Our fate lies not in the stars...

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
Jets 10, Patriots 3 (9/23/'01): In just a few days, Tom Brady will step on to the field in Indy to play in his fifth Super Bowl in ten years. I won't be there ($2k for a ticket. Hello couch), but I was there the day he walked on to the field to start what would become one of the greatest careers the NFL has ever seen. Brady is probably the most famous athlete on the planet right now. Not the most popular. But the most famous. It's easy to forget that if it wasn't for a twist of fate, Brady's career -- and my entertainment level as a Pats' fan -- might have been very different this past decade.

September 23rd, 2001. Just twelve days after everyone awoke to the news and images that are still hard to believe. The NFL -- after a week gone dark -- decided it was time to get back to the business of entertaining the masses. Me, Mark, Shep, and Bergs gathered in the dirt that was the old Foxboro Stadium parking lot in the shadow of the skeleton of what would become Gillette. Mark worked in Manhattan and was not far from the towers that day. He had to make his way through the new heightened security on Amtrak, meaning no containers full of pulled pork or any other marinated meat. We sat in near 70 degree weather and did what we always do... talked football to forget about everything else.

There wasn't too much to be optimistic about on that afternoon other than the weather. The world had been turned upside down. W. was president. And the Pats were 0-1. It was very early in the team's second season under Bill Belichick. The Pats went 5-11 in his first year and looked very mediocre, prompting Bergs to repeat that he thought giving up a first-round pick to the Jets to pry him free was a bad idea. It would be the last day he would say it. Drew Bledsoe was the starting QB and the face of the franchise. Although we were Drew admirers, we all felt that he had regressed so badly under Pete Carroll that he was painful to watch. Sure, we were getting a new stadium to replace the concrete toilet bowl, but all we knew about that was our ticket prices were sure to rise.

The game was preceded by a moving tribute to those who were lost that day in Manhattan and elsewhere and the emergency workers who tried to save them. Pats lineman Joe Andruzzi had three bothers in the New York fire department and he ran out of the tunnel waving two American flags and joined them at midfield for the national anthem. The crowd formed one, powerful voice in song. I'm not big on patriotic displays at sporting events. Fourth of July on the Esplanade? Sure. But a football game? Play the national anthem but spare me Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA." It's a football game, I don't care if you are proud to be an American. I felt very differently that afternoon.

The emotions of the day were soon channeled to football and a very hard-hitting game. The Patriots' defense -- with guys like Law, Milloy, Bruschi, Johnson, and McGinnest -- was starting to reach its potential and held Curtis Martin and the Jets' offense in check. Unfortunately, Bledsoe and the Pats offense seemed to be reaching its potential too. Its potential to be bad. With just more than five minutes left in the game, the Jets held a 10-3 lead. The Pats' offense had the ball just inside its own 20-yard line. We were finishing our last beers and hoping Bledsoe would find a little of the magic he had a few years earlier. Bledsoe dropped back to pass. He got forced out of the pocket and lumbered -- he couldn't run -- towards the far sideline. He got close to the first down marker and instead of running out of bounds Bledsoe, as tough as they come, decided to turn his shoulder and try to get that extra yard for the first down. Jets linebacker Mo Lewis was between Bledsoe and the marker.

Bledsoe was about as far away from my seat in Section 309 as he could get. I could still feel the hit. Lewis lowered his right shoulder and smashed Bledsoe in his left side. It looked like Bledsoe had run into a concrete wall at full speed. The entire stadium winced. Bledsoe went down hard. He didn't get the first down. He didn't get up for a few minutes either. The crowd stood silent again. Finally Bledsoe got to his feet as the trainers checked him out. Even from a distance you could see he was shaky. There was some confusion on the sideline. Tom Brady -- #12 -- had put his helmet on but it looked like Bledsoe might come back into the game. There was a brief discussion and then Brady walked towards the huddle and Bledsoe turned and walked the other way.

There wasn't a roar for Brady. Even those of us who thought it might be time for Bledsoe to go didn't want to see it end this way. But end it did. Brady took the next snap and -- except for 2008 when he got his knee ripped up -- he has taken every meaningful snap since. Brady went a mere 5-for-10 for 46 yards as he tried to drive the Pats to a tying touchdown. The game came to an anticlimactic finish when his Hail Mary pass was harmlessly batted to the ground. We sat in the parking lot as the sun set talking about the day. What if Bledsoe can't come back? Is that a good thing? Can Brady -- the kid from Michigan -- be a decent NFL quarterback?

The next weekend the Pats hosted the undefeated Colts. By that time everyone knew that Bledsoe had suffered a serious injury and that the young quarterback would be leading the 0-2 team for the next few weeks. The Pats stomped on the Colts that day 44-13. Brady didn't throw a touchdown and had just 168 yards passing, a number he sometimes breaks in a quarter these days. But he brought an energy to the team that was noticeable. He may have been a second-year player among a group of veterans, but he was clearly a leader.

Since then he has led the franchise to three championships and several very near misses for Lombardi number four. He gets another shot at it Sunday. He is, for me, the greatest Boston athlete in my sports-watching lifetime. I was too young to appreciate Russell or Williams but I grew up on Orr, Cowens, Yaz and have marvelled at Bourque, Bird, Clemens, Neely, Bledsoe, Pedro, Ortiz, and Rice. Brady tops them all mostly because he delivered what I never thought possible. Super Bowl parades.

But it isn't just that he led the Pats to three championships. It was the way he did it. He was Bourque, Bird, Neely, Ortiz -- and a lot of Terry O'Reilly -- all in one. He is simply one of the all-time greatest sports stories. Don't let his posing with goats or hiding from the paparazzi make you forget just how amazing his career with the Patriots has been

Drafted in the -- everyone -- sixth round in 2000, Brady was an interesting mix of raw talent and, as Kramer would say, unbridled enthusiasm. He had some great games at Michigan so he wasn't quite an unknown. But he was no Peyton Manning. He wasn't taken with the first pick and he wasn't able to dictate which team he would play for. I like Manning. He's a regular guy. His commercials are often very funny. Oh, and he's one of the best QBs to ever play the game. I've grown to enjoy watching him (when not playing the Pats) because he almost always does something impossible to turn a sure loss into a victory. Manning carried the Colts on his back by almost sheer will before he hurt his neck. I get why he is loved.

I don't get why Brady is not. I know, I know. Giselle. Cover boy. UGGs. The West Coast mansion. The hair. Bridget and the baby. That's the other side of Brady. Brady the football player hasn't changed from the moment when he was headbutting Bledsoe before the Super Bowl in New Orleans. He may be a reluctant celebrity, but he still looks driven to me. He still plays like he is trying to earn his starting spot. He still plays the game the way it should be played. All out. Manning was the sure thing. Brady was the underdog. Manning started out as NFL royalty. Brady started out as NFL working class. Today they are both future Hall of Famers. Who'd a thunk it back in 2001.

Brady joined a team that had a strong nucleus of veteran leaders. Some -- like Brian Cox and Roman Phifer -- were former Parcells/Belichick guys who were brought in to bring attitude. Others -- like Law, Milloy, Bruschi, McGinnest, Johnson, Brown -- were part of the '96 team that went to the Super Bowl and were entering the peak years of their careers. Brady quickly fit in with that group and almost always played with the poise of a veteran. It was a perfect marriage. Now all those veterans are gone. All of them. Brady is the link between what is quickly becoming the distant past and what is now the future.

Brady has made the transition into the second phase of his career ... the veteran quarterback. Not every player can do it. But Brady had good teachers in all those retired Patriots who are now on almost every football program there is. (How much does that drive the rest of the NFL-loving country crazy?)

Will Brady have as much success in this phase of his career (which he says he hopes will last several more years)? Belichick certainly has the Pats poised to compete for the title for the next few years. Ten years after the first title the Pats have gone 27-5 the last two seasons. A win Sunday could set the stage for another dynasty. You never know what fate holds.

Thank you Mo Lewis.