OurBiography

New England Patriot Tom Brady is the first quarterback in NFL history to win five Super Bowl championships.

Who Is Tom Brady?

Born on August 3, 1977, in San Mateo, California, Tom Brady was drafted by the NFL's New England Patriots in 2000. The star quarterback has won two NFL MVP awards, four Super Bowl MVP awards and a record five Super Bowls wins. In an incident known as "Deflategate," Brady was suspended after an investigation into the charges that he knew about the illegal deflation of footballs before an important playoff game in 2015. After many court battles and appeals, the suspension was overturned and then reinstated. Despite being suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season, Brady went on to lead the Patriots to a record-breaking Super Bowl LI victory against the Atlanta Falcons. Brady is married to supermodel Gisele Bündchen.

Early Athletic Career

Born on August 3, 1977, in San Mateo, California, Tom Brady excelled at both football and baseball at Junipero Serra High School. After graduating in 1995, Brady passed up a chance to play professional baseball to go to the University of Michigan.

Although a member of the school's football team, Brady did not spend much time on the field in his first two college seasons. In his junior year, however, he served as the starting quarterback. That season, Brady threw 350 passes for 2,636 yards. In his final season, he helped lead his team to an Orange Bowl victory.

NFL Career

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.

Showing no signs of slowing down at age 40, Brady threw for an NFL-high 4,577 yards while guiding New England to a 13-3 record in 2017. He shrugged off an ESPN report of a supposed rift between the QB, his coach and Patriots owner Robert Kraft, but a more serious issue surfaced in mid-January 2018, when Brady hurt his throwing hand in practice days before the AFC Championship Game. Although the injury reportedly required more than 10 stitches to close, Brady proved able enough to outlast a robust defensive effort from the Jacksonville Jaguars, throwing for a late touchdown to complete the comeback win and claim an amazing eighth AFC title.

Brady lived up to his big-game reputation yet again in Super Bowl VII vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, surpassing his previous year's mark by throwing for a record 505 yards. However, the Patriots were forced to play catch-up nearly all evening, thanks to the inspired play of opposing quarterback Nick Foles, and Brady's last-second heave into the end zone was knocked away to seal the heartbreaking 41-33 defeat.

Even with the disappointing finish, there was little doubt that Brady remained the gold standard at the game's most important position, as illustrated by the NFL Network's designation of him as the league's top-ranked player heading into 2018.

Personal Life

Along with being a football champion, Brady was also chosen as one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2002 and hosted the popular comedy show Saturday Night Live in 2005.

He and longtime girlfriend Bridget Moynahan split up in late 2006. The next year, she gave birth to their son, John Edward Thomas Moynahan, in August. Brady married model Gisele Bündchen in February of 2009. The couple welcomed a son named Benjamin in December of that same year and a daughter, Vivian, born in 2012.

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