Viva Rookie

`From No.4 to No.1 ….`

Tom Brady (25), the New England Patriots` quarterback, took the Patriots to their first championship in their history in Super Bowl XXXVI at the Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana, yesterday. Grabbing every opportunity, he led the Patriots to victory and finally won the MVP trophy.

By completing 16 of 27 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown, although Brady was behind in records to his counterpart, Kurt Warner, the Rams` quarterback (28 of 44 passes for 365 yards and a touchdown), Brady helped his team to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy by his calm playing in the game, leading the Patriots to play with stability.

With Brady`s excellent game management and the team`s strong defense, the Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams by 20-17. Since their establishment in 1959, the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl for the first time after their entry in the Superbowl in 1986 and 1997.

Despite his left ankle injury, Brady led the Patriots to their first championship and won the Super Bowl MVP. He said, "Everybody did it. We were the true reflection of a team out there." However, his teammates praised Brady by saying that, "We won the game because of Brady."

After his graduation from the University of Michigan last year, Brady entered the season as a backup, the 4th quarterback. He signed a three-year contract for $849,000 and an annual salary of $298,000. Compared to the Patriots` ace quarterback Drew Bledsoe (ten-year contract for $103 million and annual salary of $3.4 million), Brady is a real rookie.

However, Brady gained the confidence of Head Coach Bill Belichick because of his calm tuning of the game and emphasis on teamwork, and became Bledsoe`s backup. Then, the opportunity came. Due to Bledsoe`s injury, Brady played as a starting member on September 24th. He did not miss this chance and led the Patriots, who had the poorest record of 5-11 in 2000, to the playoff with the season record of 11-5.

Being injured during the semi-final game of the American Football Conference, Brady was temporarily replaced by Bledsoe. Although Brady was not fully recovered, the Head Coach Belichick chose Brady for the Super Bowl because the players had become familiar with his playing style.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com