The Life and Times of Tom Brady Quiz

Answer: 30-17

Brady did not start in 1996 or 1997, accumulating a 0-1 touchdown-interception ratio in this time. In his first year as a starter at Michigan in 1998, he threw 14 touchdown passes, but still threw ten interceptions in this time period. His last year at college was his finest, throwing 16 touchdowns to the tune of just six interceptions.

He also had three rushing touchdowns in his college career.

Answer: 6

The 2000 NFL Draft was considered one of the weakest classes for quarterbacks ever, and the analysts were correct to an extent. Chad Pennington was the first quarterback taken, going to the New York Jets with the 18th pick. The next quarterback to go was Giovanni Carmazzi, taken 65th by the San Francisco 49ers. Chris Redman also went in the third round, with the Baltimore Ravens using the 75th pick on him.

With a compensatory fifth round pick, the Pittsburgh Steelers took Tee Martin. Also, the New Orleans Saints took Mark Bulger with the 168th pick while Spergon Wynn went to the Cleveland Browns with the 183rd selection.

Answer: Ron Rutledge

The 2000 season was a tough one for Brady and the Patriots. Brady started camp as the team's fourth-string quarterback, behind Bledsoe and backups John Friesz and Michael Bishop. However, Patriot fans still got their first glimpse of their future Hall of Famer, with Brady completing one out of his first three passes in a game against the Detroit Lions. Brady's only completion was to tight end Rutledge, who only caught 27 passes in his NFL career.

Answer: San Diego Chargers

The Patriots were trailing the Chargers by a 26-16 score in the fourth quarter. Brady led the Pats on two scoring drives to tie the game heading into overtime. In overtime, he set up a game-winning field goal. Brady's performance that day saw him win the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award for the first time.

Interestingly, the game in question took place in 2001, but it was clutch drives against the Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Rams in that year's playoffs that established Brady's clutch reputation.

Answer: 3rd

Brady led the Patriots to a 14-2 record, throwing 23 touchdown passes throughout the regular season. He received eight votes for MVP, behind co-winners Peyton Manning and Steve McNair, who both received 16 votes. Running backs Jamal Lewis and Priest Holmes, alongside linebacker Ray Lewis, also received votes.

Answer: Alltel Stadium, Jacksonville

The Alltel Stadium opened in 1995 to play the role of home stadium for the new Jacksonville Jaguars franchise. Opened as the Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, it was named after communications company Alltel from 1997 to 2006 for sponsorship reasons.

Ford Field hosted the following season's Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks. While the home stadium of the San Diego Chargers, the Qualcomm Stadium hosted Super Bowls XXII, XXXII and XXXVII. The Patriots won Superbowl XLIX but lost Super Bowl XLII at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

Answer: Pro Bowl appearance

Brady's Patriots went 12-4 in 2006, enough to win a fourth consecutive AFC East title and give the team the fourth seed in the AFC Playoffs. He threw 24 touchdown passes in the 2006 regular season, accumulating 3,529 passing yards in the process. This was surprisingly not enough to earn a Pro Bowl selection, although he was offered to be an injury replacement for Philip Rivers. Nevertheless, Brady turned the offer down and the invite is not lodged in his official career achievements.

The Patriots went to the AFC Championship game in 2006, losing a classic to the Indianapolis Colts by a score line of 38-34. It was only the second playoff loss of Brady's career.

Answer: Roger Staubach

Brady's first 100 starts saw him compile a 76-24 record, a record only matched by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Staubach. Ironically, Brady's record-tying 76th win came against the Dallas Cowboys in October 2007 in a game that ended 47-27 to the Pats.

Answer: 340

Although the first half of Brady's career saw him regularly throw double figures for interceptions during a season, Brady threw just four in 2010 while tossing 36 touchdown passes. Brady's performances convinced many that the Pats were on the cusp of their fourth Super Bowl, but the Pats were stunned with a 28-21 loss to the New York Jets in the AFC Divisional Round. During that game, Brady was picked off by Jets linebacker and future teammate David Harris, ending the streak at 340.

Answer: Julian Edelman

Welker caught the first touchdown pass to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead. Branch had the longest touchdown reception of the day with a 61 yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to make it 28-7. With the game already won at half-time, Hernandez caught a 17 yarder from Brady to put the Pats 42-7 in front.

Rob Gronkowski caught the other three TD passes in the game. Edelman was still mainly used as a kick returner at this stage in his career and did not fully emerge as one of Brady's main targets until Welker left the team following the 2012 season.

Answer: 37

Brady completed 37 out of 50 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns to two interceptions. His top receiver in the game was Julian Edelman, who caught nine passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. Brady's other touchdown passes were caught by Brandon LaFell, Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola. Brady would break his own record two years later in Super Bowl LI with 43 completions.

Answer: 7

James White broke the record for most receptions in a single Super Bowl with 14, breaking Deion Branch's Super Bowl XXXIX record of 12, which was also set while catching passes from Brady. Danny Amendola caught eight catches for 78 yards while rookie wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell made six catches for 70 yards in what was unexpectedly the last game of his short career.

Julian Edelman and Martellus Bennett both caught five balls while Chris Hogan had four. The other remaining reception was caught by running back Dion Lewis, who had a single two yard catch.

Answer: Indianapolis Colts

The feat was accomplished in Week 5 of the 2018 season. Brady's 500th TD saw him launch a deep ball into the end zone that was caught by Josh Gordon, the 71st player to catch a touchdown from Brady. The Patriots won the game 38-24 and went on to win their sixth Super Bowl in the following February.

Answer: 6

The first NFL MVP to suffer a loss to Brady was 2001 winner Kurt Warner, who lost Super Bowl XXXVI to Brady's Patriots by a 20-17 score line. The 2003 joint MVPs Peyton Manning and Steve McNair both lost twice to Brady during the 2003 season, losing regular season and playoff games to the Patriots. Manning also lost twice to Brady during his 2004 MVP season, losing a regular season game to Brady in his 2013 MVP campaign as well.

2006 MVP LaDainian Tomlinson's San Diego Chargers lost 24-21 to Brady's side in the Divisional Round. In addition, Matt Ryan lost Super Bowl LI to the Patriots after winning the 2016 MVP. As previously mentioned, Mahomes lost twice to Brady in his 2018 MVP season.

Answer: Fourth

Brady finished at his lowest in this time period in the 2012 and 2013 lists, won by Aaron Rodgers and Adrian Peterson respectively. He was runner-up in 2016, losing out to 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton. He came top of the poll in 2011, 2017 and 2018. Brady's first finish outside of the top four came in 2019, when he was placed in sixth.