Tom Brady may not have played football for as long as he did had he not lost to Eli Manning and company in 2007, missing out on a perfect season.
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The 2007 season was a remarkable year for Brady and the Patriots. Records were shattered left and right on offense, and the New England Patriots nearly did the unthinkable: win a Super Bowl off a perfect regular season.
That’s right, that year, the Pats went 16-0 in the regular season, only to drop the final and most important game of the year to the New York Giants in dramatic fashion. There were a lot of things that went right that year, but ultimately, they couldn’t finish it off, and that’s a loss that haunts Brady to this day.
Of course, in terms of his overall legacy, it doesn’t matter as much because he has 7 other Super Bowl victories to boast about, but those 7 Super Bowls may not have happened had Brady won that year.
Having a chance to catch up on the ‘Man in the Arena’ @TomBrady special & how could I not bask in the greatest play in #SuperBowl history? 😉 #Giants #Patriots pic.twitter.com/Za5TU3MSqS
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) March 12, 2022
When Tom Brady reminisced about what losing Super Bowl 42 did for his career
Brady’s monstrous 2007 season was arguably his greatest season as a quarterback. He threw for 4,806 yards, 50 touchdowns (a then NFL record and career high) and the Patriots then set the record for most points scored in a season.
In fact, in the final game of the regular season, the Patriots beat the Giants in a high scoring thriller 38-35. However, the game was completely different in the Super Bowl.
The Giants pass rush made Brady’s life miserable, and the prolific duo of Moss and Brady never found a groove. There was also, of course, the Helmet Catch which changed the course of the game completely, but nevertheless, Brady’s record-breaking offense never found their groove and that’s what cost them in the end. Looking back at the loss, Brady realizes that he may have wanted to retire earlier.
“Had we won that game, I’m not a big hypothetical guy, but maybe the desire is a little bit different if you’re looking at [a] silver lining,” Brady said. “Maybe the desire to reach that point, maybe I would have been fulfilled, not to stop playing at that time, but I don’t know, maybe I play another seven or eight years and I’m fulfilled. Maybe not, but there’s not much I can do about it now. Maybe that’s the lesson in life.
“Dealing with what happens, positive [and] negative. You can’t change it. You can learn from it and hopefully it can make you a good person and you deal with life in a positive way. And when things don’t go your way, appreciate the other people who it goes good for, and then try your hardest to get back there again. And I knew that if I ever won a Super Bowl again, I was going to celebrate the [expletive] out of that one.”
If he had retired earlier, would Brady have ever reached the summit he’s at right now? Unquestionably he would have won at least one other ring, but many of Brady’s rings came very late into his career, his Tampa Bay one right at the end basically. Before the loss to the Giants Brady had already won 3 rings, but he hadn’t been to a Super Bowl since 2003.
Of course, there would eventually be a 10 year gap before Brady won another Super Bowl as he lost to the Giants one more time in 2012 before finally getting his fourth ring in 2014.
There are so many variables to consider when thinking about all the hypotheticals of what would have happened if Brady won that Super Bowl, but nonetheless we got to see an incredible career from an incredible player.
