Brady would later manage the team to the record of an 11-5 (11-3 as
Mut 22 coins the starter) and --after two wild playoff games with the Raiders and Steelers -- lead the Patriots franchise to its first-ever Super Bowl victory. If you've heard this story, you'll recall that this wouldn't be its last.
In the wake of beating the early-called "Greatest Show On Turf" St. Louis Rams, Brady came into 2002 as a reigning champion as well as the Week 1 starter. Brady's career spans 22 seasons and 22 seasons, he started in 20 of them (we'll go over his disastrous 2008 campaign later), and he made an appearance in the playoffs for 19 occasions of his 20 regular seasons. The 2002 season was the only one where he didn't play the game in January, being 9-7 and losing in a three-way tiebreaker for divisional play this year, and instead sending the Jets to the postseason. This was the early-era Brady who was seen as something of a game-manager, even though the season's 28 touchdowns were his career high until Randy Moss showed up half in a decade later. This would also Brady's final season on Madden where he would be rated lower than a 90.
Despite missing the playoffs the previous year, Brady would kick off his 2003 campaign by squeezing into the club of 90+ in Madden for the first time. The game that year was played by cover player and the elusive cheat code Michael Vick, but if you needed a reliable pocket passer Brady was the best option. In the real world, Brady would return to the Super Bowl that season and be able to overcome a dramatic closing quarter in the face of the Carolina Panthers, whose Jake Delhomme was widely regarded as the next Brady. The speculation would prove unsuccessful. In 2003, and
cheap Madden 22 coins despite two Lombardi trophies by that point there was no way to know what level he would set for the bar one day.
