Tom Brady has done it all. Seven Super Bowl rings. Five Super Bowl MVP honors. The GOAT title and countless records with a career spanning over two crazy decades. But here’s the thing: behind all those accolades is a guy who’s been through it all—the injuries, the setbacks, and the moments that could’ve derailed anyone else’s career. While Brady’s clutch plays and crazy comebacks are what everyone remembers, his sheer toughness often flies under the radar.

Speaking of which, one of the most jaw-dropping examples of his toughness came during the AFC Championship game in 2017 of the Patriots vs Jaguars. Yep, it was the game when Brady led his team to yet another Super Bowl spot, but that wasn’t the only highlight of that game. See, Brady entered the gridiron to meet the Jaguars with a gruesome hand injury that was actually worse than what people think. And no one knows that better than the ex-Patriots’ QB, Brian Hoyer.

During an episode of The Quick Snap with his co-host David Andrews, Hoyer took a trip down memory lane and talked about one of the most gruesome injuries of Brady. “That was the Jacksonville like week two, remember when Tom split his thumb open? I’ll know, obviously. We’ll all never forget that, but for me with what my role was, it’s we’re in a group run and he bumps into Rex (Burkhead) and starts screaming bloody murder.”

Yep, the situation was that worse for the NFL legend’s thumb injury. In fact, he received 12 stitches for the cut on his thumb four days before the AFC championship round. But for Hoyer? Well, the guy just walked half-season through, and boom. He was this close to starting in the championship game. And to make things even crazier, then-offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, came up with a wild explanation of injury. And guess what? That explanation had Hoyer losing sleep over it.

“Josh McDaniels, I’ll never forget he’s like, ‘I saw his bone. It was the bone was popping out of the skin,’ and I was like. Oh my God, I just got here halfway through the season and I have to play in the AFC [championship]. I didn’t sleep,” he further stated. On top of that, the entire locker room had no clue what just happened. But it was Hoyer who snapped into game mode and started rallying his teammates, getting them focused on practice before the Jaguars game.

“I remember everybody just froze and like it seemed to me like after four or five minutes, I was like, ‘all right fellas, we got to move. We got to start practicing again’.” He continued. But wait! What about the man himself? What about Tom Brady? I mean, we surely want to hear his side of the story, right?

It was just another injury for Tom Brady

During a routine play in practice before the AFC Championship game against the Jaguars, Tom Brady’s thumb was hyper-extended, causing a severe laceration. The reason? Well, when Rex Burkhead handed the ball to Brady, it tore a huge gash open on his throwing hand, and blood was pouring out. But here’s the kicker: the NFL GOAT still played through it and led his team to yet another Super Bowl in the 2017 season.

Now, the interesting part. When Brady was asked about his injury after the game, he responded like it was nothing. “It was just a pretty good cut. I dealt with it the best I could,” he said. “I’ve had a lot worse. I didn’t know that on Wednesday, it was a crazy injury. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday were a little scary and then started gaining some confidence. Today, we did just enough to win.” Indeed, they won that game.

And not just he won the game, but also threw for 290 passing yards and racked up two touchdowns in a 24-20 win. Not to mention, his two TD came in the fourth quarter when the Patriots were trailed by 10 points. That’s one of the reasons why Tom Brady is known for impossible comebacks. However, the Patriots lost the Super Bowl 41-33 to the Philadelphia Eagles.