ESPN Delivers With Brady Doc

April 21, 2011 Patrick Hickey Jr. Film 0

Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, Marc Bulger and Spergon Wynn were the quarterbacks picked ahead of the New England Patriots Tom Brady in the 2000 NFL draft.

Aside from the almost certain Hall of Fame career and Super Bowl rings he has, Brady has something else on them now.

His own ESPN documentary.

Well, kind –of.

While “The Brady Six” focuses mainly on the career of Brady and his improbable rise in both college and professional football, it’s driven just as much by the failures of the quarterbacks picked ahead of him and those who challenged him on the way up.

Mainly Drew Henson.

Aside from Pennington and Bulger, who have achieved moderate success in the NFL, the failures of Carmazzi, who refused to be interviewed for the documentary and is apparently a goat farmer, Wynn, Martin and Redman were just victims of a scouting system that isn’t as coherent and transparent as the NFL thinks it is. All the quarterbacks picked ahead of Brady, were in better shape and had better numbers at the combine, but have not produced the way Brady has. How are “the intangibles” really measured by NFL scouts? Why did he last so long in the draft? These questions are answered in the documentary by a litany of high-quality NFL sources, including former players, scouts and general managers, who all tell their story as to why they picked someone else over Brady.

Even though it’s a relatively short documentary, “The Brady Six” is filled with all of the things you’d expect from a piece of film in this genre. It’s well-sourced, educational and most of all, it’s entertaining. Brady is a pretty down to earth guy throughout, but at one point, he ends up tearing up while the topic of 2000 draft day comes up. To see this gridiron general break down and get teary eyed makes for a great viewing experience.

Especially if you’re a fan of the New York Jets.

All jokes aside however, this documentary does a stellar job of dissecting the not so memorable careers of the quarterbacks NFL scouts and front office personnel believed had a better shot at greatness than Brady, while making him appear humble, accessible and modest.

With ESPN’s “30 for 30” film series over, many fans of the series wondered if the company would stop producing documentaries that shined.

They have the answer to that question with “The Brady Six.”

Smart, savy and productive, the documentary ultimately has a lot in common with Brady’s style of play and as a result, is a winner, just like him.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14263 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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