The Patriotsclinched AFC East on Sunday and, in the process, scared the daylights out of anyone interested in seeing Tom Brady quarterback his team in the playoffs.
On New England's first drive of the third quarter, Brady scrambled for his longest run since 2007. But instead of going down, a frustrated Brady lowered his shoulder and absorbed a decent shot from Dolphins safety Walt Aikens.
The reaction from his teammates was priceless.
"Oh man, he looked like a gazelle out there," fullback James Develintold The Boston Globe. "I wish he would tuck it and run a bit more."
"It's always fun seeing the Clydesdale run," wideout Julian Edelman said after telling Boston.com it was the slowest 17 yards he's ever seen. "He's been working hard on his little mobility stuff. He takes that to heart and it's always to watch him get fired up after a run. ... He's always had unbelievable pocket awareness so he seems pretty good to me. I mean he's been around here a while, a long time so it's always great seeing the big dog get out there and move the chains. I call him Brady Vick."
The idea for the run was simple: New England was seeing plenty of three-man rushes, and there's no way Miami would drop someone just to spy Brady in case of a scramble.
But the motivation for the run was even better: Brady was angry.
"I was going to slide but I was pretty pissed off that time so I figured I wouldn't slide," Brady said, via Boston.com. "I wish I wouldn't have gotten knocked down, but that's the way it goes."
As much fun as his teammates had with the moment, we're sure that Bill Belichick is ready to close the book on this ever happening again. No matter how well Brady takes care of himself off the field, there's nothing he can do to lessen the impact a hit like that might have.
UPDATE: Brady even decided to jump in on the fun, posting a video of his 17-yard scamper to his Facebook page Monday.
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