Tom Brady's legacy as one of the greatest players in NFL history was largely defined by his uncanny ability to win. Over his career that spanned more than two decades, Brady reached an unprecedented 10 Super Bowls, winning seven times.
Though no player has been better at reaching the Super Bowl, Brady did not grasp the full gravity of winning the Big Game until later in his career. When Brady originally became the New England Patriots starting quarterback, he led the team to three Super Bowl wins in four years. He won three titles before losing a single playoff game, leading him to not fully grasp what the game meant to his career until later on.
"I literally went wire-to-wire for two weeks," Brady recalled to Colin Cowherd on The Herd. "I just realized how important these games were. For me, what I realized early in my career about Super Bowls was 'man, we won my first year. What's the big deal? ... Now I'm in the Super Bowl, we won. We didn't have a great season in 2002, we won in 2003. What's the big deal? We won in 2004, what's the big deal?"
After the Patriots won the Super Bowl to cap the '04 season, they saw a 10-year title drought before taking home their next Lombardi Trophy. During that drought, they lost two Super Bowls to the New York Giants.
"Then you go to 2007 and you lose, and then you go to 2011 and you get to the Super Bowl after having a great team in 2010 and we lose," Brady told Cowherd. "It was just like, 'Wow. This is way harder.' We went 10 years between winning. And then I went, these Super Bowl moments that I get a chance to partake in, I'm gonna exhaust every bit of energy I have."
"When you lose this game, it's on your resume forever. A loss in the Super Bowl matters more than any loss you're ever going to be a part of."
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) February 7, 2025
— @TomBrady to @ColinCowherd pic.twitter.com/vbB6hfv3l7
Brady added that the Super Bowl is particularly important because everyone will remind him of those losses, but not his defeats in AFC championship games, even though he lost more career conference championship games than Super Bowls.
"When you lose this game, it's on your résumé forever," Brady said. "A loss in the Super Bowl matters more than any loss you're ever going to be a part of. ... They all tell me about the losses in the Super Bowl."
Once Brady truly realized the gravity of the Super Bowl, he took on an intense level of preparation before each game. In his final Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs, Brady said he knew the Chiefs defense better than they did, taking note of what each player's every body movement signified which allowed him to know what defensive play was coming at him. This unparalleled attention to detail, which Brady refers to as his superpower, is a key reason why Brady won a record seven Super Bowls, including his final one in Super Bowl LV against Kansas City.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Tom Brady Reveals Why He Didn't Grasp Full Weight of Super Bowl Until Later in Career.
