Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Tom Brady driven to 'close the order' in Super Bowl

PHOENIX -- The image of Tom Brady in the crushing aftermath of Super Bowl XLVI remains an indelible moment in recent New England Patriots history. Brady sat in front of his locker, towel draped over his head, looking downward between his football cleats for what seemed like an eternity. He was a beaten and battered quarterback who couldn't be consoled.

The scene was so perfectly captured that night in Indianapolis by award-winning columnist Dan Wetzel, the words penned four years after the devastation of a near-perfect season denied in Super Bowl XLII.

The Patriots had come so close both times. But instead, it was heartbreak, the first loss coming right here in Arizona at University of Phoenix Stadium, where Brady returns Sunday hoping to write a different championship ending.

“I remember that feeling,” Brady acknowledged this week in preparation for Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks. “I think each of those two losses we expected to go out and play great and win. We went into those games with a lot of confidence, too. We just didn’t make enough plays.

“This game, you hate to play anything less than your best because you rack your brain for all the things you wish you could have done better to help the team -- ‘If I made this read’ or ‘If I would have thrown it here on this play.’ That’s what you deal with the rest of your life.

“You’re obviously still proud of those teams and what we accomplished, but it’s about winning this game. That’s what this is all about.”

Brady, making his NFL record-tying sixth Super Bowl appearance, has a chance to win it for the first time since the 2004 season.  If he pulls off the feat, it will mark the longest gap between Super Bowl wins by a starting quarterback in NFL history (Roger Staubach, 6, VI-XII).

That the game is back in Glendale, Arizona, the team’s first game back at University of Phoenix Stadium since Super Bowl XLII, isn’t lost on Brady and others.

“We talked about it and we’re happy and privileged that we have a chance to come back to Arizona and close the order,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said. “He is driven. He has watched tape of every one of Seattle’s games. I don’t think fans understand how hard he prepares and how he takes care of himself. I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t have a great day Sunday.”

Brady, who can tie Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the most Super Bowl victories by a starting quarterback with four, hasn’t had great days in his past two Super Bowl appearances.

In XLVI against the New York Giants, the tone in the 21-17 loss was set with an early-game safety when Brady was penalized for intentional grounding in the end zone. He finished 27-of-41 for 276 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

In the 17-14 loss in XLII, once again versus the Giants, a ferocious pass rush sacked him five times and he finished 29-of-48 for 266 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Brady compared trying to throw the ball that day to being in a forest of large trees.

Much like those Giants teams, the 2014 Seahawks have the ability to create similar frustrations for opposing quarterbacks with their swarming style of play and pressure with the standard four rushers. That’s what Brady and the Patriots face in a quest that Brady now has a greater appreciation for than when he was winning three titles in a span of four years (2001, 2003-04).

“When we went early in my career, I didn’t realize how hard it was,” he admitted. “I think that gave me some perspective, some experience on trying to get to this point. And when we got to this point, we just haven’t won this game. This would be an incredible achievement. I obviously realize how hard it is to win a Super Bowl.”

It’s hard just to get here, too.

Along those lines, Brady allowed himself a moment of reflection to consider his good fortune upon his arrival in Arizona this week.

“To have an opportunity to play in this game is really unbelievable. I never thought I’d have the experience to play in one of these. To think it’s my sixth time, I can’t imagine,” he said.

At that point, Brady shook his head, looked down between his shoes, before quickly raising his head and finishing the thought. In a year when offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said Brady has worked harder than any he has seen, the 37-year-old has been dreaming of what it would be like to hoist another Lombardi Trophy.

That, more than the motivation of not feeling the sting of Super Bowl defeat for a third consecutive time, is what has driven him to this point.

“I’m trying to envision winning, being on the trophy stand,” he said. “That’s what I think about.”

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