Tom Brady Became Tom Brady in 2007

keeping score In New England, Brady’s superlative play set the standard for the quarterback position, starting with his first league M. V. P. season.

Tom Brady’s 20-year career with the New England Patriots, which came to an end on Tuesday with the announcement that he would seek a new team as an unrestricted free agent, had no shortage of superlatives. Six Super Bowl championships. Nine A. F.

C. championships. A 219-64 record as a starter — that’s an average season of 12-4. While his time in New England might seem like an endless run of excellence, one year does stand out.

In 2007, Brady had one of the greatest seasons ever by a quarterback, and, not coincidentally, the Patriots had one of the greatest seasons ever by a team. In his first six seasons as the team’s starter, Brady had established a consistent baseline of success: about 300 completions at a 60 percent rate. About 25 touchdowns. A little less than one interception a game.

An adjusted yards-per-attempt rate of 6 or 7. And a lot of wins: 10, 12, even 14 each season. Almost every other team in the league would have been ecstatic to get numbers like that from its quarterback, let alone win three Super Bowl titles under his command, as the Patriots did in those six seasons. Then Brady got better.

In 2007, at age 30, he elevated his game and put up numbers he had never reached, and in many cases would never reach again. His 300 or so completions became 398. And receivers caught his passes at a higher rate: 68. 9 percent of the time.

It is the only season of Brady’s career in which he led the league in completion percentage. About 25 touchdown passes per season? How about 50 in 2007?

“That was an N.”