GLENDALE, Ariz. – Inside Tom Brady's locker rested a picture of him and his family – his wife and three kids. They were on a beach somewhere, smiling wholesome family vacation smiles, like just any old tourists. This was nothing fancy. Hair was windswept. The poses were haphazard. The shot isn't perfectly framed. It looked like it could've been taken with a disposable camera, handed to some dumbfounded fellow beachgoer.

On one wall hung a crumbled, kid-written sign, complete with three handprints of paint that could be stuck to a refrigerator anywhere. It read: "Go Patriots, We Love You Daddy." Below it laid another card with all his children's names printed on it.

This is what Tom Brady wanted to see before taking the field for Super Bowl XLIX. This is what he wanted his final vision to be, both pregame and halftime, of the latest, greatest game of his life.

And that, perhaps, was what he used as a grounding force before he shook off two interceptions and a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to orchestrate two dramatic touchdown drives and lead the New England Patriots past the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 for a fourth Super Bowl title.

[Yahoo Sports Fan Shop: Buy New England Patriots Super Bowl XLIX champs gear]

This was a reminder of family, a reminder of priorities, a reminder that this time was so much different for Brady, so much different than when he was young and single and winning these things seemingly every year.

View photos A look inside Tom Brady's locker after Super Bowl XLIX. (Yahoo Sports) More

"This one," his longtime agent Donald Yee said, "is special because he is sharing it with a young, growing family. It's different."

What Tom Brady did in the fourth quarter here was pick himself up and play as great as he's ever played, as great as anyone's ever played – 13 of 15, 124 yards and two touchdowns on the two fourth-quarter scoring drives. He clinched it in the final seconds with a cadence change that drew Seattle offsides and gave New England room for the sweetest of victory formations.

It all came at the end of a particularly trying period of Brady's career, one made so much more challenging because of that family. These late-career seasons, on the edges of middle age, are about the joy of sharing it with the kids, but also the agony of knowing that those who love him most are hearing the worst.

For two weeks Tom Brady was a cheater, propped up by pushing envelopes, just part of some elaborate Patriots way. Some of it was reasonable and may continue depending on the results of the NFL's investigation. Some of it, however, was simply absurd. You can tune out the noise as a player. It's not so easy as a family and essentially impossible as a kid.

[Hard to explain what Seahawks were thinking on interception]

As much as Brady is seen as a glamour-boy celebrity, fashion conscious and married to a Brazilian supermodel, in the end he tries to build his personal life around family and fatherhood, the trips to the Boston Back Bay playgrounds and postgame hugs with the children wearing his jersey. He tries, best he can, to be just another dad in a family photo, kids draped all over him.

He isn't alone. He'll tell you he isn't anything special here, and he isn't. There are a lot of great fathers in the NFL and motivations like this are common with the old veterans. They are the ones with families who in this modern era of labeling and lambasting find themselves believing the social media insults of a few matter more than the cheers of a million.

Story continues