Later on, Madden kind of made up for it though by saying “What Tom Brady just did gave me goosebumps.” Well, made up for it for me. Also, Madden saying that, as exalted as he was, gave me an inkling that maybe we’ve really got something in this Tom Brady. Have to remember the Pats we’re coming off a 5-11 season in 2000, so they were not on national TV much in ‘01. Point is, living in California, I hadn’t seen much of Brady, or the team. Of course, I watched every play of the Oakland and Pittsburgh games, but the snow in the first of those and Tom’s injury in the second limited him a lot. Back to the game, a bit later, Pat Summerall said matter of factly “right down the pipe.” and I jumped out of my chair and yelled “he made it!!!”, which I guess meant I didn’t expect Adam to do, probably because of all Boston teams failing to close the deal since Larry’s Celtics.
As astounding as 49 and 51 were, 36 is still “it” for me. So, 2001 season. The final drive and Adam’s kick were like one big moment, or blur. Favorite other player, nothing new, Gronk.