Don’t call Tom Brady old. Don’t call him washed up or out of gas.

That time will come - it does for everyone - but it didn’t after Week 4, when many thought it had for the 37-year-old after a subpar start to the season.

The New England Patriots stumbled out of the gate with a 2-2 record but more concerning in Foxboro as the calendar changed to October was Brady’s play. Brady was averaging just one touchdown and less than 200 yards passing per game and his completion percentage was almost six points lower than his career average of 63.5.

The low point for Brady and the Patriots was a 41-14 blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4. Headlines the next week were rough on New England; the Chiefs claiming they ‘broke’ Tom Brady while some questioned if the two-time MVP should be benched in favour of rookie Jimmy Garoppolo.

He was far from the only Patriot getting blamed for the team’s lackluster start, but because of his spotlight position, and since he was the oldest, Brady may have been the only player not given much chance to turn it around.

Brady was on the ropes the next week when New England hosted the Cincinnati Bengals, who undefeated at the time. And while it was only heralded as a simple bounce back performance at the time, Brady’s 292-yard, two touchdown performance in the Patriots’ 43-17 stomping of the Bengals turned out to be the TSN Turning Point of New England’s then-moribund season.

It was also of course, the start of a seven-game win streak for the Patriots that featured a strong runner up for the Patriots’ turning point – their 43-21 win over the Denver Broncos in Week 9 to ultimately guarantee home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Week 4 drubbing of the Bengals also served as the official kick off to Brady’s 2014 MVP campaign.

The 15-year veteran threw for 3,318 yards the rest of the way, and only once dipped below 200 yards in a full game. He also had 29 touchdown passes in those 12 games while he improved his completion percentage from 57.8 to 64.1, a total even higher than his career average.

Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is the frontrunner for this year’s MVP, but Brady is in a group of players alongside Dallas Cowboys DeMarco Murray and Tony Romo, Houston Texans’ linebacker JJ Watt, and teammate Rob Gronkowski, who could pull an upset when the award is announced ahead of the Super Bowl.

The Patriots’ sluggish start has long been forgotten, replaced instead mostly by questions about deflated balls, but Brady’s transformation from the first quarter of the regular season to the last three was nothing short of remarkable. He went from playing like old backup Brian Hoyer to playing like, well, Tom Brady.

Something clicked in that Week 5 win over the Bengals, and it ignited a run that has now cumulated with Brady’s sixth Super Bowl start, the most ever by a quarterback. It will also serve notice to all naysayers and pessimists to wait longer than four games before writing off a legend.