Tom Brady might have won seven Super Bowls in his illustrious playing career, but that hasn’t prevented him from having memories that still haunt him in retirement.
Ahead of calling Sunday’s Bears-Vikings game at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Brady was reminded about one of his three Super Bowl losses in the latest edition of “Story Time with Tom.” US Bank Stadium was the scene where Brady and the Patriots fell to the Eagles in Super Bowl LI, when Philadelphia infamously used the “Philly Special” to score a touchdown before Brandon Graham stripped-sacked Brady late in the fourth quarter.
“Any time I see a trick play from the Eagles, I get PTSD — and that’s not fun when you’re a broadcaster calling the game,” Brady said as he recalled what happened in Super Bowl LII.
The Eagles used the “Philly Special” late in the first half of that game when facing a fourth-and-goal right before halftime, with running back Corey Clement taking a direct snap before throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Nick Foles for a touchdown to take a 22-12 lead. Philadelphia also used the “Philly Special” after New England dialed up a similar play earlier in the game, with wide receiver Danny Amendola throwing the ball to Brady. However, Brady dropped Amendola’s pass.
New England turned the ball over on downs following Brady’s dropped pass. However, that sequence and the “Philly Special” weren’t enough to end the Patriots’ Super Bowl hopes. In the fourth quarter, Brady and the Patriots got the ball with just over two minutes remaining and had the opportunity to take the lead. But Graham strip-sacked Brady on the second play of the drive, with the Eagles kicking a field goal on the ensuing possession to take an eight-point lead.
Brady and the Patriots wound up losing Super Bowl LII, 41-33, when his Hail Mary fell incomplete on the game’s final play. But Graham’s strip-sack was arguably the biggest punch that delivered the knockout blow, and Brady gets constant reminders of it.
“My guy, Brandon Graham, a fellow Wolverine, has a Wolverine-on-Wolverine crime, strip sacks me in the fourth quarter, we’re going down, we have a chance to go ahead and win the game — which would’ve been an unbelievable moment,” Brady said. “[We] dug ourselves out of a hole, and he comes through the line of scrimmage and knocks the ball out of my hand just as I’m getting ready to throw the ball away, and it ends up being a fumble.
“Now, there’s multiple times where I’ve been standing on the field at [Lincoln Financial Field] in the last two years, and he’s come from behind and he pretends that he’s strip-sacking me. It’s not funny, Brandon!”
Brandon Graham strip-sacked Tom Brady on the Patriots’ penultimate drive of Super Bowl LII. (Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Graham won his first of two Super Bowls in that game, helping the Eagles win Super Bowl LIX last season before retiring. But Graham recently rejoined Philadelphia, signing a deal in October to help bolster the Eagles’ pass rush.
As Graham and the Eagles got the last laugh over Brady and the Patriots that day, the all-time great quarterback arguably had the best performance of his career in Super Bowl LII. He completed 28 of 48 passes for 505 yards and three touchdowns in the Patriots’ loss. But Foles and the Eagles’ offense played just as well, with the quarterback throwing for 373 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 164 yards as a team.
“That was a crushing defeat for a lot of reasons,” Brady said. “We had a pretty good game that day on offense. Even though Brandin Cooks got knocked out of that game pretty early, we really never blinked. We ended up throwing for 500 yards that day. We had three receivers over 100. But this guy, Nick Foles, we just couldn’t slow him down. They played great. I’m sure a lot of people were rooting for us to lose.”
That Super Bowl also brought an interesting challenge for Brady and the Patriots. Unlike most Super Bowls, the game was held in a northern city, and the temperatures in Minneapolis that week were what you would expect in February.
Nick Foles made the catch Tom Brady wasn’t able to make in Super Bowl LII (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
“The temperatures all week were below 10 degrees,” Brady said. “I don’t think I left my hotel except to go to practice. Then, I would come home from practice and I would lay on my bed and let the sun come through the window because it was the only heat I felt all week.
“I’ve always said, there could be a lot of distractions during Super Bowl week because all the families come into town and everyone wants to do things,” Brady added. “But what was really distracting is when it’s 10 degrees outside and nobody has any place to go. So, all we did was sit around the hotel the whole time waiting for the game to happen.”
Brady and the Patriots were able to avenge that Super Bowl loss a year later, defeating the Rams in Super Bowl LIII for their sixth title and second in three years. Still, the Super Bowl losses seem to stick with Brady as much as the wins do, especially when Philadelphia fans are involved.
“In some ways, that was one of the most memorable losses because I get reminded of it all the time, when I go cover these Philadelphia Eagles games and all the fans cheer me on,” Brady said. “In another way, it was very heartbreaking.”
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