01x01 - In The Arena

[bunniefuu]

Realizing my potential has been

what my career has been all about.

Things that I've dreamed about

have actually come true.

Things have happened in my life

as I kind of hoped they would happen.

And the Patriots have won

Super Bowl XXXVI Unbelievable.

It's been just a complete evolution.

You know, how I just kept fighting and

clawing to continue to power forward.

You just keep putting one foot in front

of the other

and you keep trying to make progress.

And all the experiences, I think, the ups

and downs, the wins, the losses,

the good, the bad,

20 years of heartbreaks and heartaches,

sleepless nights,

and the greatest victories.

I think about those things

and how they've impacted me

in every aspect of my life.

And the people that have come

on the journey with me,

the people that have been a part of it,

my family, my friends,

my coaches, my teammates,

and how all those relationships

and all those memories have shaped

the person I am today.

The Patriots select Drew Bledsoe,

quarterback, Washington State University.

Well, there was some excitement

around the Patriots when I got there.

You know, Parcells was the coach,

you know. And he had a pedigree.

Let's go play, man.

That's what I'm saying.

Let's go play some games.

The team had not been very good.

You know, they had

the number-one pick for a reason.

You know, they'd earned it.

Second down and six,

a fumble by Miller!

A loose ball, the Bills pick it up,

touchdown!

Oh, those New England Patriots,

0-8, now their coach is on IR.

Well, I've seen it all today.

Everything bad that could happen is

happening today.

When you talked about the Boston area,

it was the Boston Celtics

or the Boston Red Sox.

The Patriots wasn't really

on the map at the time.

The reason why I did know a little bit

is because Drew Bledsoe,

who I played against at SC,

he was at Washington State.

He was drafted number one

the year before me.

He was definitely one of

the staples of the team.

You know, we realized coming in that it's

not going to happen for us right away,

and it's not going to

happen for me right away.

You know, it's a

It's a learning process.

Those years, kind of from like '96

through probably 2001, 2002,

that's probably when I was

at the peak of my ability.

Bledsoe is smoking hot.

You know, sometimes there where I was

playing some damn good football

and we weren't winning.

Don't get discouraged. You did a good job.

Not good enough.

No, that's right. Not good enough.

You ain't got a lot of help right now.

With that team, early on with

Under Bill Parcells,

we just prided ourselves for being

extremely tough and physical.

Keep knocking their asses off the pile!

Keep knocking their a*s off the pile!

And Belichick was on that staff.

He knew the defense inside out,

he knew every single position.

On the game field, he makes it

seem like everything is déjà vu.

Because of our our preparation.

He was kind of that

common ground for every position.

So, yeah, we knew we had pieces.

The Patriots are the

American Football Conference champions.

The Patriots are going to the Super Bowl!

In '96 we went to a Super Bowl,

so we did experience some success.

Bledsoe back to throw it,

here they come after him again,

and he does throw it up the sidelines

and it is Oh, my God!

- Oh, intercepted!

- Intercepted! Brian Williams.

And now, baby, it's over.

Honestly, the Super Bowl to me was a blur.

As a young player and you've never been

to one, you don't know what to expect.

You can get pulled in

a lot of different directions.

You know, I had a lot of family there.

I used all my tickets

and I said to myself, if I ever got back

to the Super Bowl,

I was going to focus on the game.

You know, I think the one

downside to the '96 season

that was playing out was that

we were playing good football

and made it to the Super Bowl

and that wasn't the story.

The story was all about whether

our coach, you know,

was leaving and going to Jets.

I would guess that this is the last game

that Bill Parcells will coach

for the New England Patriots.

The man who followed him in New England,

Pete Carroll, as we told you,

was fired today.

The Patriots have to expand

their search for a new coach.

Pete Carroll fired today

after three seasons,

each one worse than the year before.

I'm thrilled to be part of

this organization and

And to be able to have

the opportunity to lead this team.

What I'm going to demand from the players

and from the people in the organization is

that they make the commitment

towards a championship.

The first time that Belichick

addressed the team,

we knew this team was

about to get in order.

Did you watch the film this morning?

- We didn't do that well.

- That's right.

So we're looking for better.

The style of play that he

demanded, you know, he made it clear,

if you don't fit the mold,

if you don't understand and you're not on

the same page of what we're doing,

you're not gonna be here.

Look at that.

Oh, and then we have

Tom Brady over here.

Tom Brady is a star star quarterback,

University of Michigan.

Let's see what time it is.

He's here honoring us

with his presence today.

The reality is for me, you know,

you need a lot of luck.

You could do the right thing.

You put yourself in the right position.

But I believe I've had

a lot of good fortune

and a lot of commitment

from a lot of people

that allowed me to be the best version

I could be of myself.

I was a kid growing up that went to

every 49er game that I could

because I just loved playing football

and I I drew up plays in my notebook.

The dagger, the secret weapon.

Everybody tells me I have a pretty strong

arm which is which is good.

I'm pretty accurate with it.

I always wanted to be a football player.

No doubt a lot of Michigan fans expected

a season-long battle at quarterback

between prized recruit Drew Henson

and 4th year junior Tom Brady.

I think my senior season in Michigan,

I was hopeful to play pro football,

'cause I was starting for my second year

at a big-time program,

I thought, yeah, I got a shot.

I went to a college that was

very focused on the team.

And the roots of the Michigan program

were built from what Bo Schembechler said,

"The team, the team."

No man is more important than the team.

No coach is more important than the team.

The team, the team, the team.

"It's about the team."

And we ran out as a team

and celebrated in the end zone as a team

because a team is a culmination of talent

and what can you add on the daily or

weekly basis to get your team to win.

If we go out and play our type of

football, I mean,

we don't lose that football game and,

uh, we just continue to be ourselves

and championship teams don't do that.

Whereas, before that, I didn't really

didn't know what my strengths were.

Were they physical? Were they mental?

Were they emotional?

Where did they lie and how did I

influence other people around me?

By the time the draft came around,

every night I was checking.

Updated mock drafts.

Every night I was going I was looking at

where where am I slotted?

And I knew I wasn't going to be

picked on the first day.

So, on the second day, I was, like,

"This is my day."

And after the fifth round, I would look

and I was like "Oh, my God,

these teams don't pick again, like,

at least, in another two hours

before I even have a chance.

Finally, the phone rang.

And it was the Patriots.

Sitting downstairs in

my my living room with my parents

and everyone was excited

and I remember my dad opened

a bottle of champagne,

not even realizing where New England was.

I mean, I was like "New England Patriots.

I mean, I don't know where is that?"

The question is going to be

mobility. He only runs a 5.25, 40.

New England's offense

is already designed for Bledsoe

I don't think

a lot of people was talking about

the sixth-round pick at the time,

or the fifth-round pick or,

you know, for that matter,

except for the guys

maybe that went to Michigan.

Ty Laws is a Michigan guy.

We always had to hear that,

you know, hear that from him,

so we we heard Tom's name because Ty,

"Oh, we've got another Wolverine

in the building," you know,

and he's bragging about that.

But outside of that

I really didn't pay much

attention to the draft in general.

You know, once Tommy got in there,

you know, and he got in the room with us.

You know, he was a guy that

That immediately liked.

I figured that he was probably

going to be a guy

that was going to be around the

league for a long time

but probably as a backup.

I had a lot of I don't know

if it was confidence in myself

or being just naïve that I was like,

"Yeah, of course, I'm gonna play.

I went to Michigan, I played Of course,

I'm gonna go play pro football."

Was also extremely inquisitive,

sort of annoyingly so.

You know, he's always in my ear asking

about this decision, that decision,

and, you know, I shared everything

with him freely as much as I could.

Talk to me about your favorites

'cause Yeah, just tell me about

- Love Under.

- Love Under, okay.

- I like Sticks.

- Okay.

- I like Double Seam, I like Ten Seam

- All right, okay.

I don't like Six Day Slam.

-God damn it!

No, that's a good job trying

to make sure we get points,

you know, you can't force anything

down there in that situation.

He's just a skinny

little twerp out of Michigan.

I didn't perceive him as a threat.

You just want to throw

so you can get on TV, huh?

Yes, you.

At the time, our defense was like

the foundation spirit

of the football team.

After about the third year, I kind of

Kind of pulled myself

into the upper echelon of leadership

that guys who guys respected.

What do you say, fellas?

Let's do this on Monday, right?

This is where we win the game,

on both sides of the ball.

He connected with

the whole locker room,

and he used to have a locker

that he'd sit right at the end

as you were walking out.

It was almost like you had to pass him

before you left

and you had to pass him

when you walked in every day,

because he was the guy that was always

going to dictate how things were going,

both on offense and on defense.

And a lot of times when we were

working on and doing certain things,

Tom Tom was working out with the

defense,

and we noticed that he was always working.

Working hard is a very sustainable trait.

Part of your character.

If you don't have that,

at some point the talent does wear off

and you're drafted based on

your talent or your potential,

but the sustainable part about talent

and potential was working hard.

Guys who were ahead of me were always

physically way more gifted than me.

I had to make up a lot of ground

physically in order to catch them.

I can't stand it. Run it again.

Huddle up and run it again, Brady.

At that time, he's just, you know,

he's just Tom. He's just Tom Brady.

Backup, you know, second

or third string quarterback.

And we're back on SportsCenter

for news concerning Drew Bledsoe.

His contract with the Pats is redone,

$103 million over 10 years,

the richest deal

in the history of the NFL.

Virtually assures Bledsoe

will be a Pat his entire career.

When I signed my my ten-year

deal leading up to that season,

that was it. I was going to be

a Patriot for life

and play out that contract

and then, hopefully,

ride off into the sunset successfully.

When Drew signed, that was like

one of the first $100 million deals,

so we're all blown away.

You get that much money, it's saying that

the organization believes in you

and you're gonna be there,

and we was like,

"All right, well, we got our quarterback."

Drew obviously was, I mean,

the franchise quarterback

and one of the toughest guys

I've ever been around.

Mentally, physically, very gifted.

He's got incredible

arm strength and accuracy

and a great demeanor about him.

He's very calm very calm nature.

When we started training camp

that year, the 2001 training camp,

I remember stepping into the huddle

and I looked at my offensive line.

I said, wow, we got a chance.

We had some dudes.

So I really had great high hopes

for that season going in.

Really did. I really felt like with

the offensive line that we had,

we had a chance to do something special.

My feeling is that we were talented

and we can compete,

we're tough, we're physical, everybody is

starting to buy in,

you know, to what Belichick

wanted as a team.

And so when we came to the camp,

it didn't matter what our record

was the year before.

It was, like, "All right, we're on

our way, we're gonna be good."

Tuesday was my off day. I was driving in.

I lived in Franklin, Massachusetts, which

is about 15, 20 minutes from the stadium.

And I was driving in

and I heard on the radio.

A plane was hijacked

and there are indications

that it may have been a Boeing 767.

So I turned around and I drove home.

So I thought,

"I'm not going to the stadium.

I'm gonna drive home

and see what's going on."

Two airplanes crashed

into both 110-story

I got in the house and my two roommates

were sitting there watching the TV.

And by that time the second plane

had crashed into the tower.

And, you know, we just

Just watched. It was

I just saw a second plane coming

from the south and hit the South tower,

halfway between the bottom

and the top of the tower.

It's gotta be a a t*rror1st attack

The nation was in mourning

and the nation was under attack

and everyone was trying to get

their lives in order

before the NFL could come back.

The resolve of our great

nation is being tested.

I was initially of the opinion

that we should play

and start that healing process

and start to have some normalcy.

I'm glad we didn't, in retrospect.

And we all went over

to Drew Bledsoe's house.

He had the phone on speaker,

and the decision ultimately

was made to not play that next week.

And welcome back to Foxboro.

Fans here echoing the spirit

on this NFL Sunday,

respecting football for its players

while honoring our real heroes,

the firefighters and police.

Electric atmosphere in the stadium.

We had Joe Andruzzi, whose brothers

were right there at Ground Zero.

He symbolized what we were all about.

We were the underdogs,

but we were going to stick together and

we were gonna fight through adversity.

We felt like

we were playing for our country.

We had the colors in our uniform.

We're called the Patriots.

I think we wanted to play.

We wanted to do something

to represent our country,

and we decided to stop

getting introduced individually.

We said we will run out as a team

to represent our country

and togetherness and and one.

So we started to change

and put a lot of things together and

think a little bit different just because

of what our country has,

you know, had went through.

Yes, it's going to be hard for all of us,

but the players are here because

they want to be here. They want to play.

I do remember after that saying to myself,

"All right, now you gotta settle down

and play football."

Vinatieri gets it started.

I was 10, 15 yards away from him,

probably.

He was running toward the sideline,

and it was late in the game. We're losing.

He was trying to make a play and he kind

of got a little shove from behind,

and just as he got shoved

from the lower body,

he got hit by Mo Lewis.

I mean, it was up.

And he didn't pop back up.

Everybody kind of got quiet,

a little docile, like

Holy sh*t.

Oh! Oh, my.

Look at Drew.

He stood up and you could see,

he just kind of glossed over,

face mask bent.

Immediately on defense, I said,

"Hey, let's go guys.

Like, we gotta do our part"

Ty, let's go. Let's go, let's go.

We gotta take this game over,

we gotta create turnovers.

We immediately started to figure out what

we needed to do

to help win the football game.

We didn't even think about who was

going in the game on offense.

And at that point it was like,

"All right, Drew's finished, Tom.

Get ready to go."

And Drew Bledsoe is on the sideline.

Tom Brady,

the second-year quarterback

from the University of Michigan.

You know, I just strapped

my chin strap on,

got a little loose, and then got the ball

on the last drive of the game.

I think the first play I hit, it was

a little angle route to Patrick Pass.

Patrick Pass.

There wasn't a lot of time left.

The final play of the game

It wasn't, like, spectacular football

I was playing at all, by any means.

Fires to the end zone.

And it is incomplete.

After the game, I was walking

off the field and Ron O'Neal,

our our trainer, uh, grab me, he goes,

"Hey, bub, why don't you come with me?

You don't look so good."

I'm like, "All right, let me just go in

for team prayer and then I come see you."

He goes, "Yeah, I think you need to

come with me right now."

On our way to Mass General,

I just remember being in a lot of pain,

and my brother was riding up with me

and he's just kind of looking at me.

They said, "We got about an hour."

We were just sort of

on the outskirts of Boston.

That's when I went lights out.

After the game,

you know, it sucked we lost.

But most importantly,

like, "Where's Drew?"

I remember driving up to Mass General.

You know, just kind of hoping and praying

that he was going to be okay,

not really realizing, again, the extent

of the injuries or what was happening,

which turned out to be internal bleeding.

I was pretty out of it.

I didn't know how serious it was

until probably a couple days later.

I think there was a press conference

where I was learning

as much as anyone else.

I remember listening to what

his medical update was.

Once I realized he was good,

like, I thought,

I just gotta fill in and do my job.

Because certainly I didn't think

I was going to, like,

take over and be the quarterback

of the Patriots.

Well, Monday we got word that Bledsoe

will miss at least six weeks,

perhaps the season,

with internal bleeding in his chest.

This following a hit

by the Jets' Mo Lewis,

a hit that resulted in Bledsoe

losing two pints of blood internally.

There was very little

expectation that I had.

People didn't even know who I was.

And it was really about

just playing football.

And there was a purity in that.

8:31 to go here in the

third quarter, Brady to Kirby at the 20.

I think the work

that I did in 2000, 2001,

where I could gain the trust of

the coaches, of my teammates,

where I could build

some confidence in myself.

When I got the moment, you know,

I felt like, "Okay, I'm ready."

Today, Tom Brady, sixth-round

draft pick a year ago from Michigan,

starts for the 0-2 Patriots against

Peyton Manning and the Colts.

All Indy has done in going 2-0

is score 87 points.

First, and we'll find

out what kind of a quarterback

Tom Brady is gonna be

in his first NFL start.

When we watched him in practice Friday,

he made all the throws,

has strong enough

arm to hit that out route.

Really feels confident.

In fact, wasn't nervous at all.

I was kind of surprised.

First down and ten from the 28-yard line.

And Brady back to pass.

And he's sacked on the first play

of the game. Brad Scioli.

Our defense really dominated the day.

So on offense, we had to recognize

what we had.

Bill always used the line, "You can't win

until you can keep from losing."

And that was a good lesson for us.

If we could keep from losing,

I think our defense was gonna

keep us in every game.

Second and 18.

Fires to the right. It is intercepted!

And, uh, we ended up

beating them pretty good that day.

Patriots 44, Colts 13.

And Tom Brady just being California cool.

Just like he was when we talked to him.

You know, we were making our way,

but our defense was really incredible.

♪♪

Our defense

at that point was the foundation.

There was nothing wow about our offense.

You know, we're running the ball better.

Antowain Smith was having a good year.

Our passing game was coming around.

Brady drops straight back

to throw, looking, looking,

goes to the end zone Oh!

Touchdown!

Tom Brady's first NFL touchdown pass.

We would just kind of

scrap together these wins.

Going over the middle.

Oh, you gotta be kidding me!

It's Troy Brown! Troy Brown!

Like this! Keep it moving! Let's go!

It's a throwback.

To the left is Tom Brady

He's got it at the 30!

I'm sure it's been tough for him

seeing someone else out there,

but at the same time being the selfless

guy that he is, he

You know, he put the team first,

and he's done everything he could

to continue to help us win.

Brady back to throw.

Looks. Puts it long and deep.

And caught! Going all the way!

Brady. Play action. Back to throw.

Fires to the end zone. Caught!

You know, he was very sound.

He took care of the football.

Our thing is he's doing what

he's supposed to do as the backup.

He's holding it down until Drew gets back.

I'm working as hard

as I can to hone my skills

and to get back in shape and

And I'm gonna do everything I can

to be ready to play whenever

that opportunity comes again.

If you talk about

turning points in the season,

I think we were 5-4 at that point,

and in come the Rams,

Sunday Night Football.

What does it take to be number one?

Every Sunday we show it.

No one really expected us to win,

obviously.

We probably didn't think

we were gonna win.

Just ready for a big day today.

It's time for the Patriots to come on out.

It actually was a hell of a game.

Fires over the middle.

Intercepted by Terrell Buckley.

At the 45, 40, 35

Brady back to throw.

Looks, looks. Fires end zone.

Touchdown! To David Patten!

Final score:

St. Louis 24, the Patriots 17.

We started talking about

that game as we were leaving the field.

The Rams were a little c*ck.

Of course, they had won

the Super Bowl the year before

and it was a little chirping going on.

If you wanna be a championship team,

you have to be able to win on the road.

We just brought our show on the road.

And we told them if we see you guys again,

which we probably will,

we gonna beat your a*s.

That was the game that showed us that

we're no longer this team

that's forgotten.

Like, we're a team that's ascending.

All the questions,

of course, circling our team is,

when's Drew going to be healthy?

When is he going to be back?

And for me it was pretty

obvious that the right thing to do

was to show up, go to work,

support Tom, support the team.

When you're the leader

of the team, like Drew was,

he never made it about him and he never

created any distractions

that made it more difficult for me.

It didn't occur to me

that not having my job there

when I got back was a possibility

for probably, like, four or five weeks.

And at that point it's sort of

dawned on me like, "Man, geez,

maybe that seat's not gonna be

warm when I get back.

Bledsoe has been cleared to play,

and he talked today about gaining back

some of the weight that he's lost

and how he's itching to get back.

But he is downplaying

any quarterback controversy.

I know that the team is

Is firmly behind me

and they're behind Brady at the same time.

Monday, after the game,

we have our team meeting.

Bill walks in. It gets quiet.

It was like, "We are a team. And sometimes

you've got to make tough decisions.

I have to make tough decisions.

Every decision that I make

is best for the team.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances,

Tom will be the quarterback.

Coach Belichick made the decision,

which was very difficult,

that Tom should continue to play.

This is telling us the $100 million man

who was 100% healthy,

who is our franchise guy,

is no longer the starting quarterback.

It is now this sixth-round kid

out of Michigan

who's been holding things together

for I don't know how many weeks.

We're going forward with him.

I I know in everybody's minds it was

like, "What the f just happened?"

Are you hurt, frustrated,

or how do you feel?

Next question.

He didn't say going forward forever,

and he didn't say going forward

for the rest of the year.

He just said “Tom is going to start

this next week.”

So I don't think there was any long-term

things that we talked about

because we don't know how

Tom is going to do.

Practiced that week and then went out

that game against the Saints.

I threw four touchdown passes.

Play-action fake by Brady.

Fires to the end zone! Caught!

Touchdown! Troy Brown!

And Foxboro loves Tom Brady.

I never looked at it

like it was me against Drew.

He and I personally,

we never had an issue.

I'm sure it was much harder on him

than it was on me

because I was the one playing.

Good job, Tommy.

It was a tough pill to swallow.

He had to swallow it, 'cause

we was moving forward, regardless.

You go through all of the processes

that you could probably imagine, right?

"Screw this. I quit. I'm out.

You know, if you're going to treat me

like this, I'm not going to take that."

He wanted to play, absolutely.

We all wanted to.

If coach would have said,

"Look, Drew's the quarterback,"

I would say I totally understand

and respect that.

You know,

but Coach Belichick didn't do that.

I'm going to make the decisions that I

think are the best for the football team.

T-E-A-M, as in team.

With that team it was

It was truly, truly bittersweet,

you know, and with Tom it was bittersweet.

Love the guy, but at the same time,

that's my job that he's got

and that's my team that he's leading

and I don't get to

go out there and do that.

What are you guys videoing me for?

You're a pretty good quarterback.

I appreciate that, thank you.

I know that.

I happen to think so, too.

I just gotta get back out on the field.

I'm certain that I was not warm and fuzzy

all the time in those meetings.

Although he was trying his hardest

to be the ultimate team guy,

we can tell that

that took everything out of him.

I'll just put it this way.

I look forward to the chance

to compete for my job.

And I'll leave it at that.

But I do think that I was able to,

in spite of that,

actually get my job done

and still be supportive.

If Tommy was an as*h*le, it would've been

really, really hard to do that.

But he's not.

- Which was?

- When I let go that

The last one?

The switch hit like now this is

the direction we're going in

and we gotta get back focused.

Brady hands off to Smith.

Coming to the right.

Pounds it down to the one and in.

Touchdown!

Oh, my. 5-11 a year ago,

last place in the AFC East.

- Whoo!

- Number one!

11-5 this year.

First place in the AFC East.

Piles of snow that night.

It was basically a blizzard,

and I think probably today,

they probably would have

canceled the game.

Going into the Raiders,

I looked at it like

probably most anybody

that was looking at it.

Honestly, we were heavy underdogs.

First of all,

Oakland had an incredible team.

Rich Gannon was a spectacular player.

Gannon is going for the end zone.

And it's caught! Touchdown Raiders!

Anytime you're playing

against an expl*sive offense,

and you play defense and you get

bad weather, poor sight,

wind, snow, slush,

bad footing, that's perfect.

The snow just neutralized everything.

I love the bad weather because

I feel like it slows everyone down,

so my mind processes as quickly,

but the game slows down so

my physical attributes as a player

kind of match everyone else's

slow and sluggish,

so we were actually able to throw

the ball quite a bit that game.

Brady. Throw it over

the middle and he's got Troy Brown.

Tom, despite all odds,

has the slowest ever scramble

for a touchdown with four pump fakes

and that was that.

He's gonna run it.

Inside the five. Touchdown!

We converted some fourth downs that game,

and, uh you know, obviously,

the play with Charles.

With 1:50 to play, Patriot first down

at the Raider 41-yard line.

No timeouts left. They need a field goal.

Blitz.

Lost the football! It's on the ground.

Covered by the Raiders.

And has pretty much sealed

an Oakland Raider victory

here in New England.

I ran off to the sideline

and I was like, sh*t.

You know, that was it.

Charles was celebrating,

and that mistake that I made

by not seeing those two blitzers

ended up costing us the game.

You know, with a strip sack fumble.

First thing we do

as defenders, we grab our helmet,

we start walking out,

then the referees, you know,

they call a timeout to review the play.

They are going to, under two minutes,

review whether or not

Brady's arm was in motion.

When that happened,

I I like most people,

saw it as a fumble, um,

and thought the game was over.

As we saw the replay on the scoreboard,

which was very hard to see

'cause it was a blizzard.

You know, we thought,

"Man, we may have a chance at this."

After reviewing the play,

the quarterback's arm was going forward,

it is an incomplete pass.

Wow.

When they came out

and overturned that call,

I remember thinking clearly,

I might even have said something to Damon,

it's like, "Well, we're going to

the Super Bowl."

Without that play,

there's a lot of lives that are changed

and trajectories of careers

that are changed.

The game wasn't over.

There was a lot of football left.

Like, we still had to score.

We still had to stop them.

This AFC semifinal

boiling down to a very exciting finish.

No snow plow in sight tonight.

Adam Vinatieri

will attempt a 45-yard field goal

to try to tie it.

45-yard field goal attempt coming up.

Snap, ball down, kick off,

on the way, and it is good!

45 yards. Adam Vinatieri

kicks it through the snow,

and we're tied at 13!

That wasn't an automatic,

"you guys won the football game."

We kept competing.

We got the ball in overtime

and we went down the field

and got the ball into

relatively chip shot range for Adam.

So impressed with

the way they fought back in this game.

This is to advance to

the AFC Championship game.

Patriots win! They did it!

Patriots win in overtime!

I'll tell you what,

one of the great games

ever played here in New England.

That was one of the most memorable games

that I've ever played in 20 years.

From Heinz Field

in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

it's the American Football

Conference Championship game

between the Cinderella

New England Patriots

and the Big Bad Pittsburgh Steelers.

That was the first game

that I was I was scared.

I was scared. Um, the moment was

definitely bigger than I was ready for.

They were a damn good football team.

We knew that it wasn't gonna

get easier for us.

Patriots want it,

we're gonna give it to them today.

Best believe that.

From what we heard, they were already

getting ready for the Super Bowl.

They had looked past us,

so there was no respect.

I remember Damon Huard

saying something to me.

He's like, "Hey, you ready, bro?

You might have to go this week."

Yeah, I felt totally comfortable.

I'm ready to go.

The Patriots are going to come out

throwing the football, get rid of it.

That's what he said the key is for him.

Don't take the sacks.

From the start of the game,

I was confused.

Everything was

I didn't know what was coming.

You know,

with all their different blitzes.

They brought two from this side,

they brought two from this

They brought two on the inside,

they brought one off an edge,

they brought the safety,

they brought the corner.

Before the break, they need

a first down here on third and 9.

Here comes the blitz.

Picked up well. The pass.

Wide open in the middle of

It's complete.

Troy Brown at the 45, at the 50

He's down.

The Patriot quarterback is down

back at the 25-yard line.

When you see the guy who has led you to,

you know, the AFC Championship,

and he goes down, you're like

You know, mentally,

that was a big challenge for me,

and I wasn't quite ready for that moment.

The fact that Tom Brady

is still limping is not a good sign.

And everybody started

thinking immediately,

"This is the same exact thing

that happened to Drew."

Well, if you have to go

to your backup quarterback

in a championship playoff game,

it's not bad to have a backup quarterback

as good as Drew Bledsoe.

For as much as my ankle

was hurting, I was scared, too.

Coach recognized that in me, too.

I think he probably looked at me

and said, "Okay, Tom,

we're gonna let someone else

play the rest of the game."

I do remember distinctly the sensation of

completing the first couple passes

and threw the ball

and didn't get hit after I threw it.

I was like, "Oh, this is kind of cool."

♪♪

Thank God

Drew was there, to come in

and ended up playing basically the last

two and a half quarters of the game.

Back to throw.

Looks. Fires. Open! Touchdown!

Touchdown by Drew Bledsoe!

His first touchdown pass of the season!

Here in the AFC Championship game!

- Cancel those reservations!

- I love you, baby!

Cancel all those reservations!

Drew has a hell of a game. He ba*ls out.

We haven't seen Drew

play like this in a while.

Like, he wasn't hungry, he was starving.

We're human. You can't help but think

that "Ah, Drew won his job back."

Tom Brady going

into the locker room with a definite limp.

I wasn't sure how bad my ankle was,

and I remember being in the locker room

after the game kind of walking out.

Drew was getting a lot of

media attention and so forth.

You can see it. It was, like

You could see it in his eye,

like he he knew.

"I'm the man again."

I just remember distinctly that

Tommy was one of the most

fired-up guys for me.

I was happy for Drew.

I was happy for our team.

I was happy for me.

Hell, I was going to the Super Bowl.

♪♪

Obviously, a lot of excitement.

I mean, this was my first Super Bowl.

I would say the emotion

was flying by the seat of our pants.

I mean, I needed tickets. I needed this.

I need a hotel room. I had a car.

I didn't even get a rental car

because I wasn't old enough.

Our first practice was on Wednesday.

We had Media Day on that Tuesday,

and we didn't know

who was going to start at that point.

After the game, when we found out

we was playing. Guess who.

The Rams.

The team that probably was one of

the top, if not the top, team in scoring.

You got to be able to score points.

I assumed

I think, like everybody else,

we assumed

that Drew was gonna be

the starting quarterback

because of what he did

in the AFC Championship.

Sunday's quarterback was

the same one who led the Patriots

to this city five years ago.

Sal Paolantonio has the unlikely

comeback story of Drew Bledsoe.

Here's the question that everybody is

gonna ask you all week long. Who's

Don't don't ask the question.

- This is unusual.

- Sure.

Is it not? I mean, this is

uncomfortable for me. I feel

I especially feel

Well, we're sitting in

the right group, then?

Yeah.

It's one of those injuries that,

you know, it's just

It's a tolerance thing.

You brace it up and

You know,

it's it's the biggest game in my life.

So you don't anticipate

sitting out something like this.

I want to play. I want to play as bad

as I wanted never wanted anything.

I mean it's it's the Super Bowl,

and this is what you play for.

I think Tuesday night,

Coach Belichick had called us in,

Drew and I both. He said,

"Come into my room at so and so

and I'm going to tell you who's

Who I think is gonna play."

I did feel like, you know,

if Tommy was healthy,

they were probably going to go with him,

and so I think my

Uh, internally, my hope was like, well,

maybe his ankle is not quite

all the way healed.

Drew and I went up there together

and he called me in and he said,

"Tom, you're gonna start,

you be ready to go."

♪♪

Uh, you know, I'm obviously

very disappointed.

To be honest with you, that's, uh

probably what I expected, you know?

Uh Uh But, uh, you know,

as I've said all along,

I'm gonna be ready to play, you know?

When I got to play in that

AFC Championship game,

it was a a little bit like he gave

a starving man a cr*cker.

You know, I was, like, "Oh, man.

Been wanting to play forever, man."

I finally get back out here, get to play.

We go on to win the game.

Team plays great

and then the following week,

back to holding the clipboard

and supporting the other guy.

Tom is going to start in the Super Bowl

and, again, it hit everybody.

We were like

And we felt like that's

the decision Bill made.

He got us there.

He played his a*s off to get us there.

We're like, "Let's go.

There's nothing else to talk about.

Let's go."

You know, we got to New Orleans,

and I remember, the people who were

handling logistics for the league said,

"All right, you know, this is the most

secure place in the w

Probably in the USA right now.

You know, like,

there's nothing gonna happen.

You guys, just feel free

to play the game."

And I think at that point we recognize

like, wow, this is bigger than

This is bigger than us.

You know, this is about,

you know, a national pastime.

This is about families getting together.

And how fortunate are we

to be in this game.

But if you're the Rams,

which one of these quarterbacks

do you want to face?

It really doesn't matter.

If I'm the Rams,

I'm gonna beat whoever

they got back there.

Composure of Brady, young guy,

biggest game of his career right now.

It all depends on

He's nervous right now. He is nervous.

Tom, for a young guy,

he just had confidence,

but he was quiet, extremely focused.

He was just zoomed in

on what he needed to do

and you could just see it

and you could feel it.

For as intimidated as I was in Pittsburgh,

I didn't feel that way in New Orleans.

I remember going back to the locker room

after we had warmed up.

And I lay down, and I actually fell

asleep for about five, ten minutes.

And I was just pretty much at peace with

the kind of season that I had had,

and I was prepared for the game.

Who's going to win this game?

- The Rams.

- We're gonna pound them.

- Who's gonna win?

- St. Louis Rams.

They were the greatest show on turf,

and they were gonna

They were about to win

their second Super Bowl.

This time I was focused.

I didn't care about nothing

that was going on.

I was ready to go. All I wanted to do

was focus on the game,

focus on the Rams.

I didn't care about nothing else.

You know, when I look at the teams,

the Rams are the better team and, uh,

but the better team doesn't always win.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,

and welcome to Super Bowl XXXVI.

Choosing to be introduced as a team,

here are the American Football Conference

champions, the New England Patriots.

If you've never played in a Super Bowl,

it's super long.

Like, when you run out of the tunnel.

It it's a different time frame

and you can overexert yourself.

I said I was gonna get you there!

I said I was gonna get you there!

And I just saw him with Drew going at it.

And I'm like, Drew's gonna knock his a*s

out. He's not gonna make it to the game.

And I went over to Tom, and I just

I just pulled him close

and I'm like, "Bro, like, calm down."

Like, this is the biggest game ever.

We need you, like,

just calm down and relax.

♪

I felt like I was really prepared.

The first play of the game,

we threw a slant to Troy Brown,

Zero Flood Slot Hat,

Seventy-Eight Shout Tosser.

First and ten at about

the three, and Brady drops

And Troy just caught

a little of slant on the backside

and went for, I don't know, 18 yards.

And I right then, I was in

the rhythm of the game.

He drops to throw and throws.

And the pass is complete.

We didn't do a ton on offense

other than we didn't lose the game.

Our defense, you know,

obviously made the play on Kurt

on the interception where

Ty returned it for a touchdown.

Ty Law down the sideline. Touchdown!

Our goal was to be

as physical as possible.

Hit anything moving.

Anything moving, anything across

your face, you was getting hit.

We knew if we can turn it into that game,

we had a shot.

Warner up the middle to Oh!

The ball pops loose,

and the Patriots have it.

Buckley has got the ball.

And then the goal line play is happening.

You know, we were

pretty much on cruise control,

and then we made a play down there

in their end zone. They were going in.

Looking left. Now being chased.

Now rolling to the right.

He's got a wide open alley.

He's trying to run for a touchdown

and he is down at

And it is picked up by the Patriots!

It is Tebucky Jones!

He's going to go all the way!

They hiked the ball. I motioned out,

Marshall starts to go outside,

which is me.

Then he goes inside.

So I hit him and I grab him.

I'm not giving up a touchdown,

I'd rather get a penalty.

Tebucky Jones picks up the football.

We go crazy at this point.

We we're running away

with the football game.

It's pretty much over in our mind.

And all of a sudden,

a late flag comes out.

It's gonna be a holding against

whoever was guarding Marshall Faulk.

I turn around, I look

at the flag. I already knew what it was.

Take away a 95-yard fumble return

And had we ran that one in,

we probably would have blown ‘em out.

Second and goal.

But they ended up scoring on that drive.

And the Rams, just like that,

are back in the ball game.

Then they scored again on the next drive.

Of the Patriots. Warner throws left.

I go to the sideline,

like I'm I'm heated. I'm hot.

I'm besides myself.

And he's in! Touchdown St. Louis!

I got to do something to make up

for this play. I gotta do something.

Something's gotta happen.

Like, I can't let my team down.

Now it's up to the Patriots' defense

Couple plays happen later in the series.

I get a big sack to knock him

out of field goal range.

Big play!

Willie McGinest made the tackle.

And here we go.

And then that's when we got the ball back

with, whatever, 1:21 left in the game.

A minute and a half.

The Patriots have no timeouts left.

I think that

the Patriots with this field position,

you have to just run the clock out.

You have to play for overtime now.

I don't think you want to

force anything here.

Drew said something to Tom at the time,

like, "Hey. Forget about this and this.

Go out and sling it, like, go get it."

This is his opportunity.

This is the chance of a lifetime.

Like this this is

what you dream of as a kid.

If you play any sport,

being in a prime time

with the game on the line and you have

something to do to determine

if you're going to win or lose that game.

I think I need to work on

my speed a little bit,

but hopefully that will come in time.

Pretty good work ethic, so

So I think I can get the job done.

The first play we called a pretty

conservative pass

and I was kind of holding it.

And I remember I stepped up in the pocket

and then found JR and I just

kind of shoveled him the pass.

If I get strip sacked on that play,

they're in field goal range,

and that's the game.

And then, finally, you know,

there was a few other plays,

but then I hit Troy Brown on

the deeper in cut we called the triple-in.

When you're in the Super Bowl,

you have to let it all hang out.

And we knew we had to

get a little bit closer.

So then we called a shorter play

to our tight end, Jermaine Wiggins.

It was called The Return Route where he'd

start across the field,

pivot and then returning back out.

He was actually really good at that route.

And they were bringing pressure

from the weak side

because they figured we're not gonna

play zone. We got to pressure these guys,

but I saw the blitz coming from

the weak side and I knew

Jermaine was going to be open,

so I just kind of stuffed it on him.

And I was screaming "Clock, clock, clock!"

And when I got the ball from center,

I clocked it

and the ball bounced perfectly up and I

remember reaching my left arm out

and I just caught it,

right in the palm of my hand,

and then flipped it to the ref,

ran off the field.

I tell you, what Tom Brady

just did gives me goosebumps.

And then, uh, Adam trotted onto the field,

and I kind of ran down

so I could get a good angle at it.

And it was seven seconds.

Adam again? What he did

in the snow, we was like, pff.

Still nervous though.

We're still nervous over here like

come on, "You gotta make this

the biggest game,

we're the underdogs. Nobody gave us

a shot in hell to win this game."

♪

No time on the clock, and

the Patriots have won Super Bowl XXXVI.

Unbelievable.

I still see it

and I remember like it was yesterday,

the feeling, and I remember I was

slamming Drew on the shoulder pads.

"We won the bleeping Super Bowl!"

I was standing on the podium,

and I made eye contact with my sisters.

We are so proud of him!

And I just remember putting my

hands on my head saying, like,

you know, "Can you believe

we won the Super Bowl?"

You know, it was a magical ending

to a magical season.

Spirituality, faith, and democracy

are the cornerstones of our country.

We are all patriots,

and tonight, the Patriots

are world champions.

♪

I remember being excited for our guys,

but at the same time, kind of internally,

a little disheartened,

like, "Man, I battled through a lot

of stuff to try to get to this point

and now arrived here and the

But the other guy got to play."

Yeah, baby! Way to go, 12.

You're the man, baby.

- No, you're the man.

- You're the man. Way to go, man.

Anytime you're on the sideline

and you're not in the football game,

you feel helpless.

And regardless of what his role was,

he understood that

it was a bigger picture.

And that was all of us.

I don't think he just did it for

For Tom. I think he did it for everybody.

When Drew got hurt,

no one would have wanted that.

No one would have hoped for that.

And I think what I respect

so much about him is he never let

any of those emotions

negatively impact me in any way.

And, you know, I love Drew

and I respected Drew

for everything that he had done.

By about 11:00 the next morning,

I was sitting on a chairlift,

skiing in Whitefish, Montana.

And I remember I got on the chairlift

and I was by myself, put my goggles on,

my helmet and I sat there,

I was all by myself,

and I just and I cried.

♪

I just sat there,

and it was the first time

I just kind of let it all

come crashing down on me.

When I look at what Drew went through,

I look at someone who is very unselfish.

I think that lesson is embedded in me.

There's nothing you can accomplish

in football without everyone else,

without the team, without the coaches,

without the fans, without your families

You know, it's the ultimate team sport.

And I think for Tom,

it was an important lesson

that you had to fight

to stay in that position,

to never give it up,

and you got to do whatever it takes

to continue to do what you do

at a high level.

Because it's always that thought that

"how I got my job

and what I went through to get it."

There's somebody always knocking.

You gotta be ready

when your opportunity presents itself.

I don't think I was physically prepared.

Was I mentally and emotionally ready?

Absolutely.

I had a confidence in me.

I always felt like,

you know, even going back to Michigan,

I always said,

"Man, if they put me on the field,

they're never gonna take me off."

And I remember I was eating breakfast

in Ann Arbor after a game one day

in my senior year.

My parents were in there with me.

We were having breakfast that day

after the game and I said,

"One day, I'm going to be

a household name."

You know? And I said it as a joke.

But, man, I think now I look back,

f*cking 23 years later,

and I go, "f*cking household name."

It's like anything.

It's progress and it's revolution.

It's a series of small steps that seem

so insignificant at the time

that you're making them

that when you look back,

you realize the distance traveled.

It's been incredible for me

to love what I'm doing

and to chase something for so long.

And I'm still f*cking doing it.