Tom Brady pretty much ended the “Greatest QB of All Time” debate this February. The Pats’ QB now has five Super Bowls, is in the top five of just about every major passing category, and, at 39 years old, it’s still possible that Brady’s best days in the NFL are ahead of him. Tom Terrific showed zero signs of slowing down with his 28 touchdown, two interception 2016, and a retooled roster has the New England Patriots as favorites to repeat in 2017.
The Patriots will make the playoffs again in all likelihood, as they have in Brady’s last 13 seasons at starting quarterback. But, even Brady has had some bad games as a player. And occasionally, Brady has cost the Patriots their season. Occasionally.
Thankfully for Brady and Pats fans, the amount of games that Brady has cost the Pats is just a sliver of the amount of games—and titles—they couldn’t have won without him. He can go 0-16 for the next five years and still go down in sports as the greatest quarterback of all time—and Boston would think no less of him.
And you know Brady’s so great because a story like this wouldn’t be needed for someone who was routinely so bad. Who’s going to read a list of Mark Sanchez’s worst games? Presumably, most of the people coming to read this article are doing so to get a glimpse at a side of Tom Brady that appears about as often as Halley’s Comet. And many Brady haters would admittedly say that they wish this Tom Brady appeared more often.
This list includes 12 games for obvious reasons, but to be honest, there weren’t even many more to chose from. Brady made compiling this list very easy by virtue of being the best quarterback to ever play. So with that said, enjoy the 12 worst games of Tom Brady’s career.
January 24, 2016 vs. the Broncos
Image via Getty/Christian Petersen
The stats: 27-56, 310 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
The result: Broncos 20, Patriots 18
Tom Brady got the best of Peyton Manning more often than not when the two legends would face each other; Brady’s Pats were 11-6 all-time against Manning-led teams. But Peyton got the last laugh with a win in their final matchup at the 2016 AFC Championship Game. An all-time great Broncos defense held Tom Terrific to a Tebow-esque 48.2 percent completion percentage, all while forcing two picks. Manning didn’t play much better; he threw for just 176 yards and lost a fumble. But this game was all on the Broncos’ defense—a defense that allowed Manning to become arguably the worst quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl.
October 10, 2013 vs. the Bengals
Image via Getty/Boston Globe
The stats: 18-38, 197 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
The result: Bengals 13, Patriots 6.
This wasn’t a playoff game, so the Bengals still had a chance to win. And they did. Cincy held Brady to just 197 yards passing and kept the Patriots out of the endzone for the entire game—a true rarity for New England.
November 16, 2003 vs. the Cowboys
Image via Getty/Sporting News
The stats: 15-34, 212 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
The result: Patriots 12, Cowboys 0
Adam Vinatieri is often cited by Brady haters as the reason the Patriots won their first three Super Bowls—as opposed to, I don’t know, the starting quarterback of those teams. This is just a ridiculous argument in every sense of the word “ridiculous.”
But Vinatieri actually did bail Brady out of this one. The greatest kicker of all time hit four field goals here, which accounted for all of the Pats’ scoring. Brady completed just 44 percent of his passes, and he also lucked out that the post-Aikman-pre-Romo Cowboys were unable to score even a single point against New England. Dallas quarterback Quincy Carter tossed three interceptions that game.
September 29, 2014 vs. the Chiefs
Image via Getty/Peter G. Aiken
The stats: 14-23, 159 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
The result: Chiefs 41, Patriots 14
Brady had a dud of a game in Arrowhead on this Monday night, throwing for just 159 yards. The Pats lost 41-14, as the team fell to an un-Patriots-like 2-2 record. With Brady looking like a shell of his former self at 37 years old, there was actually a bit of speculation about his future with New England in the immediate aftermath of this loss. A reporter even asked Belichick if Brady’s job was safe after the game—and Belichick responded in typical Belichick fashion.
January 10, 2010 vs. the Ravens
Image via Getty/Lloyd Fox
The stats: 23-42, 154 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT
The result: Ravens 33, Patriots 14
The worst playoff game of Brady’s career by far. Brady’s ineptitude here helped produce an early Pats exit from the playoffs, as second-year quarterback Joe Flacco helped produce a 33-14 blowout of New England in Foxboro. This marked just the third time the Patriots in the Brady era didn’t make it to at least the Divisional round, and as of today, it’s the last time this happened.
October 13, 2002 vs. the Packers
Image via Getty/Jim Davis
The stats: 24-44, 183 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT
The result: Packers 28, Patriots 10
Brady has thrown three or more interceptions in a game just 11 times in his 271 regular and postseason starts. This was a nightmarish game for Brady, who was badly outdueled in his first matchup with Brett Favre. Favre threw for just 147 yards on the day, but tossed three touchdowns to give Green Bay an easy victory.
October 12, 2003 vs. the Giants
Image via Getty/The Sporting News
The stats: 8-for-21, 112 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
The result: Patriots 17, Giants 6
Even before Eli Manning was a Giant, Big Blue still gave Brady a tough time. Brady threw for just 121 yards on eight completions in this one and was sacked twice by Michael Strahan. But thanks to an even worse game from then-Giants QB Kerry Collins, who threw four interceptions, the Patriots were able to come up with a 17-6 win in Foxboro. The Pats wouldn’t face the Giants again until 2007, when they nearly burst their 16-0 season in Week 17.
November 27, 2005 vs. the Chiefs
Image via Getty/Brian Bahr
The stats: 22-40, 248 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
The result: Chiefs 26, Patriots 16
You might expect a statline like this from Geno Smith. But Tom Brady? Brady has just six games with four interceptions in his NFL career, and this was one of them. To put into context how rare a game like this is for Brady (as if this really needed to be put into context), consider this: Brady has had two seasons—entire seasons—where he’s thrown four or fewer picks.
October 10, 2004 vs. the Dolphins
Image via Getty/Bernie Nunez
The stats: 7-19, 76 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
The result: Patriots 24, Dolphins 10
The seven completions are the third-fewest Brady ever had in a game that he started. The only other two games where he had less were the last game of the 2005 season—when Brady was taken out of the game because the Patriots had already clinched a playoff spot—and the game during which Brady tore his ACL in 2008. The 36.8 completion percentage is the lowest in a game that he started.
This game still avoids the top spot on the list because he threw for two touchdowns and turned the ball over only once in the game, which ultimately bought the Patriots a 24-10 victory.
December 10, 2006 vs. the Dolphins
Image via Getty/J. Albert Diaz
The stats: 12-25, 78 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
The result: Dolphins 21, Patriots 0
Brady averaged just 3.1 yards per pass attempt and was sacked four times by a Jason Taylor-led Dolphins defense. The Patriots managed to score a grand total of zero points in this game and never even got past the Dolphins’ 42-yard line. In fact, the Pats ran just eight plays in Dolphins territory all day. And Brady didn’t even top 100 yards passing. Maybe he was playing in Uggs. (Sorry, had to do one Uggs reference since we’re talking about Brady. No more, I promise.)
September 7, 2003 vs. the Bills
Image via Getty/Jim Davis
The stats: 14-28, 123 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT
The result: Bills 31, Patriots 0
By just about every available metric, this was the worst game of Tom Brady’s career. And it came in Week 1 of the 2003 season. The four interceptions were a career high, the 22.5 quarterback rating is the lowest Brady ever put up, and the 31-point margin of defeat remains the biggest blowout in Brady’s career. Perhaps worst of all, this came against a 2003 Bills team that went just 8-8. So, we’re not talking about the 1985 Bears’ defense here.
But even though Brady’s 2003 season didn’t get off to a good start, it ended just fine. The Patriots defeated the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII for their second of five Super Bowl titles. Everything works out for this guy in the end.
