Sir Thomas Brady is Super Bowl royalty
As Tom Brady drove the New England Patriots to what would be the game-winning touchdown Sunday night, it was difficult not to marvel at the abilities that made him the Super Bowl MVP for the third time, especially considering where he started.
Now he’s being discussed as the NFL’s all-time greatest quarterback after he passed for four touchdowns, two in the fourth quarter, against the Seattle Seahawks to get the 28-24 victory, although it took a late interception by Malcolm Butler to save the victory.
Not bad for a guy who was a little-above-average college quarterback.
He was barely noticed in the 1999 Citrus Bowl, when he played for Michigan against the Arkansas Razorbacks, completing 14 of 27 passes for 209 yards, 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown.
At no time in that Citrus Bowl game did anyone in the press box, or probably anywhere else, go, “That guy is really underrated.”
He was respectable his final two seasons at Michigan, completing 380 of 618 passes for 4,644 yards and 30 touchdowns, but he had 16 interceptions and had not distinguished himself.
That was five years before David Bazzel would host the first Little Rock Touchdown Club banquet, which is Wednesday night and features NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin as the guest speaker.
Brady found himself seventh on the depth list when he arrived at Michigan and considered transferring to Cal. He was a starter by his junior season, even though he was benched for a half during his senior season.
You can understand why he wasn’t drafted until the sixth round, the 199th player taken behind six other quarterbacks, when you consider the way he played at Michigan and his 5.28 speed in the 40-yard dash.
Maybe it was Bill Belichick or someone else’s teaching, but Brady, after taking over for an injured Drew Bledsoe early in the 2001 season, started to become not just a good NFL quarterback, but a great one. Maybe it was like Joe Montana, where someone tweaked a system just for Brady, not asking him to do things he can’t do, such as run.
The Patriots won Super Bowls in Brady’s third season, 2002, and again in 2004 and 2005.
They made it back to the big stage two more times but lost to the New York Giants.
On Sunday night, he set Super Bowl records for most completions in a game (37), most completions in a half (20), most career touchdown passes (13), and most starts (6). He’s 4-2 in the Super Bowl.
His third Super Bowl MVP came 11 years after his second one.
Brady, 37, played like he was 27 but with the experience of a 37-year-old.
The pregame hype centered on how Seattle would flush him out of the pocket, make him scramble and make mistakes.
Instead, Brady stepped up into the pocket to avoid rushers and threw mostly strikes to his receivers. Yes, he had two interceptions, but that memory will be washed away soon enough by the four touchdowns he threw.
Brady’s life is like something out of Hollywood. He has a supermodel wife, mansions in Boston and Los Angeles, and a to-kill-for apartment in New York City.
He does endorsements and is a bigger hero in Boston than Paul Revere.
Brady overshadowed Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, but only by a little.
The two teams gave us a game that was better than the halftime show and even better than all the commercials combined, and it is rare that can be said.
Wilson drove the defending Super Bowl champions to the 1 and was staring victory in the eye with less than a minute to play. Everyone expected Marshawn Lynch to run it in, but Wilson went with the called play, a pass, and it was intercepted, and the King of the Super Bowl, Tom Brady, had another crown.