Tom Brady was already one of the best QB’s in the NFL, but in his words he wasn’t 100% like a professional player when the 2003 season rolled around. Two years had passed since he won the Super Bowl and a disappointing season as well..
Bill Belichick taught Tom Brady many things, on and off the field, but the greatest growth he had as a Patriots player came from making a decision that would immediately affect the team, but that in the end, it would be correct.
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Lawyer Milloy, the Patriots’ defensive leader, saw competition for his position brought to him, as Bill Belichick signed veteran Rodney Harrison. Milloy was a personal friend of Tom Brady and after a few weeks Lawyer was cut by the Patriots.
“At first, he was upset by that decision. I had lost my brother in the teamTom Brady said in the second chapter of Man in the Arena. But, that moment when he lost a friend, it showed him what it meant to play football.
Bill Belichick at that time justified his decision by mentioning that he made the best decision for the team and that is the magic of the head coach, few see what he can see. That strategic mind was what helped Tom Brady grow professionally.
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The devil knows more about being old …
When you have a goal in mind, things are much easier and that does not always mean that your circle will be the one with whom you achieve those goals. Tom Brady learned that when Lawyer Milloy left the Patriots and Rodney Harrison took his place..
Milloy had the same goals, but Bill Belichick saw that for the group of players and the goal that was to get Vince Lombardi back up, it was better to keep Harrison. Lawyer went to a divisional rival, the Buffalo Bills, that is, Tom Brady would see his friend twice in the season, as a rival.
The first would come immediately, in week 1 and it would not be a good thing for the Patriots, because they made no point, they lost and Tom Brady threw four interceptions. Lawyer Milloy would have a great game and the eyes of the world were on Bill Belichick’s decision.
After some losses, the Patriots began to work on what they really were, a team. Regardless of friendships, brotherhoods and others, they began to train as a group and with a marked objective. Things were starting to turn for the Patriots, Tom Brady, Rodney Harrison and the franchise.
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Tom Brady faced his greatest rival … Peyton Manning
To be the best, you have to beat the best and Tom Brady knew that to be the best he had to face Peyton Manning and the Colts. But where some watched a regular season game, Bill Belichick and Brady watched something else.
Well, the winner would not take the Vince Lombardi or anything like that, but they did ensure a great advantage in the future, which not everyone had in mind and when Tom Brady saw that, he knew he was on the same page as his coach.
Beating the Colts not only meant beating Peyton Manning, but making sure that in the postseason you see him at home and not Peyton’s home. That is why the duel was not just any one of the regular season, but it had many implications. They beat Manning with a sublime performance from Tom Brady and Rodney Harrison.
Bill Belichick would be right, as they met again against the Colts, this time in the AFC championship game, but at Gillette Stadium and with the climate that did not favor Manning, used to playing inside a dome. They tied up the Colts again and earned the right to be in the Super Bowl.
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The obsessed mind of Bill Belichick the secret weapon that helped Tom Brady
Before playing the Super Bowl and beating Peyton Manning for the second time, heThe opportunity for revenge came for the Patriots. Well, they had a pending account with the Bills and in the last game of the regular season they charged it.
But there was something before that confrontation that made Tom Brady took to the field to eat Buffalo. Brady mentions that there are many good players, but that nobody helps them to grow, to focus and to be focused, Bill Belichick was that for him.
He showed him facets of the game that only Belichick could see and that made him see them in the same way too. One of them worked to beat the Bills and by overwhelming score. Tom Brady had taken that strategic mind of Bill to take it to the field.
He grew up as a player and understood that situational soccer was much more effective and as if to do shots at school. Tom Brady repeated himself a thousand times every scenario that could happen in any NFL game, therein lies his unmatched talent.
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The championship game and second in Tom Brady’s career
The Super Bowl is in February and in that 2003 season, the Patriots had accomplished something difficult for a team to accomplish. Since the month of November, Neither team had been ahead of the Pat’s, but the Panthers managed to do it in the biggest game.
Rodney Harrison was very important in the game, putting Jake Del Homme in check several times along with the entire Patriots defense. Unfortunately for him, had to leave the game due to a broken hand, but the job was done.
In the absence of a few seconds and with the game tied, Tom Brady managed to put Adam Vinatieri back in field goal range. Vinatieri He would not miss and his field goal would mean the second Super Bowl for Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
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