Patriots

Yet within the boundaries of Patriot Nation, Brady is something different altogether. His number 12 jersey is ubiquitous in the stands at Gillette (blue with white numbers for men, white with pink for women), suggesting an affection that goes beyond Q rating. Even on a team with 24 players who have at least one Super Bowl ring, and many who have three, he is a blue-collar motivational force in the locker room.

"I had no idea what his work ethic would be like," says Kyle Brady , who came in as a free agent last March. "It was a little surprising. He's in the classroom; he's studying tape. He's always around the complex."

Testaverde saw much the same thing. "I was always impressed with Tom from a distance," he says. "But I was much more impressed once I saw him every day. He can throw every pass there is, and he's got the head to go with his arm. He knows how to read defenses; he knows how to set up defenses for things that he wants to do.

"But more important than all that, he gets the most out of the players around him. The guy's will to win is as great as any player I've ever been around. He yells at guys—not like he's better than they are, but like he's one of them. And believe me, Tom will not let them lose a game."

The signature play on Saturday came on the first drive of the third quarter, with the game tied at 14. The Patriots took more than six minutes in moving to the Jacksonville six-yard line, where on first down they ran what looked like a direct shotgun snap to Faulk . The line blocked left, Faulk plowed in behind them, and Brady thrust his left arm into the air in an exaggerated diversionary fake. Except that Brady had the ball.

He would find Welker alone at the back end zone for a lead that the Patriots would not relinquish. But first Brady carried out the fake, turning his back to the defense with the ball hidden on his right thigh, briefly frozen and unattended in the midst of slick execution, a professional at the top of his game, two steps from perfection.