FOXBORO, Mass. – Too bad the nickname is taken.

“Tom Cool” will never have quite the same ring as “Joe Cool,” yet Patriots quarterback Tom Brady hardly suffers in any other comparison with a young Joe Montana.

Brady already has the icy stare down and now, despite just three seasons as a starter, he’s also displayed the kind of big-game temperament and level-headed leadership that come along only once or so in every NFL generation.

On Jan 18., Brady combined those qualities with smart reads and an accurate short-passing game to send a chill down the spine of the Indianapolis defense that was every bit as uncomfortable as the snowy New England winter. Last Sunday, he did the same to Tennessee. That means the two quarterbacks who finished ahead of Brady in MVP balloting, the Colts’ Peyton Manning and the Titans’ Steve McNair, would trade places with him now – in a heartbeat.

Brady is headed to his second Super Bowl two weeks from now; bet against him in Houston at your own risk.

He hasn’t lost a playoff game in five tries, going back to his cold-blooded championship run in 2001. That fifth win also gave him the third-best career start for any playoff quarterback, nudging him past Montana and Jeff Hostetler, who both won their first four tries.

“The guy is building a legacy for himself,” said tight end Christian Fauria, one of eight Pats to catch at least one throw from Brady.

Teammate Ty Law thought that assessment was almost too modest.

“Tom Brady is the greatest winner in football right now,” he said. Asked to compare his quarterback with McNair and Manning, whom Law intercepted three times, the cornerback readily endorsed his fellow Michigan Wolverine:

“What do stats mean when you’re sitting at home?” Law said. “I want to go out there with Tom Brady. With all due respect to Steve and Peyton, winning is the card that trumps everything.”

Brady was far from flawless, except when it mattered.

He misfired twice on the opening drive, but kept it going by running a gutsy 2-yard sneak when Patriots coach Bill Belichick took a huge gamble just 90 seconds into the game on a fourth-and-1 at his own 44. Then, as Brady found his rhythm, he began alternating passes to Deion Branch and David Givens, finishing the drive with a 7-yard toss to Givens that produced the Pats’ only touchdown all day.

Though Brady drove the Patriots inside Indianapolis’ 10-yard line four more times, they were forced to settle each time for a field goal.

“Obviously, we left a lot of points out there. But we’re working on it,” Brady said through a crooked smile and several days’ growth of beard. “We’re working on it.”

Despite his boyish looks, Brady, at 26, already has the heart of an assassin. His winning percentage as a starter stacks him alongside all-time leader Roger Staubach and he’s a very cool 14-1 in games decided by seven points and fewer, a number that puts him in Montana’s neighborhood.

But he wasn’t about to be drawn into any comparisons.

“The only person I care about proving myself to is myself and my coach,” Brady said. “Everybody else doesn’t matter.”

Still, he’s been impressing almost everybody he plays alongside or against since his days at Junipero High School in San Mateo, Calif., where NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann and San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds also began their careers. Brady went 20-5 at Michigan, but somehow failed to convince the pro scouts.

He fell to the Pats with the 199th pick of the 2000 draft, a quirk that has a lot of personnel “experts” shaking their heads to this day. Brady didn’t let that rattle him, either.

“Tom never lets his emotions get in the way of the game,” Pats tackle Matt Light said.

Except once: In 1981, Brady’s father took him to see the 49ers playoff game in nearby San Francisco that was decided by an improbable Montana-to-Dwight-Clark touchdown hookup now known, majestically, as “The Catch.” Brady missed it and still regrets it.

“I think I was whining the whole half because he wouldn’t buy me one of those foam fingers,” he said. “So I don’t think I enjoyed much of the second half. Everyone jumped up, I couldn’t see anything, and I think I was crying the whole way home, not realizing that was probably the most significant play in San Francisco 49ers history.”

He’ll never get that moment back. But somehow, some way, you get the sense that before he’s done with this game, Brady will be crafting enough memories of his own to pick up a nickname every bit as fitting as “Joe Cool.”