Episode 5 of “Man in the Arena” forced Tom Brady to reflect on another heartbreaking loss on football’s biggest stage.
The 2011 New England Patriots were the primary subject of the latest installment of Brady’s ESPN+ documentary series. Those Patriots, like the 2007 team, put together a terrific regular season only to watch the New York Giants rejoice in championship glory.
New England arguably was the better team in Super Bowl XLVI and it had a chance to potentially put the game on ice late in the fourth quarter. On a second-and-11 from New York’s 45-yard line with 4:06 to play, Brady found a wide-open Wes Welker right around the 22-yard line. But Welker, who was as sure-handed as it gets for the majority of his Patriots tenure, couldn’t hang onto the football.
You know the rest of the story. Eli Manning and Co. staged a game-winning touchdown drive, and Brady’s Super Bowl record dropped to 3-2 at the time.
While some Patriots fans would argue Welker blew it for New England, Brady pushed back on that notion.
“That was a huge play in the game, but at the same time, there was a play to be made on third down too, and I didn’t do that one either,” Brady said, as transcribed by Boston.com.
Brady also praised Welker to the highest degree.
“There was nobody who could define what being a great teammate was, what doing the right thing was like Wes,” Brady said. “You know Wes had the most amazing career for the Patriots. But we didn’t win the Super Bowls at those times.
“To me that doesn’t take away from what his amazing career was, and what his contributions were. If I’m starting a team to go to battle with, Wes Welker’s in that starting lineup.”
As the old saying goes, time heals all wounds. Winning four more Super Bowls after that somber night in Indianapolis probably helped Brady move on, too.
