After besting the prematurely nicknamed "Greatest Show On Turf" St. Louis Rams, Brady came into 2002 as the reigning champion, and the starter in Week 1. In his 22-year playing career, he was the starter formut coins 20 of them (we'll go over his disastrous 2008 campaign later) He also made the playoffs 19 times out of the 20 seasons he was healthy.
2002 was the only one in which he missed January football, finishing 9-7 but losing out in a three-way tiebreaker for divisional play in the year 2002 that sent the Jets to the postseason. In the early days, it was Brady who was still thought of as game manager, although his 28 touchdowns in 2002 was to be his highest score in his career up until Randy Moss showed up half an entire decade later. This would also prove to be Brady's last season in Madden in which he was rated less than 90.
Even though he didn't make the playoffs that year before, Brady would kick off his 2003 season by cracking the 90+ club of Madden as the only time. The game that year was won by cover star and fake cheat code Michael Vick, but if you were looking for a reliable pocket passer, Brady was a top-tier option.
In real life, Brady would return to the Super Bowl that season and overcame a dramatic last quarter against the Carolina Panthers, whose Jake Delhomme was rumored to be the next Brady. However, that would be not to be the case. In 2003, despite winning two Lombardi awards at that time yet, nobody knew how high he was going to set the bar in the future.
In a truly elite group, Brady would kick off the defensive-minded Madden 2005 as one the top players on the field that made the Patriots a must-play team in online head-to-head when players were eager tobuy mut coins test the brand new Hit Stick on defenseless ball carriers. Brady would later defeat in the Super Bowl the Donovan McNabb- and Andy Reid-led Eagles in the Super Bowl, clinching the Patriots their place to become the next NFL super team.
