Tom Brady

**Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr.** (Born August 3, 1977 (Age 40) Is an American Football Quarterback for

### Passing Yards

66, 159

the New England Patriots. He is one of two NFL players to win five Super Bowls (The other being Charles Haley)

## Early Life

Brady was born in San Mateo, California, on August 3, 1977. He was the only son and had three sisters. His parents were Galynn Patricia Johnson, andThomas Brady Sr. Brady attended Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, where he graduated in 1995; the ceremony was held at St. Mary's Cathedral. He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school. He played against Bellarmine College Preparatory rival Pat Burrell in both football and baseball. Brady's football career started as the backup quarterback on the Padres junior varsity team. At first, Brady was not good enough to start on the 0–8 JV team that had not scored a touchdown all year. However, when the starting quarterback went down with an injury, he ascended to the starting position. He became the varsity starter his junior year and held the position until he graduated. By Brady's senior year, he struggled getting on the radar of college coaches. He created highlight tapes and sent them out to schools he would consider attending.This led to strong interest from many football programs around the nation.

Brady was also known as a great baseball player in high school. He was a left-handed-hitting catcher with power. His skill set impressed MLB scouts, and he was drafted in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft by the Montreal Expos. The Expos projected Brady as a potential All-Star, and offered him money typical of a late second-round or early third-round pick.Nevertheless, Brady was determined to play football at the next level. He was always more passionate about football, and when he found that there was significant interest in him, he decided to take the road of football. Brady was recruited by Michigan assistant Bill Harris, and he signed to play for the University of Michigan in 1995. After College he was drafted to the NFl, he was pick #199

## 2000 Season

Brady was selected with pick #199, a compensatory pick, in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He and his family had believed that Brady would be drafted in the second or third round; they watched the draft on television, stunned as six other quarterbacks were drafted before him. Brady was so embarrassed that he briefly left the family home during the sixth round, and cried when recalling the experience for an interview 11 years later. When the Patriots notified him that he would be drafted Brady was grateful that, he later said, he would not "have to be an insurance salesman". According to Michael Holley's book *Patriot Reign*, the Patriots were considering Brady and Tim Rattay, both of whom had received positive reviews from then-quarterbacks coach Dick Rehbein. Ultimately, the Patriots front office chose Brady. Considering his subsequent success, many analysts have called Brady the best NFL draft pick of all time.

Brady started the season as the fourth string quarterback, behind starter Drew Bledsoe and backups John Friesz and Michael Bishop; by season's end, he was number two on the depth chart behind Bledsoe. During his rookie season, he was 1-of-3 passing, for six yards. Tight end Rod Rutledge caught Brady's first and only completed pass of the season in a 34–9 loss to the Detroit Lions on November 23.

## 2001 Season

With Bledsoe as the starting quarterback, the Patriots opened the season with a 23–17 loss at Cincinnati. In their second game and home opener on September 23, the Patriots squared off against their AFC East rivals, the New York Jets. Bledsoe was again the starter; in the fourth quarter, he suffered internal bleeding after a hit from Jets linebacker Mo Lewis. Bledsoe returned for the next series, but was replaced with Brady for the Patriots' final series of the game. New York would hold on to win, 10–3, and the Patriots fell to 0–2 on the season.Brady was named the starter for the season's third game, against the Indianapolis Colts. In his first two games as starter, Brady posted unspectacular passer ratings of 79.6 and 58.7, respectively, in a 44–13 victory over the Colts (in their last season in the AFC East) and a 30–10 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

In the Patriots' fifth game, Brady began to find his stride. Trailing the visiting San Diego Chargers 26–16 in the fourth quarter, he led the Patriots on two scoring drives to force overtime, and another in overtime to set up a winning field goal. Brady finished the game with 33 pass completions on 54 attempts, for 364 yards, and two touchdowns. The following week, Brady again played well during the rematch at Indianapolis, with a passer rating of 148.3 in a 38–17 win. The Patriots went on to win eleven of the fourteen games Brady started, and six straight to finish the regular season, winning the AFC East and entering the 2001–02 NFL playoffs with a first-round bye. Brady finished the 2001 season with 2,843 passing yards and 18 touchdowns and earned an invitation to the 2002 Pro Bowl.

## 2002 Season

Brady and the Patriots finished the year at 9–7, tied with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins for the best record in the division; however, the Jets won the division on the third tiebreaker, and the Patriots missed the playoffs.

Though Brady posted a career-low single-season passer rating of 85.7 and a career-high of 14 interceptions, he threw for a league-leading 28 touchdown passes and 921 more yards than in the 2001 season. However, Brady played much of the second half of the season with a shoulder injury, and New England head coach Bill Belichick later indicated that Brady would not have been able to play in their first playoff game if the Patriots had made the playoffs.

## 2003 Season

After opening the 2003 NFL season with a 2–2 start, Brady led the Patriots to twelve consecutive victories to finish the regular season in winning the AFC East. Statistically, Brady's strongest game of the season was against the division rival Buffalo Bills, when he achieved a season-high quarterback rating of 122.9. Brady finished with 3,620 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, and was third in NFL MVP voting to co-winners Peyton Manning and Steve McNair.

## 2004 Season

During the 2004 season, Brady helped the Patriots set an NFL record with 21 straight wins dating from the previous year, an accomplishment honored in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (though for official records, the NFL considers it an 18-game regular season winning streak; it does not count playoff games). New England finished with a 14–2 record, equaling their 2003 record and the best regular-season record ever for a defending champion. The Patriots also won the AFC East divisional title for the third time in four years. Brady threw for 3,692 yards and 28 touchdowns, with a 92.6 passer rating, and was voted to his second Pro Bowl.

## 2005 Season

During the 2005 season, injuries suffered by running backs Corey Dillon, Patrick Pass, and Kevin Faulk forced the Patriots to rely more on Brady's passing. Brady also had to adjust to new center Russ Hochstein and running back Heath Evans. Brady finished first in the league with 4,110 passing yards and third in the league with 26 touchdowns. At 92.3, his 2005 passer rating was the second-highest of his career at the time, although he equaled his career high for interceptions with 14. He rushed for 89 yards and fumbled a career-low four times. He and the Patriots finished with a 10–6 record, winning their third straight AFC East title.

## 2006 Season

Brady led the Patriots to a 12–4 record and the fourth seed in the AFC playoffs. In the regular season, Brady threw for 3,529 yards and 24 touchdowns. He was not among the players initially selected to the Pro Bowl, although he was offered an injury-replacement selection when San Diego Chargers Philip Rivers was forced to withdraw (which he declined).

## 2007 Season

Playing with a dramatically overhauled receiver corps—in the 2007 offseason, the Patriots acquired wide receivers Donté Stallworth, Wes Welker, Kelley Washington, and Randy Moss; tight end Kyle Brady; and running back Sammy Morris—Brady enjoyed what some sportswriters described as one of the best seasons by a quarterback. The average score of a 2007 Patriots regular-season game would be 37–17 by the end of the year.] Brady led the Patriots to the first 16–0 regular-season record in league history, outscoring opponents by more than a 2-to-1 margin, but also attained numerous career, franchise, and NFL records and milestones in the process. While away at Dallas, he had a career-high five passing touchdowns in a 48–27 win. The win tied him with Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach for the most wins ever by a starting quarterback in his first 100 regular-season games, with 76. The next week, in part of a 49–28 win at Miami, he had yet another record day, with six passing touchdowns, setting a franchise record. He also had the first perfect passer rating of his career. Two weeks later, as part of a come-from-behind 24–20 victory at Indianapolis, he threw for another three touchdowns, the ninth consecutive game in which he had done so, breaking Peyton Manning's NFL record of eight. During the last game of the year, Brady threw two touchdown passes; his second touchdown was his 50th, breaking Peyton Manning's 2004 record of 49.

Brady finished the season with 4,806 passing yards, 50 touchdown passes, and only eight interceptions. It was unanimously voted the greatest passing season of all time by ESPN in 2013. His 50:8 touchdown to interception ratio was, at the time, an NFL record. He became the first quarterback to pass for 50 touchdowns in a season and his 117.2 passer rating is the fourth highest in a single season. His 8.7% touchdown passing percentage is the third highest ever in a season. He led the Patriots to becoming the first team to ever go undefeated in the regular season since the 16 game schedule was enforced and directed an offense that scored a then NFL record 589 points and 75 total touchdowns. Those records stood until they were eclipsed by the 2013 Denver Broncos. The team's 50 total touchdown passes is the fourth most ever in a season. For his efforts, Brady was named the Most Valuable Player of this season, as well as Offensive Player of the Year. He was also honored by the Associated Press as their Male Athlete of the Year, the first time an NFL player has been so honored since Joe Montana won the award in 1990.

## 2008 Season

Brady did not play in any games during the 2008 preseason or in the 2008 Pro Bowl due to two different foot injuries. In the Patriots' 2008 season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium, Brady's left knee was seriously injured midway through the first quarter on a hit by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard; he left the game and did not return. The team later confirmed that Brady would require surgery, and it would prematurely end his 2008 season. Brady tore both his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament. The injury ended Brady's streak of 111 consecutive starts (seventh in the list of most consecutive starts by an NFL quarterback, behind Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Ron Jaworski, and Joe Flacco). Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed the anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction at the Los Angeles Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic October 6, using Brady's patellar tendon graft to replace the torn ligament, and also repaired his medial collateral ligament, through a separate incision in his left knee. An infection in the wound resulted in further debridement surgery several times since the original procedure. Brady received IV antibiotics for this infection which, at the time, threatened to delay his rehab. Despite Brady's absence, the Patriots managed to finish the 2008 season with an 11–5 record; however, due to tiebreakers, the Patriots not only failed to win the AFC East division title, but missed the playoffs altogether for the first time since the 2002 season.

## 2009 Season

In his first game in nearly a year, Brady threw for 378 yards and two touchdowns in the 2009 season opener against the Buffalo Bills. In the final minutes of the game, the Patriots were down 24–13 before Brady and tight end Benjamin Watson connected on two straight touchdowns to lead the Patriots to a 25–24 win. Brady was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the 13th time in his career for his performance.

On October 18, 2009, in an early season snowstorm, Brady set an NFL record against the Tennessee Titans for most touchdowns in a single quarter, throwing five in the second quarter. Brady finished the game with six touchdowns, tying his career best, and 380 yards, completing 29-of-34 attempts, finishing with a nearly perfect passer rating of 152.8. The Patriots' 59–0 victory over the Titans tied the record for the largest margin of victory since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, and set a record for largest halftime lead in NFL history, which was 45–0.

Brady finished the 2009 regular season with 4,398 yards passing and 28 touchdowns for a 96.2 rating, despite a broken right ring finger and three fractured ribs, all which were suffered over the course of the season. He was selected as a reserve to the 2010 Pro Bowl and named the 2009 NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

## 2010 Season

On September 10, 2010, Brady signed a four-year, $72 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL. The extension included $48.5 million in guaranteed money.

Brady became the quickest quarterback to achieve 100 regular season wins by helping his team defeat the Miami Dolphins 41–14 on October 4, 2010.

In a 31–28 win over the Indianapolis Colts on November 21, 2010, Brady tied Brett Favre's record of winning 25 consecutive regular-season home starts. Brady's last regular-season defeat at home was a 17–14 loss to the New York Jets on November 12, 2006. On December 6, 2010, Brady engineered a 45–3 victory over the New York Jets and set an NFL record by winning 26 consecutive regular-season home starts.

Brady threw for 3,900 yards with 36 touchdowns and only four interceptions on the season. He had a 111.0 passer rating; this gave him—at the time—two of the top five season ratings in NFL history and made him the first player to finish with a rating above 110 in two different seasons.

Brady was selected as a starter to the 2011 Pro Bowl. However, he pulled out of the game (and was replaced by former backup Matt Cassel of the Kansas City Chiefs) after undergoing surgery for a stress fracture in his right foot dating back to 2008. Brady was also the only unanimous selection for the AP All-Pro Team and was named the 2010 Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year. By unanimous decision, he won the MVP award for the second time in his career.

## 2011 Season

In Week 1 of the 2011 NFL season, Brady threw for 517 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception in a 38–24 victory over the Miami Dolphins. This was the second time that he had thrown for 400 or more yards in a single game.

In the regular season finale against the Buffalo Bills, Brady became the fourth quarterback to throw for 5,000 yards in a single season, finishing with 5,235; although Brady surpassed Dan Marino's longstanding record of 5,084 passing yards, he finished the season second in passing yards behind Drew Brees' 5,476. In the end, the Patriots finished the season 13–3 and clinched the AFC's #1 seed.

## 2012 Season

Brady started all 16 regular season games of the 2012 NFL season and led the Patriots to a 12–4 record. The Patriots scored 557 total points, the third highest in league history and Brady became the first quarterback to lead his team to ten division titles. With that point total, the Patriots became the first team to score at least 500 points in a season four different times, with Brady leading all four squads, which was a record as well. He finished the season with 4,827 passing yards, 34 touchdowns, only eight interceptions, and a passer rating of 98.7. It was Brady's third straight season throwing for over 30 touchdowns.

## 2013 Season

Brady and the Patriots began the season with much upheaval on the offensive side of the ball. Tight end Rob Gronkowski was injured and Aaron Hernandez was arrested. Wes Welker departed to the Denver Broncos, Danny Woodhead left in free agency for the San Diego Chargers, and Brandon Lloyd was released from the team. In order to replace the five players, the Patriots signed Danny Amendola in free agency from the Rams, drafted rookie wide receivers Aaron Dobson and Josh Boyce, and signed undrafted rookie free agent wide receiver Kenbrell Thompkins. In the first two games of the season, Brady completed 52% of his passes and had three touchdowns and one interception.

Brady was in pursuit of Drew Brees's record of at least one touchdown in 54 consecutive regular season games and saw the streak end at 52 games in a Week 5 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals. In a Week 6 game against the Saints, the Patriots struggled in the first half and bounced back in the second with Brady passing for 269 yards with a touchdown to Kenbrell Thompkins as time expired to pull out the win over the Saints.

In Week 11, Brady faced-off against Peyton Manning for the fourteenth time in his career. After going to the half trailing by 24 points, Brady and the Patriots scored 31 unanswered points. The Patriots won after a muffed punt in overtime when Stephen Gostkowski scored a field goal. With a Week 16 win over the Ravens, Brady collected his 147th win as a starting quarterback to tie Dan Marino for fourth place all time, and the following week he defeated the Bills to tie John Elway for third place.

## 2014 Season

Brady started the 2014 season with a 33–20 loss to the Miami Dolphins. It was Brady's first opening day loss since the 2003 season. Brady recorded 241 yards and a touchdown in the loss. New England rebounded against the Minnesota Vikings, but Brady struggled, throwing for 149 yards and a touchdown in a 30–7 win. Against the Oakland Raiders Brady was pressured all day, but threw for 234 yards and a touchdown in 16–9 win. After a humiliating 41–14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Brady led New England to back-to-back wins against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills. Brady then defeated the New York Jets with a 261-yard performance that included three touchdowns. The following week, a 51–23 embarrassment of the Chicago Bears saw Brady throw for 354 yards and a season-high five touchdowns. After passing for 333 yards, and 257 yards in his next two games against the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts respectively, Brady defeated the Detroit Lions 34–9 with 349 passing yards and two touchdowns against only one interception. The Patriots winning streak was put to the test against the Green Bay Packers in Week 13. Down 13–0 early, Brady threw for 245 yards and two touchdowns. Still down 26–21, Brady was unable to give the Patriots their eighth consecutive victory. After trailing 14–3 at the San Diego Chargers, Brady rallied his team with 317 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, to a 23–14 comeback win. Brady clinched his NFL record 12th AFC East division title with 287 passing yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. Brady struggled in his final two games, throwing for only 182 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in 17–16 victory against the Jets, and 80 yards in one half of the final regular season game against the Buffalo Bills, a 17–9 loss, though Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and three starting offensive linemen did not play either the entirety or the majority of the final game, and Brady only played in the first half.

## Deflategate

On January 18, 2015, Tom Brady was suspended for four games because, the NFL believed he knew something about the deflation of the football during the off-season.

## 2015 Season

In the NFL Kickoff Game, Brady led the Patriots to a 28–21 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He threw for 288

yards and four touchdowns, three of them to Rob Gronkowski. The Patriots' victory was the 161st victory of Brady's career, all with the Patriots, which surpassed the record held by former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre for most regular season wins by a starting quarterback with a single team. In Week 2, Brady followed up his Week 1 performance by throwing for 466 yards and three touchdowns against the Bills. Through the first five games of the season, Brady threw a total of 14 touchdowns with one interception and had a quarterback rating of 118.4.

Despite Brady's success, the Patriots were hit by many injuries to key players on offense, including wide receiver Julian Edelman, and the Patriots eventually lost their first game against the Broncos, who were without Peyton Manning, in Denver on the Sunday after Thanksgiving following a 10–0 start. The Patriots then lost three of their remaining five games to finish 12–4 for a fourth straight season, tied with the Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos for the AFC's best record. Denver clinched the No. 1 seed due to their victories over both the Patriots and the Bengals, while the Patriots finished with the AFC's No. 2 seed due to having a better record against common opponents than Cincinnati. Brady finished the regular season with a league-leading 36 touchdown passes and seven interceptions. He was named to his 11th Pro Bowl (seventh straight), and was ranked as the second best player on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016 behind only league MVP Cam Newton.

## 2016 Off-Season

On February 29, 2016, Brady signed a two-year contract extension covering the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Three days later, the NFL appealed Judge Richard M. Berman's 2015 decision to vacate Brady's four-game suspension as punishment for his alleged role in the Deflategate scandal. At the March 3, 2016, hearing in New York City, the three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit questioned Players Association lawyer Jeffrey L. Kessler more intensely than NFL lawyer Paul Clement, with Circuit Judge Denny Chin even stating that "the evidence of ball tampering is compelling, if not overwhelming."

On April 25, 2016, Judge Richard M. Berman's decision to block Brady's four-game suspension was overturned by the U.S. Appeals Court. Circuit Judge Barrington Daniels Parker Jr., joined by Circuit Judge Chin, wrote that they could not "second-guess" the arbitration but were merely determining it "met the minimum legal standards established by the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947". Circuit Chief Judge Robert Katzmann dissented, writing that the NFL's fines for using stickum was "highly analogous" and that here "the Commissioner was doling out his own brand of industrial justice."

On May 23, 2016, Brady appealed for his case to be reheard by the full U.S. 2nd Circuit Court. The 2nd Circuit Court denied Brady's request for an *en banc* hearing on July 13.] Two days later, on Friday, July 15, 2016, Brady announced on his Facebook page that he would give up his Deflategate fight and accept his suspension for the first four regular season games of the 2016 season. Prior to Brady's suspension, he had not missed a single regular season or postseason game since the start of the 2009 season.

## 2016 regular Season

After serving his four-game suspension, Brady made his 2016 season debut on October 9 on the road against the Cleveland Browns; he completed 28-of-40 passes for 406 yards and three touchdowns in a 33–13 victory. In his home debut the following week, Brady completed 29-of-35 passes for 376 yards and three touchdowns in a 35–17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. In Week 7, Brady completed 19 of 26 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns as New England defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27–16. The next week, the Patriots defeated the Buffalo Bills 41–25, with Brady completing 22-of-33 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns. Brady's outstanding numbers during his first four games following the suspension earned him the AFC Offensive Player of the Month award for October.

Following a bye week, Brady and the Patriots faced the Seattle Seahawks in a Week 10 rematch of Super Bowl XLIX. Brady completed 23-of-32 passes for 316 yards, one interception, and no touchdowns in a 31–24 loss that saw the two teams trade leads seven times. In Week 11, Brady completed 24-of-40 passes for 280 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions in a 30–17 road win against his childhood team, the San Francisco 49ers. Brady's performance against San Francisco earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for Week 11. Those four touchdown passes also gave him 444 career regular season touchdown passes with one team, breaking Brett Favre's record. The following week, Brady completed 30-of-50 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns in a 22–17 road victory against the New York Jets. The win was also the Patriots' 500th victory (including playoffs) in franchise history. During this victory, Brady also became the fifth quarterback to record 60,000 career regular season passing yards, joining Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, and Dan Marino. The following week, Brady completed 33-of-46 passes for 269 yards and one touchdown as the Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams by a score of 26–10. The Patriots' win against the Rams gave Brady his 201st career victory, including playoff games, breaking Peyton Manning's record of 200. In Week 14, Brady completed 25 of 38 passes for 406 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception during a 30–23 victory against the Baltimore Ravens on *Monday Night Football*.

The next week, Brady completed 16-of-32 passes for 188 yards in a 16–3 victory in Denver. With this victory, the Patriots clinched an eighth consecutive AFC East title and a seventh consecutive first-round bye in the playoffs, both NFL records. On December 20, 2016, Brady was named to the Pro Bowl for the eighth straight season and 12th time overall. In Week 16, Brady threw for 17 of 27 passes for 214 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions as he led the Patriots to a 41–3 win over the Jets. In Week 17, Brady completed 25-of-33 passes for 276 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions in a 35–14 victory over the Miami Dolphins in the regular season finale that gave the Patriots home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Brady's 276 yards against Miami moved him ahead of former Miami quarterback Dan Marino into fourth place on the NFL's all-time passing yards list. Brady's three touchdowns against Miami also gave him 28 passing touchdowns against two interceptions for the regular season. This broke the previous record of Nick Foles's 27:2 TD:INT ratio which was set in 2013 with the Philadelphia Eagles. Brady was named to the AP All-Pro Second Team, behind Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons, who was named to the AP All-Pro First Team.[254] Brady was also was ranked first on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017 as the best player in the league.

## 2017 Off-Season

On May 12, 2017, Brady was announced as the cover athlete for *Madden NFL 18.*

In a CBS interview on May 17, 2017, Charlie Rose asked Brady's wife, Gisele Bündchen, if she wanted Brady to retire, despite the fact that he was playing at a high level. Bündchen mentioned that Brady suffered from a concussion in the 2016 season, saying, "I mean he has concussions pretty much every—I mean we don't talk about—but he does have concussions. I don't really think it's a healthy thing for anybody to go through.”

Following the Bündchen interview, the NFL released a statement: "We have reviewed all reports relating to Tom Brady from the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants and certified athletic trainer spotters who worked at Patriots’ home and away 2016 season games as well as club injury reports that were sent to the league office. There are no records that indicate that Mr. Brady suffered a head injury or concussion, or exhibited or complained of concussion symptoms. Today we have been in contact with the NFLPA and will work together to gather more information from the club’s medical staff and Mr. Brady”. Brady's agent, Don Yee, said that Brady was not diagnosed with a concussion during the 2016 season.

## 2017 regular Season

The Patriots opened up their 2017 season in the NFL Kickoff Game on September 7 at home against the Kansas City Chiefs. Brady had 267 passing yards in the game, which the Patriots lost 42–27. In Week 2, Brady threw three touchdown passes in the first quarter of a game for the first time in his career in a 36–20 win over the New Orleans Saints. He finished the game with 447 passing yards and three touchdowns, earning him his 28th AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. This broke the record previously held by Peyton Manning for the most AFC Offensive Player of the Week awards in a career.[271] In Week 3, Brady threw for 378 passing yards and five touchdowns as he led the Patriots to a 36–33 comeback win against the Houston Texans, a performance that earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second straight week, and the 29th for his career. In Week 4, Brady played well again, throwing for 307 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions, but the Carolina Panthers upset the Patriots 33–30 on a last second field goal from Graham Gano as time expired. In the Patriots' next game, a narrow 19–14 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on *Thursday Night Football*, Brady completed 30 out of 40 passes for 303 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. With this victory, Brady became the third quarterback in NFL history to record 186 career regular season victories, tying Peyton Manning and Brett Favre for the most such wins of any quarterback in NFL history. On October 10, it was unveiled that Brady was diagnosed with an AC joint sprain in his left (non-throwing) shoulder. During Week 6 against the New York Jets, Brady threw for 257 passing yards, two touchdowns, and an interception as the Patriots won 24–17. Brady obtained his 187th career win, setting the record for most regular season wins in NFL history. The next week, the Patriots hosted the Atlanta Falcons in a rematch of Super Bowl LI on *Sunday Night Football*. Brady was efficient, completing 21 of 29 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns as the Patriots defeated the Falcons, 23–7. The following week, Brady completed 32-of-47 passes for 333 yards and one touchdown in a 21–13 win against the Los Angeles Chargers. With the win against the Chargers, the Patriots headed into their bye week with an AFC best 6–2 record.

Coming off their bye week, Brady and the Patriots traveled to Denver for a *Sunday Night Football* match against the Denver Broncos. The Patriots dominated the game, winning 41-16, with Brady completing 25 of 34 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns. For his performance against Denver, Brady was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in the season. After spending the next week training at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Brady and the Patriots traveled to Mexico City for a special regular season match with the Oakland Raiders. Like the previous week, the Patriots won big, this time by a final score of 33–8. Brady completed 30 of 37 passes for 339 yards and three touchdowns in the win. During Week 12 against the Dolphins, Brady finished with 227 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, and an interception as the Patriots won 35-17. Brady became the first quarterback at age 40 to throw for 4 touchdowns in a game. Brady was named AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November. During Week 13 against the Buffalo Bills, Brady finished with 258 passing yards and an interception as the Patriots won 23–3. During the game, Brady yelled at offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels after failing to execute a play properly in the first quarter. Brady claimed that this wasn't his first incident with McDainels, with whom he had worked together for 13 years, with a "fruitful" relationship. The following week, the Patriots traveled to Miami to face the Dolphins on Monday Night Football. The Dolphins held off a late comeback attempt to defeat the Patriots 27-20, with Brady completing 24 of 43 passes for 233 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. In Week 15, Brady completed 22 of 35 passes for 298 yards, a touchdown, and an interception as he led the Patriots to a 27–24 comeback victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. With this victory, the Patriots secured their ninth straight AFC East division title. On December 19, Brady was selected to the Pro Bowl for the 13th time in his career. On Christmas Eve against the Buffalo Bills, Brady completed 21 of 28 passes for 224 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception as the Patriots won their twelfth game of the season, 37–16. With this win, combined with a loss by the Jacksonville Jaguars later in the day, the Patriots clinched a first-round bye for the eighth straight year. In the regular season finale against the New York Jets on New Year's Eve, Brady completed 18 of 37 passes for 190 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions in a 26-6 victory. With the win, the Patriots clinched home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Brady finished the 2017 regular season as the NFL’s passing yards leader with 4,577 passing yards, making him the oldest player ever to lead the league in passing yards. He was named a first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press for the third time in his career. Earning 40 of 50 votes, Brady was named the NFL Most Valuable Player for the third time in his career.