"Magical ending to a magical season" - Tom Brady relives his first taste of Super Bowl success in "Man in the Arena" documentary
Tom Brady knows better than anybody how to process the emotions that come with winning the Super Bowl. But it wasn't always like that for the seven-time champion.
Back in 2002, Brady was 24 and won the Super Bowl in relief of Drew Bledsoe.
The first episode of Brady's new documentary, "Man in the Arena," revealed just how overcome with emotion Brady was in 2002. Brady became a household name overnight, and his reaction from that first Super Bowl will always feel magical to him.
The 10-part Man in the Arena: Tom Brady debuts exclusively on ESPN+ today.
New England had 60-1 preseason odds to win the Pro Football Championship in 2001, the 2nd-longest by any eventual champion in the last 40 years behind St. Louis in 1999 (150-1). https://t.co/bjquAfmxs9
Tom Brady relives his first taste of Super Bowl success in "Man in the Arena" documentary
In the first episode of "Man in the Arena," Brady narrated his reaction to being crowned Super Bowl champion. Despite it being almost 20 years ago, Brady can still remember it like it was yesterday. Brady said,
"I still see it and I remember it like it was yesterday. The feeling. And I remember I was slamming Drew on the shoulder pads: 'We won the bleeping Super Bowl! I was standing on the podium and I made eye contact with my sisters, and I just remember putting my hands on my head saying: 'Can you believe we won the Super Bowl?' It was a magical ending to a magical season."
Brady's first Super Bowl was what put him on the map for NFL fans. As the 199th pick in the draft, Brady didn't expect the New England Patriots to turn the franchise over to him.
Drew Bledsoe may not have set the world on fire, but he was a veteran with experience in the playoffs.
Tom Brady and Bledsoe had a good student-teacher dynamic going during the 2001-02 season. Despite being replaced by the younger, less-heralded Brady, Bledsoe was a good teammate and didn't let his hurt pride show.
But that didn't stop Bledsoe from revealing in the episode that Brady wasn't a threat in his eyes.
Nobody saw Tom Brady coming 😂 https://t.co/CT1JjXszGz
Bledsoe deserves credit for leading the Patriots to a playoff victory that year when Brady suffered an injury. Without him, Brady may not have been able to tell the story of how he felt after the win.
Brady shows with his documentary that he has more personality and emotion than he showed under Bill Belichick's watch.
There are nine more episodes to go, meaning nine more Super Bowl experiences are left to be covered. Brady would like to include an 11th episode should the Tampa Bay Buccaneers make it back to the Super Bowl in February.