Moving on to the NFL, Brady was drafted by the New England Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft. Initially he served as a backup quarterback and played in only one game during his first season. The 2001 season was a different story. After starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe was injured, Brady took over, proving himself a strong leader with a powerful arm. Anyone who doubted his abilities only had to look at the team's record, an impressive 11 wins to 3 losses in the 14 games that Brady started. In the post-season, he helped the team secure a win over the St. Louis Rams at Super Bowl XXXVI, and Brady received the game's MVP award.
Two years later, Brady led his team to another win at Super Bowl XXXVIII against the Carolina Panthers. For his efforts, he won his second Super Bowl MVP Award. And in the 2004 season, Brady once again led the team to Super Bowl victory, taking down the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21. In 2005, Brady signed a new six-year contract with the Patriots, and for the 2006 season, the team had a 12-4 record in the regular season.
The following year the star quarterback led the Patriots through an undefeated regular season. The team faced off against the New York Giants at Super Bowl XLII but lost to their rival in a close game.
During the first game of the 2008 season, however, Brady was quickly sidelined with a knee injury. He had several surgeries and extensive rehabilitation to repair the damage, forcing him to sit out the entire season. While some wondered whether the injury would be a career-ender, Brady came back to prove the doubters wrong. He signed a new contract with the team in 2010.
In the 2011 season, Brady pulled out all the stops, helping the team secure their place at Super Bowl XLVI. The Patriots once again battled the New York Giants in football's ultimate game. Before the big event, Brady's wife, model Gisele Bündchen, sent out an email to friends and family. She asked them to pray for Brady and to "envision him happy and fulfilled, experiencing with his team a victory." Unfortunately, these prayers went unanswered, as the Giants beat the Patriots 21-17.
2012 Season
Brady made headlines in December 2012, following a close game between the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers. Brady had led the Patriots back from a 28-point deficit by the fourth quarter, but the 49ers ultimately took the game 41-34. Brady later commented on the outcome of the game, stating on WEEI-AM, "I'm really proud of the fact our guys never blinked an eye down 28 points against probably the best defense in the league."
With his many career accomplishments, Brady has been compared to such legendary quarterbacks as Joe Namath and Joe Montana.
'Deflategate' and Super Bowl XLIX Triumph
After the 2014 season, a new word entered the lexicon of Tom Brady lore: "Deflategate." After Brady's Patriots trounced the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game, it was discovered that several of the 12 game balls used by the Patriots were underinflated, one of them measuring 2 pounds per square inch below the minimum mark allowed by the NFL. Accusations of cheating followed, with Brady saying, "I didn't alter the balls in any way, [and] I would never have someone do something that was outside the rules."
Making the accusations more notable than they otherwise might be, in 2007 Patriots coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 for an incident in which the Patriots were caught videotaping the signals of an opposing coach, in direct violation of league rules.
Amid the media frenzy that accompanied the cheating accusations, Brady tried to stay focused on preparing to play the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX. En route to setting a Super Bowl record with 37 completions, Brady led his team back from a 10-point deficit to notch a thrilling 28-24 victory. With the win, he became the third quarterback to win four championships and the second to earn three Super Bowl MVP Awards, cementing his standing as one of the greatest ever to play his position.
The subject of Deflategate returned to the headlines in May 2015, when a report released by investigator Ted Wells revealed that Brady was "generally aware" that a locker room attendant had tampered with footballs prior to the AFC Championship game. The quarterback was suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season, and Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld the punishment in July following an appeal. Brady and the NFL Players Association then filed a lawsuit to have the suspension overturned, their efforts proving successful in early September when a federal judge ruled in the quarterback's favor, on the grounds that the suspension was premised upon legal deficiencies.
The NFL appealed in 2016 and a judge overturned the decision to block Brady's suspension. Brady appealed again, but in July 2016 he said he would accept his suspension.
Historic Super Bowl LI Victory
Despite missing the first four games of the 2016 season, Brady helped the Patriots clinch another spot in the Super Bowl, defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs. Before the championship game, Brady told reporters that he wanted to win the game for his mother, who has been suffering from an undisclosed illness. “She’s the one I want to win for,” Brady said.
With his mother in attendance at the NRG Stadium in Houston and millions of fans watching, Brady did not disappoint. In a thrilling game, the first that went into overtime in NFL history, Brady led the Patriots to a 34-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. With this historic win, Brady became the first quarterback in NFL history to take home five Super Bowl rings. He surpassed quarterbacks Joe Montana, one of his idols, and Terry Bradshaw, who both have four Super Bowl wins. He also was awarded his fourth Super Bowl MVP for leading a 25-point comeback and throwing a Super Bowl-record 466 passing yards. Super Bowl LI was Brady's seventh championship, which is also an NFL record for the most Super Bowls played.
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