Tom Brady suffered through “Deflategate,” and now one of his teammates is enjoying what could be playfully called “Inflategate.”

Buccaneers cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting enters Super Bowl 2021 as the first player with an interception in each of his first three career playoff games since Ravens Hall of Famer Ed Reed in 2003. He already has more career playoff interceptions than the best cornerback in Tampa Bay history (Ronde Barber) had over 10 games.

How do you explain such a relative unknown making huge plays off Drew Brees and the difficult-to-intercept Aaron Rodgers? Murphy-Bunting is the football equivalent of a slugger seeing the baseball as the size of a grapefruit during a hot streak.

“I’m definitely seeing the ball a lot more,” Murphy-Bunting said. “I’ve been able to play more with my eyes on the quarterback. At the end of the day, I’ve been at the right position at the right place at the right time.”

That’s essentially the story of Murphy-Bunting’s career:

Overlooked by the powers in recruiting, Murphy-Bunting accepted a “gray-shirt” opportunity — waiting until the second semester of freshman year to become a full-time student on scholarship — at Central Michigan. He played for a 1-11 team that fired its coach as a redshirt junior and was out of sight from the Nov. 23 season finale until he created buzz at the 2019 Combine.

All of a sudden, late-round draft projections turned into second-round or third-round grades. He was the fourth of seven cornerbacks selected in a 17-pick span (No. 39 overall) from late in the first round through the middle of the second. No Pro Bowlers yet.

“I’ve always just felt like an underdog,” Murphy-Bunting said. “It’s one going to be one of those underdog movie stories where he always prevails at the end.”

The Giants started the cornerbacks run by trading up in that draft for DeAndre Baker, who was arrested on assault and robbery charges after his rookie season, cut before all charges were dismissed and now is an injured member of the Chiefs on the opposite side of the Super Bowl.

“I didn’t want to act like I had control over where I was going,” Murphy-Bunting said. “Did I know I was going to go that high? No. But I was very grateful for the team that I went to and the rest is history. I just hope to continue to grow and keep ending up in this situation. I only want success for guys drafted before me and after me because it makes our entire class look good.”

Murphy-Bunting was called out by coach Bruce Arians early in his rookie season and became a target of fan ire for struggles at times this season. Critics of Murphy-Bunting, the NFL’s youngest secondary and the Buccaneers’ press man-to-man coverage have been quiet lately.

“The biggest thing is he was playing beat up almost the entire season and he learned to play with injuries,” Arians said. “It was a matter of getting his confidence back totally. I told him, ‘You at 85 percent [healthy] is better than most people at 100.’ He started making plays one after another, and now he’s playing with extreme confidence.”

Murphy-Bunting had four consecutive games with an interception (five total) for Central Michigan in 2017. If he matches that streak, it will mean an interception off reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes.

“Whenever you can take the ball away and give it to your quarterback, especially with the quarterback that we have, only good things can happen,” Murphy-Bunting said. “We’ve got to take the ball away from Mahomes and give it to Tom.”