Jesse Reed
Before the legend of Tom Brady was born, the New England Patriots, along with everyone else, had no idea he’d one day turn into one of the greatest NFL players of all time. In fact, as Kent Babb of the Washington Times reminds us, the Pats had so little confidence in Brady that were trying to lure Jim Harbaugh out of retirement after Drew Bledsoe was lost for the year in 2001.
Ultimately, the Patriots were forced to resort to using Brady, but it wasn’t exactly thought of as an ideal decision.
“The team was very: Wow, what are we going to do now?” Kevin Faulk, a running back on the 2001 Patriots, said by telephone this week, via Babb. “For Tom, it was just: manage the team.”
Harbaugh wasn’t the only guy they were looking at, either:
“They scouted Eric Zeier and Billy Joe Tolliver and Bert Emanuel, and if none of those passers worked out, former Patriots backup Scott Zolak was in their backyard — selling luxury suites at the yet-unopened facility that would eventually be named Gillette Stadium.”
Obviously, history tells us New England’s inability to convince Harbaugh to come back into the league proved fortuitous for the franchise.
Brady ended up taking the Pats to Super Bowl XXXVI and helped win a thriller against the then St. Louis Rams, who featured the “Greatest Show on Turf,” leading to a legendary career that includes four Super Bowl championships and six appearances in the big game.
But looking back at that time, it’s not surprising the Patriots were looking elsewhere for a starting quarterback. Brady was the team’s fourth-string quarterback the year before and wasn’t highly regarded coming out of the University of Michigan.
Without any other options, Brady was thrust into action against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts that week, and the rest is history. Now the two future Hall of Famers are set to go to battle for the 17th time in their careers on Sunday for the chance to make it to another Super Bowl.
Sometimes it’s the things that don’t happen that make all the difference in the world. For Brady and the Pats, not landing “Captain Comeback” Harbaugh proved to be the best thing that could have occurred.
