Tom Brady has some Super Bowl memories he’d like to forget.
Brady, who will serve as the color analyst for Fox Sports’ coverage of Super Bowl LIX, visited with Colin Cowherd on The Herd Friday to talk about the game. He also shared some of his own Super Bowl experiences, which included a record seven wins and three losses. Two of those losses were partly the result of iconic plays that rival fans still mention to taunt Brady.
Brady won a Super Bowl in his second season, and he said he didn’t realize winning the game was such a big deal in his early years, because the New England Patriots won so often.
“What I realized early in my career about Super Bowls was, man, we won my first year … We won in 2003, what’s the big deal? We won in 2004, what’s the big deal? Then you go to 2007 and you lose. Then you go to 2011 … and we lose. And it was just like, ‘Wow, this is way harder.’ We went 10 years between winning.”
So Brady learned along the way that you can’t take anything for granted and to make every Super Bowl count. He also learned the painful experience of losing on the big stage.
“When you lose this game, this is on your resumé forever,” Brady said. “A loss in the Super Bowl matters more than any loss you’re ever going to be a part of. When I go in Philly and they go, ‘Philly Special! Philly Special!’ Or I’m at the Knicks game with my son and Spike Lee, I throw him a ball and he catches the ball on his head like the Helmet Catch. I mean, that was 17 years ago and I’m still living that thing down.”
The iconic “Helmet Catch” saw New York Giants receiver David Tyree catch a crucial pass by pinning the ball to his helmet in Super Bowl LXII in 2008. The Giants went on to win, ending the Patriots’ dream of an undefeated season.
The “Philly Special,” a trick-play touchdown pass to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles in Super Bowl LII, keyed the Eagles win over the Patriots.
Crazy to think that the Philly Special happened 7 years ago already 😳
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Brady says Super Bowl losses linger.
“No one remembers the loss I had to Peyton (Manning) in the 2015 [AFC] Championship Game,” Brady said. “No talks about the 2013 loss to Denver in the championship game. No one talks about the loss to the Ravens in the 2012 AFC Championship Game. They all tell me about the losses in the Super Bowl.”
The Kansas City Chiefs and Eagles meet in Sunday’s Super Bowl, with the Chiefs trying to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls. Yet Brady also points out the downside for the Chiefs, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, if they lose.
“So I think the challenging thing if you look at Patrick for example, you want to win this game if you’re Patrick, because if you don’t, you’re 3-2 in Super Bowls, and its’s not a great feeling” Brady said. “So there is a lot of pressure certainly from my standpoint as I got older and I realized the enormity of this game, how important it is to actually win this game.”
