5 most underrated games of Tom Brady’s Patriots career

3. Super Bowl LII loss to Eagles

For Tom Brady’s standards, this game is underrated by and large because the Patriots came up short with a championship on the line. Fans are still questioning how New England’s defense couldn’t muster an answer for Nick Foles, who cemented himself as a Philadelphia legend with his performance.

We’d argue that Brady’s performance was even more legendary, but nobody remembers the performance of a Super Bowl loser. Of course, the “Philly Special” and go-ahead touchdown to Zach Ertz with 2:21 left in the fourth quarter helped diminish what was a herculean outing from Brady.

For the game, Brady went 28-of-48 for 505 yards — both a playoff and Super Bowl record — and three touchdowns to zero interceptions. Keep in mind he posted these numbers with Danny Amendola and Chris Hogan operating as his top two receivers after Brandin Cooks left injured in the first half.

When folks look back on this game, they’ll remember Brady’s fourth quarter fumble, but the real story was the Patriots’ defense, which allowed 538 total yards and Nick Foles to engineer a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to take a 38-33 lead just before the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter.

At 40 years old and approaching his second decade in the league, this loss shouldn’t be held against No. 12. He deserved to be on the winning side and his performance deserves a bigger applause break than it’s received in the years since.