Thomas Edward Patrick "
Tom" Brady, Jr. (born August 3,
1977) is an
American football quarterback for the
New England Patriots of the
National Football League (
NFL). After playing college football for the
University of Michigan, he was drafted by the
Patriots in the sixth round of the
2000 NFL Draft.
In
Brady's thirteen seasons as a starter, the Patriots have earned six trips to the
Super Bowl, winning three. He has also won two
Super Bowl MVP awards, two league
MVP awards (
2007,
2010), has been selected to ten Pro Bowls, and has led the Patriots to more division titles than any other quarterback in
NFL history, with twelve. Brady is fifth on the all time list for career passing yards and fifth for career touchdown passes. His career postseason record is 20–8; his playoff win total is the highest in NFL history. He helped set the record for the longest consecutive win streak in NFL history with 21 straight wins over two seasons (
2003–2004). He also set the record for most consecutive playoff wins with 10, and in 2007 led the Patriots to the first undefeated regular season since the institution of the 16-game schedule. He has thrown for more passing yards and touchdowns than any quarterback in NFL postseason history, and has the sixth highest career passer rating of all time (95.9) among quarterbacks with at least 1,
500 career passing attempts.
Brady and
Joe Montana are the only two players in NFL history to win the
NFL Most Valuable Player and Super Bowl MVP awards multiple times. Brady is the only quarterback to lead his team to six
Super Bowls. He was also named the
NFL MVP in 2007 and 2010 (becoming the first player to be unanimously chosen as MVP in the 2010 season) as well as 2007
Male Athlete of the Year by the
Associated Press, the first time an NFL player has been so honored since Joe Montana won the award in
1990. After the 2010 season, Brady was ranked as the best player in the NFL. He was also the first quarterback to throw for 50 or more touchdowns in a season. In 2010, he set the all time record for consecutive passes without an interception (335), and broke his own record for season TD:
INT ratio at 9:1 (which has since been broken by
Nick Foles).
He and
Bill Belichick have combined to form one of the most successful quarterback-coach tandems in NFL history, winning 160 regular season games and 20 postseason games together, as well as appearing in six Super Bowls together, all
NFL records
- published: 29 Jan 2015
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