"You can't change it" - When Tom Brady made peace with being haunted by Super Bowl loss to Eli Manning's Giants

Tom Brady made ten Super Bowl appearances during his long, illustrious career. While Brady primarily competed against Peyton Manning, it was Manning's younger brother who gave nightmares to Brady on the grandest stage. Although Brady overcame the Peyton Manning challenge most of the time, he could never conquer the Eli Manning summit.

Brady, who, as per Mahomes, knew how to win big games, has only lost three Super Bowl games ever. Two of them came against Eli Manning’s New York Giants: one in 2012 and the other in 2015. However, it was the first loss to Eli Manning that prompted Brady to go further and not retire early, as described in episode four of the ESPN series, “Man in the Arena.”

“Had we won that game, I'm not a big hypothetical guy, but maybe the desire is a little bit different if you're looking at [a] silver lining," Brady said. "Maybe the desire to reach that point, maybe I would have been fulfilled, not to stop playing at that time, but I don't know, maybe I play another seven or eight years and I'm fulfilled. Maybe not, but there's not much I can do about it now. Maybe that's the lesson in life. Dealing with what happens, positive [and] negative. You can't change it.”

Tom Brady takes the loss positively and learns to grow

Brady was referring to his heartbreaking loss to the Giants in 2008, otherwise, it was a perfect season for the Patriots. To date, they are the only team ever to head to the Super Bowl unbeaten, which perhaps makes the loss more hurtful. He explained that he dealt with the loss positively, to take it on his chin and learn to grow.

“You can learn from it, and hopefully it can make you a good person, and you deal with life in a positive way," Brady said. "And when things don't go your way, appreciate the other people who it goes good for, and then try your hardest to get back there again. And I knew that if I ever won a Super Bowl again, I was going to celebrate the [expletive] out of that one.”

Brady did improve his performance after his first loss to the Giants. They lost 17–14 In 2008 and 21–17 in 2012. However, these successive losses only motivated Brady to get better. He appeared in six more Super Bowls since his 2012 defeat and won five.