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12 underrated Tom Brady moments from his 20-year Patriots careerĀ
Brady orchestrated 59 come-from-behind wins during his tenure with the Patriots.
Tom Brady will make his anticipated return to Gillette Stadium on Wednesday for his induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
The two-and-a-half-hour ceremony will feature hundreds of his former teammates, plenty of surprise guests, and, of course, an address from the greatest quarterback of all time.
There’s no question that many of Brady’s countless achievements and triumphs on the gridiron will be documented throughout the ceremony.
You know the classics by now: That final drive against the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, 28-3, The Tuck Rule, etc.
But ahead of Brady’s ceremony on Wednesday, here’s a look back at 12 other memorable moments from the legendary quarterback’s 20-year tenure in New England.
Honorable mention: That courtroom sketch
Brady has no shortage of memorable (or infamous) snapshots away from the football field. I mean, who could forget that GQ photo shoot from 2005 with the baby goat?
But no image of the former Patriots QB generated as much online discourse as courtroom artist Jane Rosenberg’s sketch of an … augmented … Brady sitting in on one of many arduous Deflategate hearings in New York City.
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“I don’t tend to flatter people and make them look beautiful,” Rosenberg told The Boston Globe in August 2015.
1. First career comeback
Pressed into service after Jets linebacker Mo Lewis knocked Drew Bledsoe out of action in Week 2 of the 2001 season, Brady won his first career start on Sept. 30 against the Colts.
He properly managed the game (13 of 23, 168 yards, zero touchdowns, zero interceptions), while letting New England’s defense do the heavy lifting (three interceptions for Peyton Manning) in a 44-13 win over Indianapolis.
All it took was his third career start for Brady to showcase that the Patriots had something special under center. With New England trailing by 10 to Doug Flutie and the Chargers in the fourth quarter, the Patriots were facing the very real possibility of dropping to 1-4.
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Instead, Brady helped lead New England to three scoring drives to close out the game, tying the contest off a three-yard TD pass to Jermaine Wiggins before Adam Vinatieri won things in overtime with a 44-yard field goal. It was the first of 59 come-from-behind wins Brady secured in his 20 years in Foxborough.
2. 59-0 in the snow
On most occasions, teams opt to stick to the ground game and roll out a conservative offensive game plan under miserable, snowy conditions.
Brady and the 2009 Patriots didn’t get the memo in this matchup against the Titans. With their red throwback jerseys standing in stark contrast to the snow-swept field at Gillette Stadium, Brady launched an aerial assault against Tennessee, throwing six touchdowns (five in the second quarter) in a 59-0 blowout.
3. Troy Brown’s walk-off TD in Miami
It’s not often you see the usually stone-faced Bill Belichick tossing his headset into the air in a moment of joy. But the former Patriots coach did just that when Brady hit Troy Brown for an 82-yard, walk-off touchdown in overtime to secure a 19-13 win over the Dolphins down in Miami.
The statement win in enemy territory galvanized a New England team in the midst of a 15-game winning streak that ended with a Super Bowl title over the Carolina Panthers.
4. Torching Anthony Smith
Back in September 2023, Brady admitted on the Threads social media platform that his favorite touchdown ever thrown at Gillette Stadium was this double-pass trick play against the Steelers in 2007.
It was one of several occasions in that 34-13 win where Brady and the Patriots targeted Pittsburgh safety Anthony Smith — who declared the days leading up to the game that the Steelers were going to be the team to finally hand the 12-0 Patriots their first loss of the year.
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Along with that double-pass play, Randy Moss also torched Smith with a 63-yard score off another heave from Brady.
Brady, who got in Smith’s face on several occasions, was not the only Patriot to have some words for him after the win.
“We’ve played against a lot better safeties than him, I’ll tell you,” Belichick acknowledged postgame.
5. Starting the season with a bang
The 2011 Patriots opened up a new campaign with a statement win down in Miami, with Brady throwing for a career-best 517 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-24 win. Wes Welker tied a league record with a 99-yard touchdown catch — reeling in an end-zone pass from Brady and taking it down the other end of the field.
Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez also finished with touchdown catches in the win, while special-teams ace Matthew Slater also got on the board with a 46-yard catch early in the contest.
6. Snuffing out Tebowmania
Brady and the Patriots put an emphatic end to Tim Tebow’s miraculous one-year run as the Broncos’ starting quarterback during the 2011 Divisional Round. After reeling off an upset win over the Steelers, “Tebowmania” ended in a 45-10 Patriots victory — with Brady tying a playoff record with six touchdown passes in the win.
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Rob Gronkowski reeled in three of those touchdown passes, while Brady caught the Broncos off guard with a punt in this playoff victory.
7. Juking Urlacher
For all of his accomplishments on the field, Brady wasn’t known for being the fleetest of foot when tasked with scrambling for extra yardage. But in a 2006 home game against the Chicago Bears, Brady did his best Barry Sanders impression by juking out Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher.
Brady’s scramble led to a first down off a 3rd-and-9 play in the fourth quarter, eventually paving the way for a 17-13 win for New England over a strong Bears team.
“That was a good play,” Brady said in 2006, per MassLive’s Nick O’Malley. “You don’t see too many runs like that from me against a Hall of Famer. I’m lucky I didn’t get my head taken off. But that was pretty memorable. I was pretty jacked up after that.
“I thought Brian was a great player and I had a lot of respect for him, how he played. Yeah, going toward the lighthouse. It was third down. Every once in a while, I try to shake someone and I got him. Probably something that won’t happen again.”
8. A comeback win over Broncos
One of the many highly anticipated Brady-Manning duels over the years, this Sunday night thriller in New England saw Brady and the Patriots erase a 24-0 halftime deficit en route to a 34-31 overtime victory.
Brady finished with 344 passing yards, three touchdowns (and a shot of him losing his mind with Gronkowski) in the win, which ended early Monday morning when Stephen Gostkowski closed out the victory in overtime with a 31-yard field.
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At the time, the 24-point comeback was the largest of Brady’s career. That changed a few years later in a particularly memorable matchup against the Falcons.
9. “Roger That”
As one of the faces of the NFL for over 20 years, Brady has been no stranger to appearances on TV, films and, a nearly endless stream of commercials.
And while he has plenty of memorable ad spots (and a few that didn’t exactly hit the mark), he nailed this commercial for Shields MRI, which dropped right after New England won Super Bowl LI over the Falcons.
Two versions of the ad were filmed, with Brady removing all of his Super Bowl rings before going in for his MRI. The revised one that aired for all to see featured Brady showing off his newly acquired fifth ring.
Brady even added the ad by saying, “Roger That” — a clear dig at Roger Goodell after Brady and the Patriots earned the last laugh against the NFL amid all of the Deflategate drama.
10. “My Dad is my Hero.”
Brady, like most of his Patriots teammates, usually took a page out of Bill Belichick’s book when it came to keeping his emotions in check and not generating headlines while stepping up to the podium.
But Brady offered up an emotional tribute to his father when asked during Super Bowl LI Media Day about who his hero is.
“He’s someone who I look up to every day,” Brady said before getting choked up.
Brady’s mom, Galynn, was undergoing cancer treatments during the 2016 season — a year where other factors such as Deflategate also weighed heavily on Brady’s shoulders.
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“You just have different things that your family goes through in the course of your life, and it’s been a challenging year for my family, just for some personal reasons,’’ Brady said the following day, adding: “Yeah, my mom hasn’t been to a game this season.
“My dad has been to one, and it’s very atypical. They’re going to be here this weekend, which I’m very excited about, to see everybody. I’ve got a big group coming.’’
Brady went on to beat the Falcons in Super Bowl LI just days later in arguably the greatest performance of his career.
11. “We’re on to Cincinnati.”
After getting blown out by the Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium, 41-14, in Week 4 of the 2014 season, things looked dour for Brady and the Patriots.
New England was 2-2, the team’s last Super Bowl season was a decade ago, and Brady was pulled from that lopsided loss in favor of the presumed heir apparent, Jimmy Garoppolo.
Bill Belichick deflected any questions about a change at quarterback going into Week 5, routinely dropping the now-famous rallying cry: “We’re on to Cincinnati.”
The following week, Brady and New England managed to right the ship — with Brady throwing for 292 yards and two touchdowns in a 43-17 win. New England went on to win seven straight games, sparking a run that ended with the Patriots’ Super Bowl XLIX win over the Seahawks in February 2015.
12. “Where’s the beef?”
One of many comeback performances from Brady, this one against the Saints was the lead-in to one of the most memorable days in recent Boston sports history.
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After New Orleans put themselves ahead, 27-23, with 3:29 left on the clock, Brady orchestrated a 70-yard, game-winning drive with zero timeouts to work with.
After spiking the ball to stop the clock on the 17-yard line, New England’s final play of the afternoon ended in triumph — with Brady uncorking a perfect throw to Kenbrell Thompkins in the end zone to clinch a 30-27 win.
Just a few hours later, David Ortiz hit a game-tying, eighth-inning grand slam in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Tigers. Boston went on to win that matchup at Fenway, 6-5, off a walk-off single from Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
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