Over the past week, there was doubt as to whether New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady would even play yesterday (Jan. 21) as he suffered a hand injury that listed him as questionable on the team’s injury report. There were some who were surprised by Brady’s performance, but as a Giants fan, I was not surprised at all. Reports by ESPN and the Boston Globe were used as sources for this article.

What happened to TB12?

Brady injured himself in practice, which some say is due to a botched handoff to Rex Burkhead. He cut his hand and required stitches to close the cut.

Brady, despite being limited in practice and listed as questionable, kept it cool, answering “we’ll see” when asked if he would play. Brady ended up playing against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who had one of the top NFL defenses this season, in the AFC Championship Game. He went out and did what he does best: get the job done. He completed almost 70 percent of his passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns, to lift the Pats over the Jaguars, 24-20. In another display of his clutch ability, he threw for over 100 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner, in the fourth quarter.

Don’t underestimate Brady

Since the minute he was eligible for the 1999 NFL draft, Tom Brady was underestimated. You know how the story goes: The kid from Michigan get drafted in the 6th round as the 199th overall pick of the draft and becomes the “diamond in the rough” that no one saw coming.

Despite being, arguably, the greatest of all time, Brady has had to prove himself early and often in his NFL career. He had to prove he was better than Drew Bledsoe and unseat him from the starting role. He had to show that his sophomore season was not a fluke, even if he won a Super Bowl in the 2000 NFL season over the St.

Louis Rams (then known as the Greatest Show on Turf), and did so quickly, winning two more Super Bowls in the 2003 and 2004 NFL seasons. He had to prove he could be the same, great quarterback after tearing his ACL and being replaced by Matt Cassel in the 2008 season. Currently, he is proving that he can defy the age curve, unlike other quarterbacks who rapidly declined after turning 40.

It seems that the trade that sent Jimmy Garoppolo to San Francisco 49ers did make sense, that Brady could still play at an elite level for at least the rest of the year.

Brady’s Comeback History

Tom Brady has a history of making comebacks in huge games. Last year, not only did he make history by playing in the first Super Bowl that went into overtime, but he did so by overcoming a 25-point deficit against the Atlanta Falcons and scoring 31 straight points to win the first Super Bowl that ever went into overtime. In 2014, Brady led the Patriots to a Super Bowl win over the Seattle Seahawks’ Legion of Boom defense, which humiliated the Denver Broncos 43-8 the previous year. While it can be chalked up to questionable play calling by the Seahawks (Marshawn Lynch should have run the ball), Brady still had to rally his offense and did so by throwing his fourth touchdown of the game to Julian Edelman, leaving the Seahawks to run their two-minute drill.

While I am a Patriot hater like a lot of you and love the fact that the Giants were the only team to deny Brady (twice!) a Super Bowl victory, I respect what Brady has done in his career. Last night, he showed why he has overcome the seemingly impossible time and time again.
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