Tom Brady returns to New England: A look at legend's 44 greatest accomplishments

For the first time, Tom Brady will play at Gillette Stadium as a visitor.

Brady, in his second season as the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, returns to the site where he became an NFL icon. It is one of the most hyped regular season games in recent history between his defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers and the New England Patriots.

Twenty of his 22 NFL seasons came with the Patriots. So in honor of Brady’s return to Foxborough, here are 44 of his most memorable achievements throughout his NFL career, one for every year he has been alive.

1. Let's start with this: Brady currently has 80,291 career passing yards, which is second-most all time. He's also only the second player in NFL history to eclipse 80,000 passing yards. He will almost certainly break the record for most career passing yards Sunday, needing only 68 to surpass Drew Brees' mark (80,358) set last season.

2. He holds the record for Super Bowl appearances (10), Super Bowl victories (seven), Super Bowl MVPs (five).

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3. He holds Super Bowl records for passing yards (2,777), passing touchdowns (21), completions (277), and attempts (421).

4. At 41 years and 184 days, he became the oldest quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl (LIII). He extended that when the Buccaneers beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl 55, when he won at 43 years and 188 days.

5. With that appearance in Super Bowl 55, Brady became the oldest player to ever appear in the game, passing former Colts kicker Matt Stover, who was 42 years and 11 days at kickoff of Super Bowl XLIV.

6. At 24 years and 184 days, Brady became the second-youngest quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl (XXXVI).

7. He holds the record for the most overall touchdown passes (674). 

8. He has the most all-time postseason victories for a starting QB with 34.

9. He has the most all-time postseason passing yards with 12,449.

10. He has the most all-time postseason completions with 1,106.

11. He has the most all-time postseason touchdown passes with 83.

12. Brady has the record for conference championship appearances (14) and titles (10). That gives him twice as many appearances as the next closest quarterback, Joe Montana. 

13. Brady has compiled 266 victories (including the playoffs), giving him the record for most by any NFL player. His 232 regular-season victories are also a record for starting quarterbacks. By comparison, according to Pro Football Reference, the Jacksonville Jaguars – who have been a franchise since 1995 – have won just 177 regular-season games in their 27 seasons, including seven in the postseason.

14. Stunningly enough, Brady has lost in the regular season just 70 times.

15. If Brady beats the Patriots, he will join Drew Brees, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning as the only players in NFL history to have beaten all 32 franchises at least once.

16. In seasons in which he was a starter, Brady has never had a losing season. In fact, the only time one of his teams failed to reach double digits in victories since he became a starter in 2001 was the 2002 campaign (9-7).

17. Including the playoffs, Brady holds the all-time record for total yards with 92,740. Or almost 928 entire football fields.

18. Sorry, Atlanta. Brady helped spark a 25-point come-from-behind victory against the Falcons in Super Bowl LI, after the Patriots trailed 28-3 with 2:12 left in the third quarter.

19. Some might forget this, but Brady started his playoff career 10-0, winning three Super Bowls in his first three postseason appearances. Then, in the divisional round of the 2005 playoffs, the Patriots fell to the Denver Broncos, 27-13.

20. Sorry again, Atlanta. The Falcons are one of the teams Brady has never lost to, joining the Bears, Cowboys, Vikings, and — interestingly enough —  the Buccaneers. He has gone a combined 29-0 against those squads, including the playoffs. The poor Falcons are 0-10 against Brady.

21. He has thrown 193 regular-season interceptions. Brett Favre holds the record with 336. Brady ranks 33rd all-time.

22. Brady has been lethal at home. At both Gillette Stadium and now Raymond James Stadium with the Bucs, Brady is 128-24-0 in home games.

23. Brady has started 302 regular-season games, an NFL record he set last season that topped Favre’s record of 298.

24. Brady has played through several injuries and has appeared on the final injury report before games 187 times, according to ESPN, including 15 weeks in 2008 after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. The only time he has missed starting a game due to injury, however, was that 2008 season. Though Brady did not appear on the injury report for the Buccaneers all of last season, Brady revealed at the start of 2021 that he had been playing with a knee injury that required surgery in February.

25. Brady has won 17 division championships, most by a starting QB. Factor in that he was a backup in 2000 as a rookie when the team went 5-11 and that he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 2008 regular-season opener, and Brady has won the AFC East 17 of a possible 18 seasons as a starter, with 2002 as the lone year he missed out.

26. Brady's teams have always seemed to get better as a season wears on. His 66 victories in December are most for a player in NFL history.

27. Brady has three regular-season MVP awards, trailing Peyton Manning’s record of five.

28. He has been selected to 14 Pro Bowls.

29. He was named an all-pro three times.

30. He has won the AP Offensive Player of the Year twice (2007, 2010).

31. Including the playoffs, Brady has led 49 fourth-quarter comebacks and 63 game-winning drives, including the playoffs, according to Pro Football Reference.

32. He has been sacked 527 times, a record that was set Sunday when the Rams took him down three times, passing Favre's previous mark (525). Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is not far behind with 524.

33. Brady has an incredible 32-3 (.914) record against the Bills, with those 32 victories being the most in NFL history by a starting QB against a single opponent.

34. He holds the record for most different touchdown targets, with 86 players hauling in Brady TDs.

35. In a Week 13 game of the 2018 season against the Vikings, Brady had a rush of 5 yards. That pushed him over the 1,000 rushing yards mark, making him the oldest player – at 41 – to reach the milestone since 1970. He currently has 1,063 regular-season rushing yards.

36. Making that figure even more impressive, Brady has lost 288 rushing yards on 290 kneel downs. In the regular season, that number is 237 attempts for -234 yards. Per Pro Football reference, that figure is the most for any player since 1994, when the site started recording that data.

37. He also has 26 career rushing touchdowns in the regular season.

38. People often make fun of Brady when he tries to tackle defenders after turnovers, but he has 13 career stops, all of them solo tackles.

39. He has also punted twice: once in 2003 for 26 yards and then in 2013 for 32 yards. He pinned the one in 2003 inside the 20.

40. The Patriots lost Super Bowl LII against the Philadelphia Eagles, but he set a record in the game with 505 passing yards.

41. Interestingly enough, in Brady’s first championship, Super Bowl XXXVI against the Rams, he threw for only 145 yards. Fifty-three of those yards came on the final drive that set up kicker Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal to win the game, 20-17, as time expired.

42. He became the oldest quarterback to lead the NFL in passing with 4,577 yards in the 2017 season at the age of 40. So far this season, he leads all quarterbacks with 10 passing touchdowns.

43. He joined NFL legend and arguably the best receiver of all-time in Jerry Rice as the only 41-year-old players to catch a pass when he hauled in a 6-yard completion from receiver Julian Edelman in Week 10 of the 2018 season.

Two of his three career receptions have resulted in first downs and he has caught each of the targets thrown at him.

44. Still remarkable, he has had all that success despite being the 199th overall pick – in the sixth round – of the 2000 NFL draft. 

Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes.