Tom Brady's first-ballot Hall of Fame, undisputed GOAT, Super Bowl-winning resume speaks for itself.
The five-time Super Bowl MVP has dozens of comeback wins under his belt, 14(!!) postseason game-winning drives, and is widely understood to be the most clutch player in NFL history. But when did this "clutch gene" begin to take effect?
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Former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi joined the Games with Names podcast with Julian Edelman and Sam Morril this week, telling them when he realized that Brady was truly a different breed:
"The first time I really noticed that there was a different Tom was probably in the Super Bowl versus the Carolina Panthers," Bruschi explained. "We couldn't stop Carolina in the second half because we were gassed. Delhomme had us figured out."
New England was up 21-10 with just under 15 minutes to play before Delhomme and the Panthers started storming back against an exhausted Patriots defense. They put up two quick scores, took a 22-21 lead, and at that point, Brady had seen enough.
"[He] just ended up picking us up."
New England won the game 32-29 on a last-second Adam Vinatieri field goal to win their second Super Bowl title in three years.
"That's when you start to see like, alright, he's ready to just, takeover the team and become [the] MVP type of player, all the way to '07 when hes throwing 50 touchdown passes and it's just absurd."
Brady went on to win five more Super Bowl titles, three league MVPs, two Offensive Player of the Year awards, and a Comeback Player of the Year award among many other accolades.
He was, in fact, built different.
Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @WEEI for the latest up-to-date Patriots and Boston sports news!
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