What did Tom Brady do to his knee?

Answer 1

Tom Brady's knee was injured due to a low hit from Kansas City Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard in the first game of the 2008 NFL season. Pollard lunged into Bradys lower left leg. Brady had stepped up into the pocket and his leg was planted firmly in the ground at the time of the hit. As a result of the collision, the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial collateral ligaments were torn. It was determined that Brady could no play in that condition and the Patriots placed him in the Injured Reserve list for the remainder of the 2008 season.

Brady had his knee operated on in October of 2008 by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. In the procedure, Dr ElAttrache used a living patellar tendon graph (in lieu of a cadaver graph) to replace the injured anterior cruciate ligament and surgically reattached the medial collateral ligament.

After the operation, Brady suffered a slight setback in his rehab as the knee became infected. ESPN reports indicate that the injection was caused by an incision in the medial collateral ligament. After two follow up operations the infection was removed and Brady's recovery process continued. Brady returned to play in the first preseason game of the 2009 NFL season.