Tom Brady’s Impact Was Best Measured in Goose Bumps

Brady after beating the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.Credit... Mike Segar/ReutersNot surprisingly, Tom Brady’s time in the N.F.L. spotlight had an almost fairy-tale, prescient beginning. In a Super Bowl that is now 20 years past, Brady’s New England Patriots were two touchdown underdogs to the St. Louis Rams largely because Brady was a discarded apprentice thrust into a starting role when the marquee quarterback was injured.

But a then dark-haired Bill Belichick conjured a stout defensive strategy and Brady’s competent play kept New England in a tied game until the final 97 seconds, when the Patriots took possession of the football on their own 17-yard line. They had no timeouts…