These 5 Moments Defined Tom Brady's Career, GOAT Legacy

TAMPA, FL — Dominque Foxworth, the former NFL cornerback and current ESPN writer and commentator, posed a question that many around the league, country and world have been asking about Tom Brady following the end of his 2022-2023 season on the ESPN show Debatable.

"Someone explain to me why he would do anything that requires him to put on a helmet and get hit next season."

Few people can come up with a great answer for the 45-year-old future first-ballot Hall of Famer, including Brady himself.

In a video posted to social media early Wednesday morning, Brady, sitting on a beach in front of a set of high-rise condos, shared with the world that he'd be retiring from the league he came to define for over two decades.

"Good morning guys," said Brady. "I'll get to the point right away. I'm retiring, for good."

"I know the process was a pretty big deal last time," added Brady.

He was, of course, short-selling it a bit. Last time, Brady was tangled in an odd story that included tampering, a lawsuit filed against the league, the potential that he'd become a player-owner of the Miami Dolphins and, eventually, a return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after his initial retirement announcement (hence the, "for good").

The strange — and often strained — end to Brady's career will not be what defines his legacy. Instead, he will largely be remembered for being one of the most dominant forces in league history.

Brady and the New England Patriots with Head Coach Bill Belichick at the helm were the winners of six Super Bowls from the start of the decade until his departure after the 2019 season. He won another Super Bowl with the Bucs in 2020.

He is the record holder for career wins, Pro Bowl appearances, Super Bowl MVP awards, completions, passing attempts, passing yards and passing touchdowns. He was also named MVP three times.

Some of those records verge on untouchable, garnering him the well-deserved GOAT moniker.

Brady will always be claimed by Patriots fans, who watched the sixth-round draft pick go from relative obscurity to Super Bowl champion to future Hall of Famer and, maybe, the greatest football player of all time.

With that in mind, Patch has compiled a list of five defining moments in the career of Tom Brady.

28-3

Poor Matt Ryan. Poor Falcons. Poor Kyle Shanahan.

If there were ever a pinnacle Tom Brady moment, Super Bowl LI's comeback victory is that moment.

There's really not much that needs to be said about the moment, but to come back from 25 down on the sport's biggest stage defined the feeling that opponents often felt with the Patriots. Brady and Belichick? They're inevitable.

2007 MVP Season

Brady's greatest individual season came in 2007. He won the league MVP while tossing 50 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 passing yards while coming within one game and an unexplainable catch of an undefeated season.

Brady's 50 touchdowns are tied for second-most in a single season with Patrick Mahomes, only behind Peyton Manning's 55. But, records aside, this was far and away the most explosive offense the Patriots fielded during Brady's run, and probably have ever fielded.

Randy Moss caught 23 touchdowns on his way to the best season of his own legendary career, and Wes Welker went over 1,000 yards, marking the development of a signature Patriots position player: The small, shifty — white — slot receiver.

Hell, Brady threw two touchdowns to linebacker Mike Vrabel.

Greatest Show On Turf, Meet The Greatest Of All Time

Brady's first appearance in the big game came in Super Bowl XXXVI against one of the most exciting offenses in NFL history in "the Greatest Show On Turf" Rams.

As it's remembered now, a young, under-drafted underdog took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe and won the Super Bowl MVP thanks to a last-second kick off the foot of Adam Vinatieri.

Brady only passed for 145 yards and a touchdown in that game, but it marked the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership between he and Belichick.

Deflategate

Ok, so this isn't necessarily a fun one, but if we're talking about defining moments this is certainly one of them.

The Tom Brady-Peyton Manning rivalry was, indeed, the defining rivalry of Brady's career. The two quarterbacks can certainly be credited with the new passing renaissance in the NFL, but, depending on who you ask — ahem, the Colts — the Patriots could go a little too far to try and win games.

Essentially, the story goes that, during a 2014 matchup, the Colts began examining balls picked off by the team's defensive backs. According to an NBC Sports Boston timeline, the team described them as "tacky, spongy and soft when squeezed."

In 2015, Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson sent a letter to the league expressing concerns, stating that it was "well known around the league that after the Patriots gameballs are checked by the officials and brought out for game usage the ballboys for the patriots will let our some air with a ball needle because their quarterback likes a smaller football so he can grip it better."

An interception in the AFC Championship game officially sparked "Deflategate" as we know it, after the Colts measured the ball pressure and alerted league officials. At halftime, twelve Patriots game balls were measured below the league minimum requirement.

The Patriots eventually defeated the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl that year, but Brady was suspended four games and fined $1 million in the wake of a report into the matter. Draft picks were also forfeited by the team, including a first-round pick in 2016.

But the issue established a few things among both the fandom and NFL fans at large.

First, it cemented the evil genius aura surrounding the team outside of New England. It seemed that Belichick and Brady had no bounds when it came to winning, which they did often. Second, within the region, it established an "Us Against The League" mentality, complete with that logo of Roger Goodell with a clown nose that's plastered across the back of every other SUV from Rhode Island to Maine.

Super Bowl 7

Brady's time in New England flamed out famously, with a purported rift between himself, Belichick and owner Robert Kraft.

But victory is the best revenge, and Brady took his talents to Tampa Bay, where he won Super Bowl LV while passing for over 5,000 yards. In the Super Bowl, he tossed three touchdowns in a route of the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes.

Notably, the Patriots haven't won a playoff game since his departure, and it's unclear exactly how rosy the relationship is, even after Brady's most recent retirement.

Those are five moments compiled by Patch, but we want to hear from you. What are your five favorite Tom Brady moments, and how will you remember the GOAT?