What Does Sunday's Super Bowl 49 Mean for Tom Brady's Legacy?

We are just days away from Super Bowl 49 and the excitement continues to build as we get closer to Sunday afternoon. The lead up to this Super Bowl has been all about the Patriots and their De-Flate Gate issue where they had 11 of 12 footballs under the allowed psi in the AFC Championship Game against the Colts.

The game on the field is one of the most intriguing Super Bowls ever, but with all of this drama the game itself has became an afterthought sadly.  I want to change that for a bit and discuss some ramifications to this big game that will be played between the Seahawks and Patriots on Sunday in Arizona.

This has said to be a huge legacy game for the Patriots and in particular their quarterback Tom Brady. I certainly agree with those suggestions and in fact I feel this is the biggest game of his hall of fame career.

A win on Sunday would make him 4-2 in the Super Bowl, but a loss would take him to 3-3 and really diminish what was an outstanding start to his career. Now don’t get me wrong, even if he loses on Sunday he is still one of the greatest to ever play the game, but in terms of being the greatest ever it would hurt his status.

Brady was famously selected in the 6^th round, 199^th overall in the NFL Draft and his career has been a fairy tale at times. He got off to one of the greatest starts any quarterback ever has in the game, but since the Patriots last Super Bowl win in 2004 there have been some rough times.

He led the Patriots to an incredible 18-0 record entering Super Bowl 42 in 2007. The Patriots famously lost to the Giants 17-14 in one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played. Brady in 2007 threw for 50 touchdowns, which at the time was the all-time record for TD passes in a single season.

Brady and the Patriots returned to the Super Bowl four years later against the same team, the Giants. The Patriots and Brady once again were victims of the Giants and Eli Manning. The two losses seemed to tarnish what was once a spotless resume for Brady.

Sunday, Brady and the Patriots will have an opportunity to right some of those wrongs and improve on what has been an incredible run the past 15 years. From the time Brady took over at quarterback for the Patriots, in 2001, New England has been the model franchise.

True, they have had a ton of drama, conspiracy and scandals to go along with the winning, but despite all of those issues New England has won each and every year. Brady has been the one leading the way all these years, along with Head Coach Bill Belichick.

So in conclusion, what does Sunday’s Super Bowl 49 mean in terms of legacy for Brady? In my mind it could be a make or break game for Brady’s legacy for some people. With the drama surrounding the Patriots the past two weeks it would make a win even more impressive for Brady and the Patriots.

Brady has three rings, but it has been exactly a decade since he won his last Super Bowl title. A win on Sunday stamps his place as a top three quarterback all-time and puts him in a class all alone among active quarterbacks. It would also put to rest the Brady vs. Peyton Manning conversation as well, which it should be put to rest anyway because of Brady’s playoff success.

Super Bowl 49 is just days away and for three hours, Brady’s legacy and untouchable place in history will be on the line. It should be an exciting time for football fans everywhere, whether you are a Patriots fan or not. Brady is the golden boy of the NFL and he will look to make Super Bowl Sunday a golden day for himself and the New England Patriots.