He probably doesn't get the credit he deserves for that kick. The one after the NFL stuck it to Davis in the worst bout of cheating I have ever seen. I guess it all makes sense now. I didn't equate the fumble to the rest of the cheating.
If you look at the route to those first three rings...
2001: an overtime win against Oakland moves them toward their first SB win. Adam Vinatiere scores 9 of their 16 pts, including a 45 yard kick to send it into overtime. Brady's rating is 70.4 on the game. They win in spite of his play.
In that SB an interception and 47 yd return sets up the winning margin off Vinatiere's leg. Tom passes for just under 150 yds, 1 td against no picks.
2003: the Pats and Titans are tied going into the 4th quarter. With 4 minutes left Adam makes a 46 yd fg that constitutes the winning margin, allowing NE to advance. Tom's contribution? 1 td and another poor, 73.3 performance. The only reason Tom at that point isn't noted as someone in the early stages of a choke syndrome is that his team plays him out of it. Without Adam you could argue at that point his future doesn't look as bright and people are commenting on the 6th rounder who pushed Bledsoe out only to go one and done twice in the playoffs.
That SB? Adam kicks the winning margin with 4 seconds on the clock from 41 yds out or it's overtime between two well matched teams. That said, Brady is finally terrific, throwing for over 350 yds, 3 td against 1 pick and a 100.5 rating.
2004: Brady has a strong opening round for the first time in his playoff career as the Pats drub the Colts 20 - 3. Peyton is awful in the loss.
In the conference championship New England handles the Steelers comfortably. Brady is tremendously efficient with a 130 rating noting it, while passing for just over 200 yds with 2 td against 0 ints.
In another SB decided by a fg margin, Brady posts another impressive rating rooted more in efficiency than dominance as he goes for 236 yds and 2 tds against no picks resulting in a 110.2 rating.
At that point he has three rings and the resounding praise as an all time great. Without Adam this could have easily been his first ring.
The next two years,
2005 - 2006, they're knocked out by the Broncos and then the Colts.
2007: the Pats bring as dominant an offense as has been seen in terms of production into the SB against the upstart, late run making Giants. Adam is gone. Brady goes for under 300, a decent but only that rating in the low 80s, 1 td against 0 ints and his first loss in the big game.
They fail to make the playoffs in
2008, with Brady out injured, though they go for 11-5 with the back up.
2009 and
2010 are one and dones.
2011: Another dominant offensive unit leads to an easy bump of the Broncos in the opening round.
Next up a squeaker of a 3 pt conference championship win against Baltimore. Brady is horrible, 239 yds, 0 tds against 2 ints and a 57.5 rating. Bill and company save him and put them back in the SB.
Brady is much better in this his second SB defeat at the hands of the Giants. He has a very respectable low 90s rating, throwing for 276 yds, 2 tds against 1 int.
2012 and
2013 see them out in the second round.
2014: Brady is terrific in the opening, a tough game against Baltimore.
They destroy the Colts in route to another SB.
A great Pats rally in the 4th quarter, combined with the most perplexing goal line call in SB history on the part of Seattle ends with a Brady sporting his fourth ring. It's his second truly great SB as he goes 328 yds, 4 tds against 1 int and a 101 rating. This is who he was supposed to be...but it could as easily have been his next loss.
2015: A ghostly Peyton summons enough to put them out in the conference championship, giving Peyton an even split, with Tom's last big game win against him a decade earlier.
2016: we're about to find out.
I've always held that Brady developed into one of the best of his or any generation. But an argument could be made that he remains the second best of his era and that he was for a good bit of his career a system qb, with less than stellar marches to and performances in the big game, leading a team that won 11 games with him on the bench and won all of its rings but one by fg margins.
That's why this one is important. If he could have another Seattle like game it would go a long way to covering those Giants debacles and heating up the argument that I suspect will otherwise, over time, look more like an argument for an extremely durable and talented qb playing for the right team and a great coach.
lain: