Which Hall of Famer Taught Tom Brady Some ‘Good Lessons’ in Defeat?

Tom Brady was riding high entering Week 4 of the 2002 NFL season. The New England Patriots had won their first Super Bowl the year before and got off to a 3-0 start to the following season, giving them a 12-game win streak at the time.

But then, Brady and the Patriots were dealt a dose of reality when they faced the Chargers and Junior Seau. In the most recent edition of “Storytime with Tom Brady,” the seven-time Super Bowl champ shared how he felt the Patriots were going to go undefeated in 2002 — until he saw Seau ahead of their 21-14 loss to the Chargers.

“Junior Seau had a high ankle sprain, so no one thought he was playing,” Brady said. “It was a beautiful day. We got out there, and Junior Seau comes running out of the tunnel in the old San Diego stadium. He got the whole crowd so fired up, he ended up playing, and he had a monster day out there.

“At that point, I was like, ‘This guy, Junior Seau, was absolutely unbelievable. What a football player.’”

While Seau apparently intimidated Brady that day, it took a bit for the Chargers’ defense to rattle him. Brady was able to lead the Patriots to a score on their first drive and both teams traded scores before the Chargers took a 21-14 lead early in the third quarter.

That’s where the game unraveled for Brady. He threw an interception on back-to-back drives in the third quarter as the Patriots’ offense couldn’t get things going in the second half. Seau wasn’t responsible for either pick, but he made a pair of key tackles for loss in that game that either knocked the Patriots out of field goal range or forced them to try and convert a long fourth down as he finished with a team-high nine total tackles.

Tom Brady threw for 353 yards against the Chargers in 2002, but needed 53 attempts to do so as he also had two interceptions in the second half of the Patriots’ loss. (Photo by Matt A. Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Thanks to Seau, Brady learned his lesson that life wasn’t always going to be easy in the NFL.

“It was kind of an ugly day for us,” Brady said. “But it was a good lesson in my prep to not go after good players and don’t go after the ones that my coach specifically says don’t try to throw over. So some good lessons.”

That was the only time that Seau was able to beat Brady in his career. However, that didn’t stop Brady from calling him “a great competitor of mine” as the two eventually became teammates with the Patriots in 2006.

There’s one big memory Brady has of Seau during their time together as teammates.

“In 2006, he broke his forearm in a game, and we’re playing the Bears, I think he broke his forearm. He was surfing the next day, and then came back in 2007 and we obviously had an incredible season,” Brady said. “I was just very fortunate to play with him and his intensity and love of the game and how he really looked after me and mentored me as someone I looked up to — a real Hall of Famer.”

Junior Seau and Tom Brady were teammates together for four seasons. (Photo by Matthew Healey/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

Seau didn’t put up the numbers he was accustomed to putting in the peak seasons of his Hall of Fame career in his four-year tenure with the Patriots. But as Brady pointed out, Seau was quite the contributor when the Patriots became the first team to ever go 16-0 in a regular season in 2007. He recorded 74 total tackles, 3.5 sacks and a career-high three interceptions as a 38-year-old that year.

As Brady gets set to call Sunday’s Washington Commanders-Los Angeles Chargers game (4:25 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), that allowed him to take a trip down memory lane and remember someone who he called a “great friend” of his.

“I’ll never forget when we signed him in New England,” Brady said. “He came to our team with a new life and new energy that he brought to our team and was an incredible player.

“Obviously, very sad with his passing. But I think who he was and what he was all about lived on with all of us that were fortunate to play against him, and then certainly the ones that played with him.”

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