The Patriots' Perfect Ending To Their Imperfect Season
Had the Patriots beat the Giants in the 2007 Super Bowl, could Tom Brady’s career have ended years ago?
Each week while Man in the Arena airs on ESPN+, we’ll dedicate these Friday newsletters to examining the latest episode of the series, trying to understand what each of Tom Brady’s Super Bowl seasons can teach us about the nature of competition.
When talking about the 2007 New England Patriots, it’s only a matter of time before the word “perfect” is used, so let’s get it out of the way early, right at the top of this column. That team, of course, is best known for finishing the regular season a perfect 16-0 and entered the Super Bowl with a chance to be the first undefeated team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Look at the roster, and you’ll find a team constructed in a way that can only be described as…well, perfect. Perfect quarterback in Tom Brady, perfect receivers in Randy Moss and Wes Welker, and a perfect defense led by Rodney Harrison, Vince Wilfork, and Mike Vrabel. And then, all of a sudden, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning slipped out of a sack, heaved a ball down field, and receiver David Tyree pinned the ball to his helmet to set up a Giants touchdown. The Patriots lost. Perfect no more.
Except—the scene that followed, as detailed in the latest episode of our series Man in the Arena streaming now on ESPN+, was a perfect ending to a decidedly imperfect game, a moment that couldn’t have been scripted any better. The Patriots, stunned, loaded onto the bus when the desert skies in Phoenix opened up. Rain came down through the dark night. “We’re sitting there on the bus in the pitch black,” said Brady. “Everyone is just sitting there dead quiet. Our hearts were broken.”
Phoenix averages nine inches of rain a year. It’s smack dab in the middle of the desert. But on that night, of all nights, the rain pattered onto the roof of that bus, breaking the silence of stunned defeat.
Had you stood up on that bus that night, turned around to address the Patriots, and proclaimed, “What if this was supposed to happen?” you wouldn’t have made it the rest of the ride to the hotel. But there’s a moment in this episode, when Brady is remembering the sleepless nights that followed the loss (“That didn’t happen. That was a nightmare. When’s the Super Bowl?”), where he pauses a moment to consider the possibility. Maybe the loss was for the best. Maybe it changed the course of football history. Maybe it transformed Brady’s career.
“Had we won that game, I don’t know,” Brady said, pausing. “I’m not a big hypothetical guy, but maybe the desire is a little bit different. If you’re looking at a silver lining, maybe the desire to reach that point, maybe I would’ve been fulfilled not to stop playing at that time, but I don’t know. Maybe I’d play another seven or eight years and I’m fulfilled.”
It’s a tantalizing what-if. What would have happened without the loss? What would have become of the undefeated Patriots? Maybe sometimes a loss is exactly what you need to stay driven. Maybe a loss can be perfect, too.
Now Streaming: Man In The Arena Podcast
In addition to the docuseries, we’re also producing a Man in the Arena podcast, in which Gotham Chopra explores two decades of Brady’s career through the eyes of the fans and haters, those inside and outside of the arena. Each episode grapples with the ways in which Brady has altered our understanding of sports. In episode four, Gotham explores the concept of perfection. What really is a “perfect” season? Is perfection even possible?
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– Tom Brady