Brady has been his best ever since "We're onto Cincinnati." It's no coincidence the team went to 4 of 5 Super Bowls during this time and barely missed going to all 5. I think all those years of experience combined with his constant desire to improve created the guy who NFL players have voted the best player in the league 2 years running.
Amongst these Himalayan seasons recently, his Everest is probably 2016. 2015's failed repeat attempt felt like unfinished business, especially after the deflategate nonsense in the original attempt to suspend him. Then he gets booed in his hometown during the SB50 pregame ceremony (Broncos fans: Yeah, go poke the bear. Good idea), followed by finally getting suspended to start '16. He always is thinking title-or-bust every year, but '16 had to mean a little more than usual...
2016 starts and we see clips of Tom working out in private during his suspension. He wants to come in without missing a beat. Then he does so in Cleveland, torching them in his first action 5 weeks into the season. He practically runs the table the rest of the way, but then disaster happens: He loses Gronk again for the year. It's 2012-2013 all over again, with a playoff loss looming thanks to an offense that's really going tho miss Gronk in at least one of their three playoff games...
And then that game happened: SB51. The Pats ran into a team that had peaked in the playoffs and had them down 28-3 midway through the 3rd quarter. Without Gronk to worry about, Quinn had Rocky Alford (who played the game of his life) lock down Edelman, often with help from Deon Jones on middle patterns. With Edelman neutralized and the running game unreliable, Atlanta was about to steamroll their 3rd playoff opponent for their first title...
And then Brady went Keyser Soze on the team, their fanbase, the NFL fanbase outside of New England in general and on Roger Goodell. In the process, he didn't just drop the mic on the Montana vs. Brady GOAT debate: He spiked the mic so hard it's buried in the Earth's core. The mountains don't get any higher than that.
Regards,
Chris
P.S. SB51: All. Without. Gronk. This cannot be overstated.