Tom Brady: Super Bowl LI not necessarily one of my best games

After orchestrating a monumental comeback to take down the Atlanta Falcons, many are putting Tom Brady's Super Bowl LI performance among the best of his Hall of Fame career.

The New England Patriots' star quarterback isn't so convinced.

Reflecting upon the big game in a podcast appearance with Peter King of The MMQB, Brady downplayed his efforts and pointed to the fact that he and the Patriots dug themselves a major hole early on.

"I don't really think that is necessarily the case," Brady said. "I think it was one of the greatest games I have ever played in, but when I think of an interception return for a touchdown, some other missed opportunities in the first 37, 38 minutes of the game, I don't really consider playing a good quarter-and-a-half plus overtime as one of the 'best games ever.'

"But it was certainly one of the most thrilling for me, just because so much was on the line, and it ended up being an incredible game. There are so many things that played into that game - a high-scoring offense, a top-ranked defense, the long Super Bowl, four-and-a-half-hour game, the way that the game unfolded in the first half versus what happened in the second half … so it was just a great game."

Ever the perfectionist, it's no surprise that Brady would be looking for a more complete effort to earn the title of his best effort. And he's certainly had such performances throughout his Hall of Fame career.

But what he was able to do with the Patriots up against the ropes quite easily overshadows the slow start.

Brady led the way on four consecutive scoring drives to erase Atlanta's 25-point lead by the end of the regulation, and New England marched down the field to find the end zone just eight plays into overtime.

Carrying his team to the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, shattering the previous high of 10 points, quite easily stands as one of the 39-year-old's most impressive feats.

Brady finished the game with Super Bowl records for completions (43), pass attempts (62), and passing yards (466) en route to his fourth MVP award on the big stage, also an all-time best mark.