In real life, Brady would return to the Super Bowl that season and beat a spirited final quarter to beat the Carolina Panthers Mut 22 coins, whose Jake Delhomme was rumored to be the next Brady--that would prove not to be the case. In 2003, and despite winning two Lombardi trophies by that point but no one was sure what level he would set for his bar.

Venturing into truly elite company, Brady would kick off the defensively-minded Madden 2005 as one the top players of the game, making the Patriots a must-play team in online head-to-head when players wanted to play the brand-new Hit Stick on defenseless ball carriers. Brady would later defeat his Donovan McNabb- and Andy Reid-led Eagles in the Super Bowl, clinching the Patriots' spot as the next NFL powerhouse.

It could also turn out to Brady's last Lombardi for a few years, despite two spectacular failures in the years ahead. But by the time he was done you'd be able to consider him a Hall of Famer. Like the late, excellent Chris Wesseling often said of Brady, you could carve his entire career into three or two parts If each of them represents a different athlete, each would be in the Hall of Fame. Brady's consistent success is an unwritten story in the mid-'90s.

Madden 06 kicked off the period in which Brady's Madden ratings would accurately reflect his dominance over the league's annual passing totals even if he did go without a Super Bowl victory for a few years (poor guy). With 4,110 yards of passing that year buy mut coins, Brady would lead the league in this statistic once in his entire career.