Perhaps due to Madden 22 coins his lack of playing time to this point, or perhaps due to the darts-on-a-dartboard nature of the players that were virtually unknown in Madden Brady's overall rating decreased by 6 points during Madden NFL 02, which was the time of the beginning of 2001's season. He wouldn't take long before Brady made his debut, though, coming in for injured Drew Bledsoe when that the Jets' Mo Lewis clobbered the quarterback and sent Brady to the bench for Week 3. The rest is history. By the time Bledsoe was healthy enough to resume his work after his injury, he'd already lost his job to the young and aspiring Tom Brady.

Brady would later lead the team to an overall record of 11-5 (11-3 as the starter) and--after two wild playoff games with the Raiders and Steelers -- lead the Patriots franchise to their first Super Bowl victory. If you've read about this story it's likely that you'll be aware that this wouldn't be its last.

After beating the preposterously dubbed "Greatest Show On Turf" St. Louis Rams, Brady came into 2002 as a reigning champion as well as the starter for Week 1. In Brady's 22-year career as a starter, he played for 20 of them (we'll go over his disastrous 2008 campaign later), and he made rounds 19 times out of the 20 seasons that he played in. 2002 was the sole one in which Brady didn't play in the January game, being 9-7 and losing on a tiebreaker between three divisions the following year, which instead led the Jets to the playoffs. It was this early-era Brady who was viewed as game manager, however the season's 28 touchdowns were his career-high before Randy Moss showed up half more than a decade later. This would also prove to be Brady's last season in Madden in which he'd be graded below a 90.

Even though he didn't make the playoffs that year before, Brady would kick off his 2003 campaign by breaking into the club of 90+ in Madden to be the first time. This year's Madden game was dominated by cover star and quasi-cheat Code Michael Vick, but if you were looking for a reliable pocket player, Brady was the best option. In real life, Brady would return to the Super Bowl that buy Madden nfl 22 coins season and triumph in a thrilling final quarter to beat the Carolina Panthers, whose Jake Delhomme was rumored to be the next Brady. The speculation would prove unsuccessful. In 2003, despite winning two Lombardi trophy awards by then there was no way to know the heights he'd set to set the bar for himself in the future.