When Tom Brady was growing up in California, he idolised Joe Montana, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback. At Wembley on Sunday, Brady will lead the New England Patriots against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and many British NFL fans believe that they will be seeing with their own eyes the man destined to eclipse Montana, Joe Namath or any other quarterback you care to name.

Since appearing in the American football spotlight almost out of nowhere in 2001, Brady has led the Patriots to three Super Bowl victories and to within one touchdown of a fourth, which would also have completed a perfect season of 19 wins in 19 games. A superlative game manager, he has an uncannily accurate arm and, at 32, could rewrite many more pages of the record books than he already has. Oh, and did we mention that he is 6ft 4in, married to Gisele Bündchen, the supermodel, and has featured in The Simpsons?

At this point, you would probably like to hear that Brady is a strutting loudmouth, hated and envied by his team-mates, with a record of drink-driving and firearms offences, but if anything, Brady is too pleasant — so much so that he once attempted to hint at a dark side to his character by suggesting to a magazine that he watches internet pornography, but without much success.

“The surprise about Tom is that he is the kind of great guy that you would want as a friend,” said Joey Galloway, the wide receiver who joined the Patriots from the Buccaneers in the close season but was released by New England this week. “He is a national figure, but you would never know it.”

Part of the reason for Brady’s modesty and dislike of the limelight could be because he was not marked out for fame, picked only 199th in the 2000 NFL draft. Scouts noted that he “lacks a really strong arm”, but missed his competitive streak. He worked his way up from fourth choice to back-up behind Drew Bledsoe and when Bledsoe was injured in September 2001, Brady took over. The Patriots won 14 of the next 17 games and three of the next four Super Bowls.

Perhaps his worth was proved most conclusively when a knee injury in the first game of last season ended his campaign prematurely and the Patriots missed the play-offs. He and they have been inconsistent this season, but he cut loose last Sunday with six touchdown passes in a 59-0 rout of the Tennessee Titans.

“Missing all of last season was a very challenging experience, but things happen,” he said. “It’s a very physical sport. I had an unfortunate injury, but I think it’s really helped me grow in a lot of ways — as a person, as a player, as a team-mate. It really reinforces how much I enjoy playing the game. We’re all very excited to play in Wembley Stadium, as historic a stadium as there is in the entire world. This is a game that we’ll be remembering for the next 40, 50 years of our lives, so we all want to go out and play as well as we can.”

And how about those comparisons to Montana? “I think Joe Montana is the best player ever,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be as good as he was. I’m resigned to the fact that I’m going to be the best I can be. What’s most important to me is that I have the respect of the players and coaches on the team and that I give everything I have every time I take the field.”

Not that they needed it, but the Buccaneers have been warned.

Patriot’s gains

Three Super Bowl victories (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX)

Two Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards 2007 NFL MVP award

Most touchdown passes in an NFL season (50, 2007)

Second-youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl (24, 2002)

Won-lost record of 14-3 in play-off games, the second best in NFL history behind Bart Starr (9-1)

Fourteen play-off wins, tied for second in NFL history behind Joe Montana, with 16

Words by Nick Szczepanik

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