Tom Brady is a seven-time Super Bowl champion, but all of that success has not satisfied him. In fact, it may never satisfy him because the one he truly wanted is the one that got away.
During the NFL draft-a-thon over the weekend, Brady revealed that he’d happily trade not one, but two of his seven Lombardi Trophies if it meant he could go back in time and win Super Bowl XLII, securing perfection for the New England Patriots.
“Would you be willing to trade two Super Bowl rings to win that one Super Bowl?” Shannon Sharpe asked Brady.
“I would,” Brady said without hesitation.
Brady and the Patriots, of course, fell in dramatic fashion to Eli Manning and the New York Giants, 17-14, in what many would argue is the greatest Super Bowl ever played and easily the greatest upset in league history.
It is something that has haunted Brady for years and he’s never been shy about admitting it.
“That 2007 game is one my least favorite football memories, probably because I had a lot of you on top of me, with grass hanging off my back,” Brady told retired Giants Osi Umenyiora in February. “You guys had a great defense. You guys deserved to win.”
The Patriots, who had barely hung on to defeat the Giants in Week 17 to go 16-0 that season, entered the game as 12-point favorites. Precious few gave the 10-6 Giants, who only made the playoffs as a wildcard team, a chance to win.
But that’s why they play the game. Unexpected things can happen at any moment and for the remainder of Brady’s life, he will be known as the Greatest of All-Time with that one (really, two) glaring Super Bowl defeat at the hands of Tom Coughlin, Manning and Big Blue.
18-1 !!! https://t.co/qjPKvaR8dX
— Antonio Pierce (@AntonioPierce) May 3, 2021
Brady is a legend and there will never be any denying it, but the Giants were legend killers at the time and that can never be taken away from them.
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