Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all-time, is in yet another Super Bowl on Sunday — the 10th of his career. He’s had a ton of success in these games, winning six of them. Two of the three he lost were against the same signal-caller, Eli Manning. The other was against Nick Foles back in 2017. We did a deep dive on those Super Bowl losses here.
Now, we’ll take a look back at Brady’s Super Bowl wins and which opposing quarterbacks he defeated to secure the Lombardi Trophy ahead of Sunday’s game between the Bucs and the Chiefs.
Super Bowl XXXVI vs. St. Louis Rams: Kurt Warner
Patriots won 20-17
This was Brady’s first season seeing any sort of meaningful action after a gruesome hit knocked starter Drew Bledsoe out of action early in the season. Brady stepped up though, guiding the Pats to a 11-3 record in the games he started. With Brady’s efficient play and solid defensive performance, New England made it to the Super Bowl to take on the St Louis Rams and QB Kurt Warner.
The Rams were heavy favorites heading into the 2001 Super Bowl. Brady didn’t do anything overly fantastic to win the game, but he didn’t lose the game for them either. He threw for a pedestrian 145 yards and one score in the 20-17 win. Warner actually played much better than him for the most part, tossing for nearly 350 yards, but he threw two critical interceptions. Brady showed the world a glimpse of what to expect from him over the next 20 years as he led the Pats on a game-winning 53-yard drive in just over a minute, setting up Adam Vinatieri's game-winning field goal as time expired.
Super Bowl XXXVIII vs. Carolina Panthers: Jake Delhomme
Patriots won 32-29
With just a one year hiatus from the big game, Brady came out with a much more typical Tom Terrific performance in this one. He out-dueled Delhomme, throwing for 354 yards and three scores. Delhomme gave him a run for his money though, tossing for 323 yards and three touchdowns of his own. The Panthers QB didn’t throw any picks either, but Brady threw one.
Still, as time was dwindling in the 4th quarter and the game tied at 29, Brady made the whole nation have a sense of deja vu. After Carolina scored a touchdown with just over a minute left to tie the game, the Panthers kicked the ball out of bounds on the ensuing kickoff, giving Brady great field position to work with. He then proceeded to go on a six-play, 37-yard drive to set up yet another Adam Vinatieri field goal attempt.
As we all now know, the Patriots kicker nailed the 41-yarder as time expired to give the team their second title in three years.
Super Bowl XXXIX vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Donovan McNabb
Patriots won 24-21
For the second season in a row, Brady and the Patriots made it to the Super Bowl. This time they faced an offensive juggernaut in an Eagles squad led by McNabb and wide receiver Terrell Owens. Andy Ried, who is coaching on the opposite sideline of Brady on Sunday, was the head coach of the Eagles in this one, too.
Brady’s day wasn’t as fantastic as the prior Super Bowl, but it was still pretty good. He threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns. He lost a fumble as well, but the Eagles couldn’t put up any points from the miscue. McNabb put up insane numbers, 357 yards and three scores, but he also threw three interceptions, including one in the red zone that would have most likely been turned into at least three points.
The game wasn’t as close as the score indicated, as New England was up by 10 with under four minutes to go. Philly drove down for a quick score and got the ball back with 46 seconds on the clock, no timeouts and pinned back within their own 10. McNabb threw another interception, but they were nowhere close to conceivably tying the game up.
Super Bowl XLIX vs. Seattle Seahawks: Russell Wilson
Patriots won 28-24
Brady was forced to do it all in this one as New England ran for a combined rushing total of 57 yards all game. Of course, that was a challenge he was more than willing to accept. He threw for 328 yards and four touchdowns but threw two picks as well. His counterpart, Wilson, completed just 12 passes, but made the most of them, going for 247 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw an infamous interception that we’ll get to in a moment.
New England had been trailing for most of the second half after letting Seattle climb back from a 14-0 deficit in the first half. New England crawled back to get the game within three points on a Brady touchdown pass to Danny Amendola with just over eight minutes to play. Next time they got the ball Brady did it again, going on a 10-play, 68-yard drive to take a four-point lead on a touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski with 2:02 remaining. Wilson drove down the field from their own 20 to get the ball to the New England one-yard line with just under 30 seconds left in the game. Wilson then threw the ball for some reason, even with Marshawn Lynch and a timeout at their disposal, and it was picked off by Malcolm Butler, sealing the win for Brady and the Pats.
Super Bowl LI vs. Atlanta Falcons: Matt Ryan
Patriots won 34-28
Probably the most improbable of all six of Brady’s Super Bowl wins. The Patriots were famously down 28-3 halfway in the third quarter. But Brady and New England didn’t budge. He finished the game with his best statistical performance, throwing for nearly 500 yards and two touchdowns.
Ryan had a great first half, but Atlanta fell apart in the second half, not scoring a single point after the 8:30 mark in the third quarter. Ryan finished the game with 284 yards and two touchdowns. That collapse gave the Pats a chance to overcome a 25-point deficit, the largest in Super Bowl history.
Brady and the Patriots scored 25 unanswered to send the game to overtime, capping off regulation with a 10-play, 91-yard touchdown drive, finishing the drive with under a minute left on the clock. In overtime, Brady took the ball and went on an 8-play, 75-yard drive to score the game-winning touchdown, giving him a ring for every finger on one hand.
Super Bowl LIII vs. Los Angeles Rams: Jared Goff
Patriots won 13-3
If Super Bowl LI was one of the most exciting Super Bowls in NFL history, this one was the opposite. It was the lowest-scoring Super Bowl since the game’s inception, with only three total points being scored in the entire first half.
Brady threw for 262 yards and it was the only Super Bowl that he failed to throw a touchdown pass. Goff wasn’t better though, throwing for 229 yards no touchdowns and an interception. The Pats defense played incredibly, holding LA to just three points all game, the lowest team total in Super Bowl history.
The biggest play of the whole game was a 29-yard pass from Brady to Gronkowski which set up a two-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, the only time either team hit pay dirt all game.