Super Bowl 2012: Tom Brady Will Cement His Legacy vs. Giants

Tom Brady is one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. He needs another Super Bowl ring to cement his legacy, though. That way, no doubters will be able to claim his team's strong defense carried him to those early titles.

Unlike this season's New England defense, which couldn't stop anybody during the regular season before stepping up over the last couple weeks, the Patriots dynasty was actually built on a strong defensive unit.

Since the veterans on that side of the ball—Tedy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel among others—moved on and Brady was forced to win games on his own, the Lombardi Trophy has stopped arriving to Foxborough.

In other words, Brady has learned what Peyton Manning had to deal with in Indianapolis for so many years. It's not easy to carry a team on your back all the way through the Super Bowl because there are so many other competitive teams.

A win on Super Sunday will ensure those concerns are never raised about Brady. He's been given a pass for recent playoff failings because everybody had seen him succeed on the biggest stages before, but the grace period is quickly coming to an end.

That's why next weekend's game against the New York Giants is vital. The media has been a lot quicker to criticize Brady for poor games, which is a sign his cloak of invincibility is wearing off, and a Super Bowl loss will only add fuel to the fire.

Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana are the only quarterbacks to win four rings. Joining that prestigious group would put an end to any doubt about Brady's place in the game whenever he decides to call it quits. He'd be a guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famer and would have a spot in the greatest QB ever debate.

On the flip side, a loss would drop him to 3-2 in Super Bowls and he'd be without a triumph since 2005 when the Patriots knocked off the Eagles.

Luckily for Brady, his defense has played better since having the bye week to regroup. As long as they can provide him with some support, he should have enough weapons in his arsenal to make easy work of a Giants defense that has been playing outside of their means in recent games.

Brady knows New York will be looking to send a lot of pressure, so look for a lot of short passes that turn into big gains. His ability to adjust is what's allowed him to reach this point and doing it once more will make sure his legacy remains intact.

In other words, the Giants secondary is in major trouble.