How Tom Brady’s record-breaking career changed the game of football

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• Judy Woodruff:

  Tom Brady is often called the greatest quarterback who ever played in the NFL. His retirement today marks the end of a football era.

  Jeffrey Brown has this look at Brady's long career.

• Jeffrey Brown:

  Things ended up working pretty well for Tom Brady in the NFL, but it had an unlikely start, when the University of Michigan quarterback wasn't taken until the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft by the New England Patriots, the 199th player chosen.

  But just a year later, the 24-year-old Brady stepped in for injured quarterback Drew Bledsoe, and the rest is sports history. In 20 dominating seasons with the Patriots, and two more with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady rewrote the record book.

• Announcer:

  Here's Brady's pass. It's Gronkowski!

• Jeffrey Brown:

  Ten Super Bowl appearances, seven titles and five MVP Awards. He was the league MVP three times, made 15 Pro Bowls, and finished his career first in NFL history in touchdown passes, overall completions and passing yards.

  He had an uncanny ability to see the field and rise to the moment.

• Tom Brady, Former NFL Football Player:

  Certainly, on the field, there's a lot of pressurized moments. There's a lot of moments where you have got to make the critical play.

  That's what I always wanted to be to my teammates, someone that, when they look in my eyes at the critical moments, they know that they can believe in me. And they know that I can get the job done.

• Jeffrey Brown:

  There were controversies, most famously, Deflategate, but, overall, a Brady highlight reel would take more than our hour.

  Among the tops?

• Announcer:

  Patriots win the Super Bowl!

• Jeffrey Brown:

  Super Bowl 51, when Brady led the Patriots, trailing by 25 points in the third quarter, to an overtime win against the Atlanta Falcons.

• Tom Brady:

  The lows of not playing great, to the highs of playing great and then, finally, at the end it was just a great way to finish. So, to celebrate with my teammates, and then to see my family it was just a night I will never forget.

• Announcer:

  Brady looking the other way, Brady going deep down the right sideline for Evans! He makes the catch! He's in for the score!

• Jeffrey Brown:

  He almost did it again in what will now be his last game, rallying Tampa Bay from a 24-point deficit against Los Angeles in this year's playoffs, before the Rams pulled it out.

  Brady announced his retirement today on social media, saying, in part: "I have loved my NFL career. It's been a thrilling ride, and far beyond my imagination."

  One person who saw many of those Tom Brady highlights is Al Michaels. He will call this year's Super Bowl on NBC on February 13. It'll be Al Michaels' 11th Super Bowl. And that's tying Pat Summerall for the most all time.

  So, I will start by saying, congratulations to you.

• Al Michaels, NBC Sports:

  Well, thank you, Jeffrey.

  I can't believe it's gone by so fast. I did my first one in 1988 in San Diego, and it's gone by at warp speed. And when they say time flies when you're having fun, I have had a lot of fun.

• Jeffrey Brown:

  Well, let me get this out of the way right at the top, because this idea of greatest of all time is very subjective. Where do you come out on this one?

• Al Michaels:

  You know, I always say, I put somebody in the conversation. When they say, is he see the best ever, I normally say, he's in the conversation, because it is very subjective and people have different viewpoints. There are different generations. It's tough to match up what happened in the '40s with what happened in the '90s and in the 21st century.

  But in this particular case, I think I have got to finally admit that he is the greatest of all time. And I think one of the reasons would be, when you win seven Super Bowls, and you go to three others, and you play in a league with 32 teams, the law of averages says you should win seven Super Bowls in over 200 years.

  He did it in two decades. So, I'm putting him on top.

• Jeffrey Brown:

  I'm thinking of the non-sports audience, the non-football audience.

  You know that any NFL quarterback is an elite athlete, right, just to get there. And, then, what is it that makes somebody the elite of the elite? What did Tom Brady have or what did he see that was different from others?

• Al Michaels:

  Well, I think he was driven.

  A lot of those quarterbacks are. There's no doubt about that. He was completely invested. I think, as his career went along, he was enjoying it maybe more than ever toward the end. And I think he was driven by this — by whatever it was inside of him to keep it going, to never let people down, in particular, his teammates, to try to get better.

  And coaches are always saying and players are always saying, we're trying to get better. And a lot of times, it's pretty much empty talk. They're trying to get better, but they're doing other things as well. With Brady, he truly was trying to get better. He understood every aspect of the game inside out. He was matched up with a great coach, obviously, in Bill Belichick.

  And I think that Tom, having obviously some fine physical skills — but plenty of quarterbacks do — and maybe he was just a touch above in his dedication to the game, the dedication to his craft, the way he took care of his body, and, obviously, the way he performed.

• Jeffrey Brown:

  You clearly saw a lot of great performances. Is there a personal highlight you want to give to us?

• Al Michaels:

  Well, I did a lot of his great games.

  The one game I didn't do, though, is the Super Bowl where he's down 28-3 and he leads them to an overtime victory against the Atlanta Falcons.

  But I wound up doing his very last game a couple of weeks ago, the divisional playoff in Tampa against the Rams. The game is over. It looks like it's over at 27-3. And I'm kidding around with the audience, saying, don't touch that dial, to try to keep the audience.

  And then I said, just before halftime, if I'm Brady, I go into the locker room and I say: Hey, guys, let me tell you a bedtime story. I was once down 28-3, and we won the game.

  And, sure enough, they tie the game at 27 all. And it looks like, if he's going to ride off into the sunset, he has another game to ride off in, and maybe another Super Bowl.

  But, of course, the Rams won that game. Still, I think back. That's as fond a memory as I will have of Tom Brady, his last game. Everybody thinks they're dead. All of a sudden, he comes from behind, puts them in a position to win the game, and almost pulls it off.

• Jeffrey Brown:

  Now, let me ask you finally.

  Playing to the age of 44, he is that rare athlete in any sport to excel at different times in his life, and then to play that long at such a high level. How important was that when you consider his legacy?

• Al Michaels:

  He's a freak. He came from another planet.

  You don't do this. You don't play — I mean, you can play until 44, and you're not going to look very good. You play when you're 44, you lead the league in touchdown passes, passing yardage, set a record for most completions, almost get your team into the conference championship game, that's otherworldly. That's from some other place.

  I don't know where that comes from.

• Jeffrey Brown:

  All right, Al Michaels on the extraordinary career of Tom Brady, thanks very much.

• Al Michaels:

  Thank you, Jeffrey.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And thank you both, Jeffrey Brown and Al Michaels.

  And Tom Brady came from another planet.