You may hear somebody inform you Tom Brady’s age (45!) and it doesn’t actually hit you, as a result of the man nonetheless seems fairly match and wholesome. To completely grasp the size of Brady’s tenure on this Earth, then, you should realise that the person has appeared in a online game for the PlayStation. Like, the unique PlayStation.
Brady, born in 1977, was drafted by the New England Patriots within the sixth spherical of the 2000 NFL draft—because the 199th choose—and spent his first season within the league as a fourth-string QB. He was up to now down the NFL pecking order, in actual fact, that for his first look in Madden—Madden 01, which was launched on the PS1—he wasn’t even named, he was simply listed on the Patriots depth chart as “QB #12″.
A 12 months later, having moved as much as the backup spot, he took over from the injured Drew Bledsoe, led the Patriots to a championship and the remainder is historical past. Observe that his ascent to stardom occurred so rapidly that he didn’t even seem in most variations of Madden 02, the 12 months he would go on to win the Tremendous Bowl; within the PC, PS1, PS2 and N64 editions the Patriots solely had the three QBs above him within the depth chart from the earlier season, that means solely the Xbox and GameCube variations—launched months later, after the 2001 season had already begun and Brady was the Patriots’ beginning QB—had him within the recreation.
Brady retires because the statistical chief in virtually each class that issues for a QB, from passing yards to passing makes an attempt to TD passes, whereas additionally main the league in ball deflation controversies, crypto rip-off endorsements and bizarre methods to kiss your child on the mouth.
To rejoice his profession—or, for a lot of extra of you, to rejoice his retirement, introduced at present—I’ve put collectively this slideshow displaying his online game profession, from these early days on the PS1 by to the NFL 2K sequence, Madden and another stops in between. It received’t be each recreation from yearly, that will be boring—and for current Madden video games extremely repetitive—however nonetheless, it’ll be a pleasant little stroll down reminiscence lane. Until you bear in mind taking part in any of those first few video games, by which case I’m sorry for reminding you ways outdated you might be.
