly couldn’t wait to get rid of their aging Hall of Famer as he nears the end of his career, he makes a big jump to Tampa Bay and gets to stamp his magic in just two seasons with them.
He instantly transformed the culture of the Buccaneers, which has an accumulated 267-424 win-loss record, then the worst franchise record among America’s four major sports franchises.
Firstly, he was the reason free agents suddenly became interested in wearing a Buccaneers uniform, most notably Rob Gronkowski.
On the field, his play and leadership led Tampa Bay to their second Super Bowl, 18 years since the first one, after defeating Kansas City in Super Bowl LV in his first year with the team. He threw a league second-best 40 touchdown passes, then the best in Tampa Bay franchise history.
He followed that up with an NFC South title for the Bucs and a tie for the league’s best record in 2021. He added one more playoff win by defeating Philadelphia in the Wild Card round.
The Bucs lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round of the playoffs but not after Brady led a remarkable comeback from being down 3-27 to tie the score with less than a minute left. It was almost reminiscent of Super Bowl LI where Brady won his 5th Super Bowl by leading the Patriots to an overtime comeback win after being down 3-28 midway through the third quarter.
In his final year, he reset the Bucs’ single-season standards for the quarterback position. He threw 43 touchdowns, completed 485 passes and, accumulated 5,316 passing yards, all league-best. In addition, the 485 completed passes are the new all-time high and the 43 touchdowns are the second-highest of his career.
In just two years, he now owns some of the Bucs’ postseason records. He threw the most postseason passing yards (1,661), most passing touchdowns (13), and most postseason wins (5).
Overall, the Buccaneers went 29-10, the most successful stretch in franchise history.
Brady’s career success has been attributed to his work ethic; competitive spirit; pocket awareness; intelligence; having a good relationship with his teammates, coaches, and ownership; his ability to make his teammates better; and his willingness to accept lower pay to enable his team to have a chance to build a better team around him.
These are all why he was beloved and became the greatest quarterback, probably the greatest football player, to grace the NFL fields.
By Armando M. Bolislis
