To add a little to the college part, I'm a Michigan guy so I saw a lot of Brady during his college years. I thought I could add a little perspective on their formative years:
-Brady was EXTREMELY underrated. His first year as a starter (that's right he was a two year starter, not Drew Henson's backup as a lot of people for some reason seem to think), in 1998, he inherited a team that had lost most of its best players (especially on defense) to the NFL Draft and/or graduation following Michigan's National Championship the previous year. They lost their first two games including a massacre courtesy of Donovan McNabb and Syracuse when they were actually good. Brady nevertheless bounced back and led UM to an 10-3 record with the 1 other loss coming against OSU. Yeah, Brady LOST his first BIG game but it was more the defense's fault than his. He actually set the UM single game passing yds record trying to will the team back. The Bowl game? Brady and UM scored 21 points in the final 5:49 of the game to beat Arkansas. His first sucessfull BIG game comeback.
-His senior year, he was given a good offense but, once again, a ****ty defense. If you want proof that he had "it" from the get go, look a this season. He was flawless against Heisman winner Ron Dayne's Wisconsin on the road. He had epic comebacks against:
-Notre Dame (go ahead- TD with 1:38 left)
-at Penn State (I get chills on the replay of that game hearing Keith Jackson after Brady had pulled out the gritty comeback: "the most underrated quarterback in America")
-at Indiana: when they had Randle-El at QB and were actually good. Picture this: tough game tied, 1:25 left, Michigan gets the ball at their 25, Brady at QB, what happens? Game winning FG after a hell of a drive.
-Ohio State: threw 2 touchdowns, one to tie, the other for the win with less than 2 minutes remaining.
His best performance, and probably the game that sparked the whole Brady vs. Henson controversy was, ironically, in a valiant loss against Michigan State. For some reason, Carr yanked Brady for Henson after the 1st quarter. Result? Michigan down 27-10 in the fourth quarter with Plaxico Burress scoring at will. Enter Brady and a near epic comeback. He led them to three straight touchdown drives, even as the defense couldn't prevent MSU from scoring. He got better and better. His first drive: 6-10, 70 yd. drive, his second: 8-8, 75 yd. drive. His last drive started at UM's 4 yard line, down by 10, less than 5 minutes left. He went 10-12 for all 96 yards and scored again to trim the lead to 34-31 with less than 3 minutes left. Unfortunately, MSU recovered the onsides kick and the UM defense, once again, failed to stop MSU and the clock ran out. This loss was infuriating and is the source of all the Brady vs. Henson quarterback controversy. However, it was the only game this happened to such a degree. Nevertheless, imagine if Brady would have played the whole game. An unnecessary loss but, on the bright side, it's simply chilling to remember that game and think about what Brady eventually turned into. It gave anybody that saw it a glimpse at budding greatness, in a loss.
- Brady's stats in college don't even compare to all the records Manning set at UT but look at the big games. In 4 years, Manning NEVER beat Florida (UT's version of Ohio State). Before Bill Belichick assumed parental duties over Manning, Steve Spurrier was his daddy. He threw 4 interceptions his junior year. He was the Heisman front runner in 97 before he choked and lost against Florida on national TV, throwing 2 interceptions and losing handily. UT then threw out excuse after excuse and whined to such an extent that the governor of the state joined the whining (sound familiar?) when Manning finished second in the Heisman race to Charles Woodson.
Compare Brady's final game with Manning's:
Brady: 35-34 WIN vs. Alabama (and Shaun Alexander) in OT. Stats: 36-46 369 yds, 4 TD's, 0 INT's (He set an Orange Bowl record for passing yards) (If this isn't clutch I don't know what is)
Manning: LOST 41-17 vs Nebraska, stats: 21-31 134 yards, no TDs. 1 INT. Afterwards, Phil Fulmer was so bitter that Manning was humiliated and lost the Heisman to Woodson that he voted Michigan fourth on the final coaches' poll.
Yeah, I mildly remember my U. of Michigan history
. Hope this gave a little insight
