Tom Brady “Tom Terrific”

Tom Brady grew up on the west coast, in San Mateo, California. As a young boy, he attended San Francisco 49ers games and was a fan of Joe Montana.

Brady attended Junipero Serra High School where he played football as well as baseball and basketball. He did start for his high school football team until his junior year of high school. Through the recruiting process, he received interest from a few schools from his home state of California looking at him, most notably USC, UCLA, and Cal-Berkely. He also received some attention from schools out of Californa, most notably being Illinois and Michigan.

While Brady was a great football player in high school, he was also a very talented high school baseball player. He was so good at baseball that he would get drafted in the 1995 draft by the Montreal Expos. While he did get drafted by the Expos, he instead decided to join the University of Michigan.

Brady was a highly recruited prospect coming out of high school, but he did not start immediately when he got to Michigan. Brian Griese was the starter for Brady’s first two years at Michigan, but even after Griese left for the NFL, he was not guaranteed the starting job at Michigan. After Griese departed, Brady would battle Drew Henson for the starting job, in which Brady would eventually win the battle.

Collegiate Career

While Brady did not get to play for his first few years at Michigan he would get to play the entirety of his junior year. In his first full year as a starter for Michigan, he managed to lead the team to the Citrus Bowl where he would lead the Wolverines to a 45-31 win over Arkansas.

While Brady would be the starter through his junior year, his senior year would be a bit different. He once again battled Drew Henson, but instead of winning like he did the previous year, head coach Llyod Carr would platoon the players and use Brady in the 1st quarter, Henson in the 2nd quarter, and Carr would decide who would be the starter for the whole 2nd half.

While Brady and Henson battled back and forth regarding playing time, Brady took over the starting job officially after a near comeback against Michigan State and a 300-yard game. Brady helped lead the Wolverines to the Orange Bowl and helped them win the Orange Bowl against Alabama as he threw for 369 yards and four touchdowns in an overtime win.

Early Career

Brady had some moments while playing with Michigan in college, but it did not translate to his draft position. Brady was drafted by the New England Patriots with the 199th pick back in the 6th round.

Being that Brady was selected in the 6th round, he did not start on the Patriots right away. During Brady’s rookie year, the Patriots starter was Drew Bledsoe. While Bledsoe was the starter for New England for the time being, it would not last long.

In Brady’s sophomore season, the 2001 season, Bledsoe was still the starter. Bledsoe started against the Cincinnati Bengals in week one, but during week two, things took a turn. Against the Jets, Bledsoe took a hard hit from a Jets linebacker and would have to be taken out of the game due to internal bleeding. Bledsoe would be replaced by Brady as the Patriots ended up losing the game against the Jets 10-3.

While Brady lost his first game against the Jets, the Patriots finished with a record of 11-5, which landed them in the playoffs. In the divisional round and the Patriots would face off against the Oakland Raiders, where the infamous Tuck Rule would come into play. The Patriots defeated the Raiders in overtime and also defeated the Steelers in the AFC Conference championship game and would then find themselves in the Super Bowl. In his first Super Bowl, he and the Patriots would defeat the Rams 20-17 as Tom Brady would win the Super Bowl MVP award.

While the 2001 season was a great one for the Patriots and Brady, 2002 was different. New England finished the 2002 season 9-7 and missed the playoffs.

2002 was a rough season for Brady and the Patriots, but that season set up a run in which the Patriots made the playoffs five times in a row, and in those five playoff appearances they appeared in the Super Bowl 3 times. Brady and the Patriots won both Super Bowl XXXVIII as well as XXXIX with Brady winning Super Bowl MVP in XXXVIII.

After winning Super Bowl XXXIX, Brady and the Patriots went on a dry spell in regards to Super Bowl wins. The Patriots and Tom Brady made the playoffs eight times in nine years, making the Super Bowl twice, both times being against the Giants and with the Patriots losing both.

After the Super Bowl drought, Brady returned to his Super Bowl-winning ways. Brady won Super Bowls XLIX, LI and LII. Brady won Super Bowl MVPs in Super Bowl XLIX as well as Super Bowl LI.

Deflate-Gate

While the Super Bowl wins were great for Tom Brady, one of the most important events in Brady’s career, as well as NFL history was deflate-gate. Deflate-gate was allegedly carried out by Patriots employees during the AFC Conference Championship game with the employees allegedly deflating the balls. Brady was suspended four games by the NFL for his alleged involvement as the NFL stated that they had “substantial and credible evidence” that Brady knew what the employees were doing.

Brady and the NFLPA appealed the suspension from Goodell and the NFL, with the case even making it to federal court. Ultimately the court upheld Goodell’s decision to suspend Brady with multiple analysts and writers split down the middle on what decision should have been made.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After the 2019 season, Brady officially entered free agency. Not much was made of Brady entering free agency initially, as many thought Brady would return to the Patriots because of how long he played there. On March 20th, 2020, Tom Brady shocked the NFL world as he decided to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he currently plays right now.

Tom Terrific

Throughout his career, Tom Brady has been one of the best players in NFL history. Brady has won numerous Super Bowls, Numerous MVPS and has played great football overall, which has helped him earn the nickname “Tom Terrific”

Achievements

Six-Time Super Bowl Champion

Four-Time Super Bowl MVP

Three-Time NFL MVP

Two-Time NFL Offensive Player of the Year award

Three-Time First-Team All-Pro

Two-Time Second-Team All-Pro

14-Time Pro-Bowler