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Tom Brady had many great moments in his 23 seasons in the NFL. There was one moment that made him particularly great, according to Tedy Bruschi.
The former New England Patriots linebacker noticed that Brady stood out from the rest during one of their Super Bowl wins, but it wasn't their first one.
“The first time I noticed there was a different Tom was in the Super Bowl versus the Carolina Panthers,” Bruschi said on the ‘Games with Names' with Patriots legend Julian Edelman. “We couldn't stop Carolina in the second half because we were gassed. [Jake] Delhomme had us figured out, and Tom Brady just ended up picking us up. So, that's when you start to see like, alright, he's ready to just take over the team and become an MVP type of player, [which happened] all the way in '07 when he threw 50 touchdowns and it's just absurd.
Tedy Bruschi on the first time he knew Tom Brady was really built different 👀 pic.twitter.com/Nqy8DmcXHA
— Games With Names (@gameswithnames) June 20, 2023
It's tough to deny that Brady played at an elite level in Super Bowl XXXVIII. He played one of his best games statically in his career at that point, completing 32 of 48 passes for 354 yards, three touchdowns and an interception with a 100.5 passer rating. Brady's 32 completions set a Super Bowl record at that point (which he broke two more times later in his career) and his 354 passing yards were also the fourth-most ever thrown in a Super Bowl at that point.
But what was arguably more special was when he made those plays. After the game was scoreless for the first 26-plus minutes, Brady helped the Patriots score two touchdowns to give them a 14-10 lead going into the break.
Brady saved his best for last, though. After a scoreless third quarter, Brady led the Patriots on a 71-yard touchdown drive to expand their lead to 21-10. The Patriots' defense gave up two quick touchdowns after that, however, Brady led New England on a 68-yard touchdown drive to give them a 29-22 lead in the final minutes.
The Patriots' defense failed to stop the Panthers again, giving up a game-tying touchdown with 1:13 remaining.
That was no issue for Brady, however. With some help from John Kasay, Brady marched the Patriots on a 37-yard drive to set them up to kick the game-winning field goal with four seconds left, giving them their second Super Bowl win.
For Tom Brady, that was just the second of seven Super Bowl wins as he found his way through crunch time moments like that throughout his career.