New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has revealed that the defeat to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII was the toughest of his career.
The Patriots had swept all before them in the 2007 season, finishing the regular campaign with a perfect 16-0 record before going on to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars and the San Diego Chargers in the playoffs to reach the Super Bowl.
However, hopes of an unprecedented 19-0 season were ended by a narrow 17-14 defeat in the showpiece event and Brady, who set a new record for touchdown passes in a single season with 50 and was later named as the MVP for that year, admits that no loss has hurt as bad as that one.
"The hardest loss, I would say, is when we lost to [the Giants] in '07," Brady told Fox Sports.
"That was just like, whether that will ever be duplicated again, I don't know. But the stars aligned for us on that year. I mean, just an incredible season, the players that we had that all came together, Randy Moss and Wes [Welker], Kevin Faulk, Laurence [Maroney], we had great offensive linemen.
"And then, the way we were winning those games was incredible. Blowing good teams out. We beat [the Giants], [they] played a great game. We beat the Super Bowl champs."
Only the 1972 Miami Dolphins have ever gone through an entire season unbeaten, finishing their campaign with a 17-0 record.
