Tom Brady took over the starting QB role from Drew Bledsoe in the 2001 season for the Patriots, and the rest is quite literally history.
Advertisement
Brady would take New England to the top of the NFL world in his first year as a starter, and in doing so, he created the most dominant NFL team of all-time, one that reigned over the league for 20 long years.
Additionally, Brady would go on to cement his status as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, retiring now as the certified GOAT. However, Brady’s ascent to legendary status was definitely extremely situational. The only reason Brady was given a shot was because New England’s starter Drew Bledsoe went down with an injury on a brutal hit.
Who knows what direction Brady’s career would have gone in if not for that injury. Would any team take a chance on him? Would Bill Belichick ever insert Brady into the system he established with Bledsoe? We’ll never know.
Once Brady was established as the starter, there was one game where he felt like he could be demoted again if the Pats hadn’t won.
Tom Brady explains why this one game ensured Drew Bledsoe wouldn’t take his starting job again
While Brady did have the starting job locked down, it wasn’t like he was lighting up defenses on a nightly basis Brady was essentially a rookie at that point, and the Patriots made sure to ride their defense and run-game more on their way to the Super Bowl that year.
In fact, if you go purely off the stats, Bledsoe was averaging more yards per game than Brady prior to his injury (200 to 189.5 although Bledsoe did only play two games). He had been New England’s starter for eight years and he had been selected to the Pro Bowl thrice during that stretch.
So for Brady to replace him, it truly represented a monumental shift. It’s also why Brady didn’t truly feel like his job was safe until the Pats won the Divisional Round game in that playoff run. That game is now infamously known as the ‘Tuck Rule Game.’ For reference:
The play sparked controversey everywhere as people argued if the play should have been ruled a fumble or not. If it was a fumble, the Pats most definitely lose that game and Brady never wins the title that year. Instead, they were able to go down and kick the game-tying field goal before eventually winning the game in overtime.
“I’m probably the backup QB going into 2002,” Brady said, according to NBC Sports Boston. “I’m not the starter if we lose that game.” It’s an interesting take, but there definitely is a scenario where Belichick decides to go back to his trusted vet after not seeing anything impressive from his ‘rookie.’ Instead, the Pats won and Brady showed out in the Super Bowl where he led a game-winning drive to upset the Los Angeles Rams, en-route to six more Super Bowl wins.
