About
Touchdown Tom is a meme based on Tom Brady, starting quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. It tends to be used whenever the Patriots – and by extension, Tom Brady – are losing, with commentators claiming, “Never count out Touchdown Tom.” This is due to repeated come-from-behind victories orchestrated by Brady over his fifteen years in the league.
Origin
Tom Brady is the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots, a team in the AFC East division of the National Football League. Drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft, Brady has led the Patriots to five Super Bowls (along with three victories) and has won two Most Valuable Player trophies along the way. [1] The meme was created late in the 2013 NFL season by SB Nation writer Jon Bois, [2] who gave Tom Brady a nickname that was so banal, no actual sportswriter would even think of it. [3] This is due to Brady’s ability to throw a lot of touchdowns, a skill to which is not exclusive to him. While its inception came about in November of 2013, the full explanation was not told until January 9, 2014, when Bois explained it in his most recent (at the time) Breaking Madden article, “Breaking Madden: Never count out ‘Touchdown’ Tom Brady”. On November 24, 2013, the Denver Broncos were beating the Patriots 24-0 at halftime, while Jon Bois insisted via Twitter to “not count out Touchdown Tom.” After his final tweet on the subject sometime in the third quarter, Brady brought the team back to tie it up by the end of regulation, and oversaw an overtime victory. [4]
Breaking Madden
While the nickname Touchdown Tom originated in November 2013, it was more fully explained on January 9, 2014, when Jon Bois included it in his Breaking Madden series, articles he was writing for SB Nation about different scenarios he had concocted up in Madden 25 (the latest Madden at the time). [5] This mini-series would turn into three parts.
Never count out ‘Touchdown’ Tom Brady
The first episode (Never count out ‘Touchdown’ Tom Brady, season 1 episode 16) [6] debuted January 9, 2014 (though the video previewing it came out three days earlier, January 6, 2014). In it, Bois created a team of all Tom Bradys using the Madden creation tools, and had them face off against the Indianapolis Colts, who were given great defense in the first half, but terrible defense in the second half in order to try and facilitate a comeback. By the end of the first half, the Colts were staked to an impressive 74-0 lead, but a second half comeback led to Touchdown Tom and the Patriots winning 77-74 (the score is not shown at the end, though a touchdown is recorded, so the score can be believed to be either 77-74 or 78-74).
Edge of Tom-orrow
The next chapter (Edge of Tom-orrow, season 2 episode 7) [7] debuted in the second season of Breaking Madden. The title is a reference to the Tom Cruise-starring movie Edge of Tomorrow, which premiered in theaters June 6, 2014. [8] The episode’s theme was based around the movie’s premise, where Cruise must continually relive the same day over and over again until the necessary outcome is reached. In this case, the outcome is a quarterback sneak from the opponent’s one yard line for a touchdown. While Bois admitted the task seemed impossible, Touchdown Tom was able to successfully QB Sneak on the 344th try.
The Touchdown Tom Trilogy concludes
Spread
Though there had been references to ‘Touchdown Tom’ since October 2007, the official acknowledgement of the phrase (and its creator’s self-confirmation of it being a ‘meme’) came in November 2013. Since that point, the nickname gained a minor following, with its popularity spiking highest in October 2014, when the Edge of Tom-orrow episode came out. Its popularity waned since, though another spike began to occur due to the release of the trilogy’s conclusion. Because of its American origins, the ‘Touchdown Tom’ nickname has appropriately not spread out past the United States.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Tom Brady
[2] Twitter – good ol’ touchdown tom / 11-3-2013
[3] SB Nation – Breaking Madden: The Touchdown Tom Trilogy concludes / 1-15-2015
[4] Graph – Broncos v. Patriots
[5] SB Nation – Breaking Madden: Meet CLARENCEBEEFTANK, the Jaguars’ five-foot, 400-pound quarterback / 9-5-2013
[6] SB Nation – Breaking Madden: Never count out ‘Touchdown’ Tom Brady / 1-9-2014
[7] SB Nation – Breaking Madden: Edge of Tom-orrow / 10-16-2014
[8]IMDB– Edge of Tomorrow
[9] SB Nation – Breaking Madden: The Touchdown Tom Trilogy concludes / 1-15-2015