Brady remains calm in biggest game of year
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
February 4, 2002
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Outside the Superdome, an unprecedented security force was protecting the NFL's showcase game. Inside was all of the singing and dancing that's come to be expected of the Super Bowl's lengthy pregame show.
In the New England Patriots' locker room -- and inside Tom Brady's head -- everything was calm.
Waking up from a pregame nap just before gametime, the 24-year-old quarterback played with poise and efficiency on Sunday, leading the Patriots to their first NFL championship with a 20-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams.
``The locker room was quiet, so I just put my head back and had a little snooze,'' Brady said after becoming the youngest quarterback to win the Super Bowl. ``I woke up calm and confident.''
The sore-ankled former fourth-stringer was named the game's Most Valuable Player, completing an improbable season for himself and a team that went from worst to first in the AFC East and advanced through the playoffs with an air of destiny.
``He did a great job all year long,'' said Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, who wrote a similar script two years ago when he went from undrafted backup to Super Bowl MVP. ``The big thing that I think he did was he didn't make any mistakes.''
Brady completed 16 of 27 passes for 145 yards and led the Patriots on a 53-yard drive to the Rams 30 to set up Adam Vinatieri's game-winning 48-yard field goal with no time left. But mostly what Drew Bledsoe's former backup did was steer the offense with a steady hand and convert the opportunities handed him by the defense and special teams.
``You can't say enough about that kid. He has a tremendous amount of confidence. He has led this team,'' said David Patten, who caught Brady's 8-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-3 with 36 seconds left in the first half.
``Maybe he doesn't have the most impressive statistics, but it doesn't matter. The kid knows how to win. He knows how to motivate other players.''
Although Brady completed only one NFL pass coming into the season, he is no stranger to big crowds, having played in front of 100,000-plus fans in college at Michigan. Perhaps that's why he wasn't fazed by either the Super Bowl hoopla or the Rams, a season removed from a championship victory and considered ``The Greatest Show on Turf.''
``I kept telling myself all week that this was just another game, even though everything leading up to the game said it was a bigger game,'' Brady said. ``But it just came down to playing good football, and that's what we did.''
Brady had trouble holding onto the starting job at Michigan -- one reason he wasn't picked by the Patriots until the sixth round in the 1999 draft. But coach Bill Belichick saw enough in him to keep him on the roster for all of last year as a rare fourth quarterback.
This summer, Brady started training camp as the No. 4 quarterback before being promoted to Bledsoe's primary backup. When Bledsoe was hurt Sept. 23 -- an injury that kept him off the field for seven games -- Brady came on in relief and sparked New England's turnaround.
``At that point, we were 0-2. We weren't thinking of the Super Bowl. We were trying to win some games,'' Belichick said. ``We've come a long way since that point.''
The Patriots, who went 5-11 in 2000, were 5-4 when Bledsoe was ready to return. Belichick made a halfhearted attempt at a quarterback competition, but after a loss -- to the Rams -- on Nov. 18, he decided he couldn't do that and adequately prepare for the week's opponent.
The job was Brady's for the rest of the season, but Bledsoe never let his demotion become a distraction. The three-time Pro Bowl selection helped his understudy in meetings, at practice and on the sidelines, and was there congratulating Brady after New England beat the Rams.
``He's been one of my biggest supporters,'' Brady said. ``He sets an example for all of us, and I got a tremendous amount of confidence from him. He's a huge part of the reason why we've been successful this year.''
Brady led the Patriots to an 11-5 regular-season record, then keyed a 16-13 overtime win over the Oakland Raiders in the playoffs. But Brady sprained his ankle in the AFC championship game, and the Patriots needed to be rescued by Bledsoe.
When the time came to pick the starter for the Super Bowl, though, Belichick went back to Brady.
Again, Bledsoe handled the news with grace.
``Obviously, I would like to have been on the field,'' he said long after the game as a handful of lingering fans wearing his jersey chanted his name. ``But I'm very proud of the contribution I've made to this team.''
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Belichick's confidence in Brady pays off
By Vinnie Iyer - The Sporting News
Tom Brady was a big-play, big-game performer in college bowls as a Michigan Wolverine, and based on his clutch, calm, mistake-free performance in Super Bowl 36, he could keep his "money player" status for years to come in the NFL.
The 24-year-old Patriot, named the game's MVP, became the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl by guiding the Pats 53 yards with a minute and a half remaining for the game-winning 48-yard field goal, giving them a shocking 20-17 upset of the highly-favored Rams on Sunday.
Before the game, there was tremendous pressure on Brady to "keep up" with the Rams' high-scoring offense, but his defense decided to give him a hand and let him play with the lead for most of the game. Brady didn't seem to blink in front of the glaring lights, doing what he had done all season -- being a leader first and a pure passer second.
Credit Pats offensive coordinator Charlie Weis for making things simple for his first-year starter by calling smart short pass plays and mixing in a straight-ahead power running game. It was the perfect way to attack the Rams' cover-2 zone defense, and Brady responded by spreading the ball well underneath, as usual.
Eleven years ago, current Patriots coach Bill Belichick capped off his run as the Giants' defensive mastermind by working with coach Bill Parcells to shock another offensive juggernaut, the 1990 Buffalo Bills. The Giants won the closest game in Super Bowl history on the silver annniversary of the game, surviving 20-19.
The Giants relied on a ball-control conservative offense (they held the ball for a Super Bowl-record 40 minutes, 33 seconds), leaning on the strength of Belichick's unit, the cautious play of inexperienced starting quarterback Jeff Hostetler and the running of Ottis Anderson.
Brady was in Hostetler's role in February 2002, carefully watching over Weis and Belichick's game plan. Antowain Smith provided the backfield punch for Brady, grinding out 92 yards on 18 carries.
The Patriots held the ball for seven minutes less than the Rams on Sunday, but thanks to three turnovers, they didn't need the ball long to do something effective with it. When they didn't score, they moved the ball just enough en route to winning the field-position battle.
Brady threw for only 145 yards and a touchdown, but he did everything he had to do through the air. For that second-quarter scoring pass which put the Pats ahead 14-3, Brady excelled at exploiting the biggest mismatch in New England's favor -- No. 2 receiver David Patten working on Rams suspect corner Dexter McCleon. Brady put the ball in a perfect place for Patten past McCleon for an 8-yard touchdown strike.
Brady's last two bowls also required him to come through down the stretch. Trailing 31-24 to Arkansas in the 1999 Citrus Bowl, Brady led the Wolverines to 21 points in the final 5:49 of the fourth quarter. Michigan was behind 14 points to Alabama twice in the 2000 Orange Bowl, but Brady responded with 369 yards and four TD passes for a 35-34 victory, including the game-winner in overtime.
While two non-national championship bowls pale in comparison to a Super Bowl, Brady's rally experience has helped him throughout the playoffs -- namely in the three-point wins over the Raiders and Rams. On Sunday, instead of settling for overtime and a 17-17 tie with 90 ticks left from their own 17, the Pats showed a lot of confidence in Brady by letting him let it loose despite having no timeouts.
Brady calmly worked the sideline and managed the clock, showing no sense of panic. He looked like a quarterback of 34, not 24. Instead of being thrown helplessly into the fire, Brady has been the big reason for the Pats being fired up for the past 10 weeks.
The Patriots may have defeated the Rams with Drew Bledsoe at quarterback, but that's something no one will ever know -- and I don't think Belichick is wondering about that much anymore. While Bledsoe was the strong-armed silent type, Brady seemed to bring a lot more pep and exuberance to the field, while staying within himself like a pumped-up veteran would.
Getting Bledsoe's blessing also went a long way for Brady.
"He's been one of my biggest supporters," Brady told reporters when asked about Bledsoe after the game. "He said, 'If we're going to get this done, we're going to get it done together.' That makes me want to perform even better, because I'm out there representing him."
Brady's story is similar to that of Kurt Warner, Super Bowl 34's MVP, the counterpart whom he outplayed on Sunday -- Brady was a sixth-round pick who wasn't slated to see this kind of opportunity. As was the case with Warner and the Rams two years ago, Brady and the Pats found a little serendipity can turn into a lot of postseason magic.
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Vinnie Iyer is a projects editor for The Sporting News. Email him at viyer@sportingnews.com. |
