NFL Championship Ring New England Patriots 2001 Tom Brady

Rings Story

Je’Rod Cherry, DB Seeing “humanity at its best,” at a youth conference in 2008, the three-time Super Bowl champion decided to raffle off his prized possession to help those in need. Cherry’s selfless gesture, parting with the 2.61-carat ring featuring 142 diamonds, helped generate $180,000, which went to charities such as Boston for Africa, Feed My Starving Children and Asia’s Hope, a Christian organization that builds homes and provides educational opportunities, food and medical care for orphaned children in Thailand, Cambodia and India.

Specification

Size: 11
Material: zinc alloy + crystal stone
Features: exquisite deep carving and hand-set crystal gems
Player Name on Ring: Wilt Chamberlain
With Box: No. Click here to add a BOX

Super Bowl XXXVI

Date: February 3, 2002
Team: New England Patriots
Score: Patriots 20, Rams 17
Tom Brady’s stats: 16-of-27 passing, 145 yards, one touchdown

I almost feel like this is too low but it was hard to make a strong case to drive this one any higher. On sentimental value, you can make a great argument that the 20-17 victory over the Rams is right at the top. In terms of importance, it’s massive, but for Brady’s legacy it was merely the starting point to the greatest career we’ve ever seen. He had already established himself as the starter over Drew Bledsoe going forward just by getting New England into the Super Bowl, and winning it was the Lombardi-sized cherry on top.

That said, this was — as John Madden famously noted — a goosebump-inducing performance by a 24-year-old Brady, who came in under duress after Bledsoe suffered a nasty injury in the early portions of the regular season. The sixth-rounder from the year prior took that opportunity and ran with it all the way to Super Bowl XXXVI. While Brady didn’t light up the stat sheet — 145 yards passing and one touchdown — he gave us a good glimpse of the career that was to come on that final drive.

With the score knotted at 17, Brady and the offense got the ball back at their own 17-yard line with no timeouts. The young quarterback was able to surgically march down the field to the Rams’ 31-yard line before spiking the ball to stop the clock and allow Vinatieri to boot the 48-yard Super Bowl winner. This was the first Super Bowl title in Patriots history and helped put Brady on the fast track to superstardom.