It’s impossible to bring up the New England Patriots without mentioning Tom Brady.
The 48-year-old former sixth-round pick entered the NFL in 2000 with low expectations. However, once Brady had the opportunity to shine (during his second season, following an injury to starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe), he seized it and never looked back.
Brady won six Super Bowls with the Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring from the league in 2023.
Brady’s most memorable Super Bowl victory came in 2017, as the Michigan product orchestrated a masterful 25-point comeback to stun the Atlanta Falcons in overtime with a 34-28 win. The improbable Brady-led comeback ranks 8th on the Sporting News’ 140 Greatest Sports Moments list.
“When the Falcons were up 21-0 late in the first half and then extended their lead to 28-3 with 8:31 left in the third quarter of Super Bowl 51, it felt like 2016 NFL MVP Matt Ryan would be leading Atlanta to its first ring,” The Sporting News’ Vinnie Lyer wrote Wednesday. “That likely would have been the case had the GOAT, New England’s Tom Brady, not been his quarterback counterpart.”
“The signature of Brady’s career was clutch comebacks, and this was the most epic. Brady led the Patriots to 31 unanswered points, taking advantage of every Falcons’ offensive and defensive lapse to even the game at the end of regulation with plenty of help from running back James White (14 catches, 110 yards) as his go-receiver.”
“Brady threw for 466 yards and handed off to White for both the game-tying and game-winning touchdowns. The Patriots walked off improbable winners in the first-ever overtime Super Bowl with the biggest comeback in the game's history.”
Even the harshest Brady can’t deny Brady’s greatness in that Super Bowl. There aren’t too many quarterbacks who would exhibit tremendous poise while trailing by three scores and find a way to lead their team to victory in the end.
Did the Falcons make inexcusable mistakes to improve the Patriots’ odds of completing a comeback? Sure, but did Brady make all the perfect reads/throws when his back was against the wall?
Absolutely, making it unfair to paint the comeback as an epic collapse by the Falcons rather than a well-executed come-from-behind victory by the most accurate quarterback the NFL has ever seen.
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