The following about Tom Brady contains information from Bardley Geiser of Sportscaster, John Niyo of the Detroit News, Ben Shpigel of the NY Times and Trevor Woods, as well as my own thoughts.
Before Tom Brady was the GOAT, he was the 7th string quarterback on U of M’s football team. Brady hardly played until his junior year, when he started 12 games, however, he never really won over most of the Michigan fan base. Brighton High School star Drew Henson, who was two years behind Brady, was the fans choice. By the time Henson got to Michigan he had already signed out of high school a lucrative baseball contract with the NY Yankees. Henson’s contract with the Yankees allowed him to play football at U of M. Henson was and still is a high school legend in Michigan.
Although Tom Brady was Michigan’s starting QB in ‘98, Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr wanted to give sophomore Drew Henson a crack at the gig in Brady’s senior season. Henson was considered the best high school QB to ever come out of the state of Michigan, he was personally recruited by Bo Schembechler. Carr called him the most talented quarterback he had ever been around. All the hype directed towards Henson was something Brady noticed, and the fact he wasn’t named the starter heading into the season had him frustrated.
A great QB situation turned into an unconventional decision by Carr. Instead of naming a starting quarterback before the season, Carr had another idea. His plan called for Henson to start the first quarter, Brady the second, and the hot hand getting the nod for the entire second half. Brady told Detroit News’ Bob Wojnowski. “To be the best, you have to beat out the best. I’ve fought long and hard to be in this position, and I don’t plan to give it up.” By the end of the season Brady became known as the comeback kid, leading Michigan to multiple comeback wins, including an overtime victory over Alabama in the Orange Bowl.
Brady was never the greatest athlete. He was never going to win a footrace against most linebackers. What Brady had above all was a will to win and to make himself the best he could be. During those early years, Brady was struggling as he was adjusting with living in Michigan after he spent his entire life in California. Fortunately, Brady had two people who were always there for him, Greg Harden and Fred Jackson. Harden was a liaison for student athletes, and Jackson served as offensive coordinator, associate head coach and running backs coach during Brady’s time at Michigan. To this day Brady communicates regularly with both men. Harden showed Brady that there was always a light at the end of the tunnel, and nobody could find it except Brady, himself. Brady took this to heart and let it guide the rest of his career.
His perfectionist streak, coupled with a smoldering intensity and a microprocessor of a brain, enabled a player chosen by the New England Patriots with the 199th overall pick in 2000 — the seventh quarterback selected that year — to retire with three league Most Valuable Player Awards and as the N.F.L.’s career leader in touchdown passes
Only six quarterbacks before Brady, according to Sports Reference’s Stathead database, had even attempted one pass after turning 42. Combined, those quarterbacks — George Blanda, Steve DeBerg, Doug Flutie, Warren Moon, Earl Morrall and Vinny Testaverde — threw for 37 touchdown passes at 42 or older. Brady, in his first season with the Buccaneers, in 2020, threw 40.
In 20 full seasons as a starter, Brady led his team to the Super Bowl 10 times. He started as many Super Bowls (three) in his 40s as he did in his 20s, when he crammed three triumphs into four seasons. His seven Super Bowl titles are more than any franchise has won. He was selected as the Super Bowl M.V.P. five times; only one other quarterback, John Elway of Denver, even started five Super Bowls. Only once has Brady missed the playoffs as a starter — in 2002, the season after winning his first Super Bowl, the championship that launched the Patriots’ dynasty.
A few weeks after the Patriots selected him, the team’s owner, Robert K. Kraft, encountered Brady not far from his office. Brady introduced himself to Kraft, who said he knew that he was their sixth-round pick from the University of Michigan. “That’s right,” Brady replied, in Kraft’s retelling. “And I’m the best decision this organization has ever made.” Brady formed, with Bill Belichick, the greatest quarterback-coach partnership in N.F.L. history, capitalizing on the organization’s stable infrastructure, the league’s short-passing boom and his own durability — the only games he missed because of injury came in 2008, after tearing a knee ligament in the season opener. He reveled in New England’s “Do Your Job” ethos, stifling his charismatic personality to emerge as a pocket passer extraordinaire, winning six championships and 17 division titles with the Patriots. His crowning achievement came at the end of the 2016 season, when he completed his nationwide tour of vengeance for “deflategate” by overcoming a 25-point third-quarter deficit to stun the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl.
in August 2019, on the eve of his 20th year in New England and two days after turning 42, Brady agreed to a new contract that would make him a free agent after the season. His final pass as a Patriot, in a home wildcard round defeat to the Tennessee Titans, was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Two months later, with the Patriots unwilling to sign Brady to a long-term contract, he fled New England for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a move that upended the N.F.L. landscape. At the time, the Buccaneers had won as many playoff games (six) as Brady had championships, but he mastered a new offense, adjusted to new teammates and coaches and dominated the league, all while the pandemic restricted in-person contact. He won his seventh title, throwing three touchdown passes in a demolition of Kansas City, last February in the Buccaneers’ home stadium.
In recent years, Brady has been preparing for the next phase of his life, founding the health and wellness company TB12 Sports with his longtime trainer Alex Guerrero and the media company Religion of Sports and the Brady Brand clothing line. In the sort of thing, one does when sensing the end approaching, he also chronicled his legacy in two television series, “Tom vs. Time” and “Man in the Arena.”
But he kept delaying retirement for so long because he loved football and he loved winning and he was excellent for more than two decades — the best, in fact — at doing both. That he finished his career with a playoff defeat, in the divisional round against the Los Angeles Rams, seems incompatible with all the glory that preceded it.
Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was the football gods saying it was time for Matthew Stafford to have his time in the spotlight after 12 years in the desert known as the Detroit Lions. Or maybe it was God, looking down and making a final tribute to Brady on his final play when the ball was snapped from the Tampa Bay 12-yard line. That’s right a final tribute to TB12 from the Tampa Bay 12-yard line.
What are you doing to stop the violence? Get vaccinated and get your booster.
Orchid of the Day: The Michigan women’s basketball team who reached the program’s highest-ever ranking on Monday and then made a huge splash on national television in a Top-10 matchup. The Wolverines, now ranked No. 6, defeated fifth-ranked Indiana, 65-50 before a spirited crowd at the Crisler Center. The win pushes Michigan into the Big Ten lead. It was the first meeting of top-six Big Ten teams since 2004.
Onion of the Day: No onions on the day Brady retires.
Quote of the Day: “I have always believed the sport of football is an ‘all-in’ proposition — if a 100% competitive commitment isn’t there, you won’t succeed, and success is what I love so much about our game. This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore. I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention.”
Video/Song of the Day: My favorite pass completion by Tom Brady. Listen to his 8 year old daughter as she is the only one with any common sense.