Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The injury Tom Brady played with and still won the Super Bowl
Taking the Tampa Bay Buchaneers to Super Bowl LV glory was impressive in itself, but the legendary quarterback did it with a season-long injury.
During his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NFL legend that is Tom Brady led the underdogs to their second Super Bowl title in their history. Now it has been revealed that he did so with a significant knee injury.
Brady injury adds to legacy
As reported by NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Brady played the 2020-21 season with a torn medial collateral ligament.
NFL news:
After winning the Vince Lombardi Award, the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback underwent knee surgery in February, with Brady calling it "pretty serious" in May. That much was known. But the latest report adds to the mystery and intrigue of Brady's left knee.
The Tampa Bay Times had opened on Thursday with a report that Brady played the entire 2020
season on a partially torn MCL, only to be outdone by Rapoport who said it was actually fully torn.
Further, Brady reportedly sustained the injury in his final season with the New England Patriots in 2019.
"It was an injury I dealt with really since last, you know, April, May," Brady said last month, following the Bucs' mandatory minicamp.
"I knew I would have to do something at the end of the year and happy I did it. It was probably something that certainly needed to be done and there was a great outcome so I'm very happy about that. I feel like there's some things I'll be able to do this year that I wasn't able to do last year."
Brady threw for 4,633 yards and 40 touchdowns against 12 interceptions during the regular season, adding another 1,061 yards with 10 TDs in the postseason, including the Super Bowl victory.
Brady’s previous injury
This is the second time Brady has had knee problems during his 21 years in the NFL. In 2008, after losing out to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, he suffered a torn ACL during the first game of the new season (against the Titans).
On that occasion, he was sidelined for the remainder of the season and the Patriots missed out on the playoffs despite an 11-5 record. The quarterback who filled in for Brady on that occasion was Matt Cassel.