The GOAT: Serena

In the twenty seasons Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Robert Kraft were together, The New England Patriots went to nine Super Bowls and won six. How did "The Big Three" come together? As they head their separate ways for the 2020 NFl season, we look back at the origins of The Patriots Dynasty, and the seeds that would one day grow to make Tom Brady The Greatest of All Time.

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Tom Brady has a complicated history with the University of Michigan. He was estranged from the school he loves for more than a decade after graduation. Why? He felt unappreciated. He showed up as a freshman seventh on the depth chart and was redshirted. Then Brady was a back-up for two years. And despite a 20-5 record his final two seasons when he was finally named the starter, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr kept Brady looking over his ...

Tom Brady became mentally tough at Michigan. He felt slighted from the day he arrived to the final game of his college career. He was even benched during an overtime victory against Alabama while throwing for 369 yards and four touchdowns. Brady did enjoy Michigan but the five years seemed like twenty in football years. Brady then suffered as he waited to hear his name called at the 2001 NFL draft. Finally, in the middle of the six...

In game 2 of Tom Brady’s second season with the New England Patriots, starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe suffered internal bleeding after a hit and almost died. The next man up was Brady, who had thrown three total passes in his rookie season—and completed only one. The Patriots were 0-2 at that point in the 2001 NFL season. Would they win a single game? Yes, in fact they would go on to win 14 games, including Super Bowl XXXVI.

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Tom Brady saved Bill Belichick's job. Bill Belichick was 5-11 in his first season as the coach of the New England Patriots. Belichick was 0-2 in his second season when Drew Bledsoe was injured so badly that both his football career and his life was on the line. Belichick knew he was on a short leash—or thin ice—and could be fired at the end of the season. Not many knew it at the time, but Belichick wanted to open the season wit...

The streets of New Orleans in the week leading up to the St. Louis Rams-New England Patriots Super Bowl XXXVI were red, white, and blue. It was about five months after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. It was the most patriotic Super Bowl ever, so maybe it was appropriate the Patriots won. It was also when the football world found out Tom Brady was for real—as he led an amazing last-minutes drive for one of the greates...

Tom Brady was a draft day afterthought as the 199th overall pick when he went to the New England Patriots in 2000. Peyton Manning was born into NFL royalty, destined to be the #1 overall pick and greatness on the Indianapolis Colts and then the Denver Broncos. This unlikely pairing of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning produced the greatest rivalry in NFL football history, and one that many feel shaped the modern NFL in many ways. The tw...

The rivalry between Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts (and then the Denver Broncos) was so intense that it carried over to games played between Brady and Peyton’s little brother Eli Manning—and not just in the Super Bowl. Peyton once asked the New York Giants defense, through Eli, to prevent Tom Brady from breaking his single season TD record. In return, if the mission was accomplish...

In Game 1 of the 2007 season NFL security busted up the New England Patriots' espionage ring—what came to be known as Spygate. Bill Belichick was having his film crew tape the opposing team's defensive signals. The Patriots went on to football's first 16-0 regular season record and it was only one of the greatest underdog performances in NFL history by Eli Manning's New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII—including the f...

Is Tom Brady a cheater? Two weeks after he was accused by the Indianapolis Colts of having air leaked out of their footballs in the 2014 AFC Championship Game, Tom Brady won Super Bowl LI—his fourth Super Bowl victory. Brady was suspended for four games, fined $1 million, and the New England Patriots forfeited two draft picks. There were many legal machinations and appeals involving the NFL, commissioner Roger Goodell, as well as f...

Jim Nantz of CBS Sports tells the story of the time he and Tom Brady played golf with former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in Kennebunkport, Maine. It’s just one of the perks of being The GOAT. Here’s another perk: Tom Brady is a world class locker room practical joker and as his backup quarterback on the New England Patriots, Matt Cassel, discovered, never mess with anybody who makes more money than you.

FROM THE EPI...

In this special bonus episode we look at what's going on with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in real time. Does The GOAT have one more magical run in him at the age of 43? The first 12 games of the 2020 NFL season have brought us an odd couple in Bruce Arians and Tom Brady. The Bucs come down the 2020 season with a 7-5 record and slightly damaged but still realistic Super Bowl hopes. To get back home to play the Super B...

Sequels rarely equal the originals. It’s true with movies and especially true with quarterbacks. What about Tom Brady on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after 20 years on the New England Patriots? He's trying to rewrite the script of Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, and his hero, Joe Montana. Second acts haven’t always been pretty in the NFL, but Tom Brady is intent on changing the narrative by holding up his seventh Lombardi Trophy. Is 43 ...

Tom Brady wins Round 1 in the NFL’s most celebrated divorce. He’s on the verge of going to the playoffs with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New England Patriots will miss the postseason for the first time since 2008. For this season, Bill Belichick misses Brady a lot more than Brady misses Belichick... even though the Bucs would be much better than 9-5 if Belichick was coaching them instead of Bruce Arians. But what about The Pat...

Tom Brady is heading to Washington on Saturday night with the hopes of going on a Super Bowl run with his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs play the Washington Football Team in the NFC Wild Card matchup. Brady threw 40 touchdown passes and the Bucs finished 11-5 after ending the regular season with four straight victories. Tom and his team are red-hot. Brady already has been to more Super Bowls (9) and won more Super Bow...

Tom Brady vs. Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field in the NFC Championship Game. It just doesn’t get any better than that. It’s a match-up for the ages — and for the aged. Brady is trying to get to his 10th Super Bowl (!) in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As great as Aaron Rodgers has been this season, he’s only been to one Super Bowl. Who takes The Lambeau Leap to Super Bowl LV? Renowned sports broadcasters Al Michaels ...

Tom Brady has made it to his 10th Super Bowl, an almost unimaginable feat. But this one is different. Brady came without the New England Patriots. Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs will meet the explosive Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes on February 7 in Super Bowl LV. The Bucs are the first team to make it to the Super Bowl on their home field. Host Gary Myers interviews Tom Brady's father, Tom Brady Sr., about his son's ...

Tom Brady will be playing in his 10th Super Bowl for his 7th Super Bowl championship when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV on their home field in Tampa this Sunday. Host Gary Myers talks to Tom Brady about how hard it is to win the Super Bowl at a time when he was stuck on three victories for ten years. Brady predicted then nobody would win six or seven. He's wrong on six. And he's tryin...

Tom Brady just can't stop winning Super Bowls. On this last episode of the season we hear from Tom Brady, Tom Brady Sr., Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians, and Phil Simms of CBS. In his first year with the Bucs, Brady not only led them to the playoffs for the first time since 2007, but won three playoff games to get them back home to be the first team to ever play the Super Bowl on their home field. And in this uniqu...