Tom Brady

NFL superstar quarterback Tom Brady (born August 3, 1977) has a career that would make many highly accomplished players envious. While some chase Super Bowl dreams into retirement and beyond, Tom Brady has already had his dreams come true three times over. A comparatively conservative player in a play-to-play sense, Tom Brady’s big picture strategies can be quite bold, relying on clockwork execution of straightforward plays to deliver wins when it really counts.

This ability to hand in a terrific performance against the clock and against the odds has made Tom Brady one of the most recognized names in NFL football. In fact, coming through in clutch situations is a hallmark of both Brady and his teammates—in particular kicker Adam Vinatieri. The Patriots’ astounding 2002 upset against the St. Louis Rams at the Super Bowl owed much to the defense stifling the previously unstoppable Rams offense—but it was Tom Brady’s courageous play action that carried the day.

A fearless drive on the part of Tom Brady put the Patriots within striking distance of the Rams uprights and then it fell on Vinatieri to put the nail in the coffin. And the then still green Tom Brady did it again in 2004, pulling his team through another squeaker by getting dynamite kicker Adam Vinatieri within range with just a minute to go against the Carolina Panthers. Vinatieri came through in the clutch, and Brady scored his second MVP trophy—alongside his second Super Bowl win.

In the process of reversing the AFC’s long-running reputation for poor Super Bowl performances, Tom Brady also made fans and the media sit up in their seats with his startling leadership and dynamic play. Lo and behold, 2005’s Super Bowl had people talking about a Patriots dynasty as star quarterback Tom Brady again handed proved too much for the opposition.

But no one would have suspected Tom Brady would be the most talked about quarterback in the NFL on the basis of his college career. While he did win a Bowl game, his performance throughout college was not enough to see him picked out of the draft until the sixth round—unimaginable now, but they say hindsight is 20/20.