Perhaps due to his absence Mut 22 coins playing time until the point of his absence, or because of the darts-on a-dartboard-style of virtually unknown players in Madden, Brady's overall rating decreased by 6 points during Madden NFL 02, which coincided with the start of 2001's season. It wasn't long before he would make his proper debut, however, when he was called in for an injured Drew Bledsoe when The Jets' Mo Lewis clobbered the starting quarterback and sent him to the bench during Week 3. The rest is history. At the time Bledsoe would be healthy enough to come back, he had already lost his job to the young and aspiring Tom Brady.

Brady was able to lead the team to an overall record of 11-5 (11-3 as the starter) and, following two wild playoff games against the Raiders and Steelers, he led the Patriots team to their first Super Bowl victory. If you've read about this story and you'll also remember that this victory wouldn't be the last victory.

After beating the infamously dubbed "Greatest Show on Turf" St. Louis Rams, Brady came into 2002 as the reigning champion and the week 1 starter. Over the course of his 22-year career as a starter, he played in 20 of them (we'll get to his doomed 2008 season later) And he went on to make rounds 19 times out of the 20 seasons that he played in. The 2002 season was the only time there was no January football. He being 9-7 and losing in a three-way tiebreaker for divisional play that season, instead sending the Jets to the playoffs. It was this early-era Brady who was viewed as a game-manager, even though the 28 touchdowns he scored that season would be his career-high before Randy Moss showed up half years later. This would also be Brady's last season in Madden where he'd be rated less than 90.