Becoming the G.O.A.T.: The Tom Brady Story (2021) - full transcript

There's no time for me to look back

or look ahead.

There's so much going on and

I've enjoyed every minute of it and

I still want to keep playing and

after this game I'll probably take

a week or two off and then get back

to work, so I love to

do that after winning the game,

that will make the off season

obviously a lot more enjoyable.



On the football field, he was as

dedicated as any player, as a

teammate, he's as good a teammate as

you could have.

Brady the throw, right away. He hits
Kirby.

He took it upon himself to work

really hard.

And now you see the final result.

He was so annoyed that he

got taken so late in the draft.

He wants to prove the one hundred

ninety eight guys ahead him, that no
one's as good as him.

They were expecting that he would be

a solid quarterback and maybe



even a very good quarterback

someday, but he exceeded

all their expectations.

But he throws an incomplete pass.

He goes nuts.

Somebody runs the wrong route.

He goes nuts.

The guy is down by twenty five

points in the second half, and

you still think: It's Tom Brady?

It's not completely over.

That's why you play to the end.

It's a 60 minute game and we're

disappointed in the way we played

and knew that we could go out and do

a lot better in the second half.

Tom's next game isn't against

the opponent. It's against the

critics.

He meets Bob Kraft, the owner of the.

New England Patriots, and he says:

"I'm the best decision this

franchise has ever made." Just

think about that!

See, he's the most

hated Quarterback, why?

Because he's the best quarterback.

There is a similarity between

throwing a football and throwing a

baseball, a lot of the the

arm action is the same.

The the body position, the

use of your legs

is the same.

There's just a little bit difference

in the delivery.

The actual ball coming out of the

hand is a little different because

the baseball, you're on the top,

football you're on the side.

But Tommy's throwing ability he

threw both balls

great. He's one of the best

catchers I've had at throwing

the ball.

He was a big, strong guy, he's a

left handed hitter, he had power, he

hit home runs.

I think he would have had power in

professional baseball.

He was a good hitter for average.

Probably his only the only

downfall is, he didn't run really

well.

And I think he's actually gotten

better at that.

My connection with Tom

Brady as he played JB

football here for me, and some other

sports and his family, they're not

too far from the high school here.

And

the parents are very involved in his

life. They keep away from the sport,

but they're very influential to him

at the same time, they make sure

Tommy does the right things, worked

hard and is

very respectful of his coaches.

So that in itself

told me something about the family

is like: Oh, I don't have to worry

about parents.

His dad was an athlete.

His sisters were

college softball pitcher, one

of the best in the nation.

His other sisters, I believe, were

soccer players, all at top

ranked colleges.

And Tommy, being the baby of the

family, was around a

football, dad with baseball,

always something in his hands at all

time.

He would always love to talk about

his sisters.

He's the youngest of four,

but he was a pretty simple guy.

He was in the sports and

his family.

There wasn't a lot of other stuff.

Would he have succeeded in Major.

League Baseball?

No question. He played against Erik

Backich, the Michigan baseball

coach. They were high school rivals,

their teams, and they played against

each other in high school.

Tommy was a legit

MLB prospect, without question.

I think Tom Brady would have

potentially been a major league

catcher. I think he had that kind of

ability.

But to forecast that Tom Brady would

have become as great in baseball as

he did in football, you can't

do because he would have had to

become the greatest player of all

time in baseball.

And that, as good as he was,

that would have been a long shot.

So when you see something special

come through, you're sort of just

pointing it and go, huh?

I think we can do something with

that. And here was a kid, because

as Tom is, he's slow on

feet, but he works at

it, and he has a good mind

for the game, and he really worked

on his throwing mechanics and

he threw a very nice ball, he played

catcher in baseball and he was,

what I thought he would actually

play, but he kept

pursuing football.

And I guess that one paid off a

little bit for him.

And I'm not a really reactive

athlete.

You know, people have seen me play

for a long time.

I like to really anticipate things

when I'm out there.

I'm not sure if

we've ever done a high school

football game in our five years

where you could say that.

It's very impressive this far, both

teams have played

an excellent ball game and it's not

done yet.

I was really impressed when I saw

him in person, face to

face, because I was shocked how big

he is.

And I always thought that he is,

you know, my size, maybe

one meter, eighty eight, something

like that.

Not that muscular.

But if you see him in person on

the field with cleats on, shoulder

pads and helmet, he

is not a small guy.

I think a lot of people don't

realize that he is

I think he is six four, one meter

ninety three.

He is bigger than a lot of people

think.

I was the first guy to believe in

Tom.

So I said: Hey, I got

someone who can play quarterback,

hey, he's intelligent, I can do some

special things." And

I worked hard with Tommy

whenever he wanted that extra time,

I gave him the extra time.

I think that was it, just the belief

in him, positive coaching

and then also just the extra

work when he wanted it.

Brady to Kirby, at the

twenty five down to the twenty

one.

He said he really wanted to be a

quarterback and

when that kid puts his mind to

something, he's pretty driven.

So he always goes the extra mile,

doing the extra work to

try to perfect whatever he's doing.

Even at that age.

You've got to put the work in.

You've got to listen.

You've got to be be humble enough

to learn.

You know, he can't think, you know,

everything you got, you know, it's

football is too difficult of a game

and there's too much, it's not an

individual sport.

It's a coordination between a lot of

different people.

Brady the throw right away.

He hits Kirby out to the

thirty six yard line. It's going to

be just short of a first down.

You know in high school we were

really good friends on the football

field. Tom and I actually created

our own plays back then.

We created a signal to

where he would look out and check

out the defense. He would pull his

face mask and for me to acknowledge

it back, I would pull up my left

sock. And then we knew that he

was going to throw me the pass on

that play. You can definitely see

him improvise from time to time.

And, you know, his famous

quarterback sneak where he goes over

the top. That's kind of a play that

he'll just call and not even let the

other line men know.

So, yeah, I see that all the time.

And it's really awesome to

hear his cadence or to hear him on

TV when he's saying: "Red thirty

five, red thirty five!" And it's

funny, you know, I used to be on

this field hearing that same voice

all the time, so it's very, very

familiar.

Brady looking over the defense, six

foot four.

How's the slant if he wants it, and

he takes it. Kirby,

out the forty five

pick up above eleven.

In a first down.

We couldn't have anybody film for

us.

Some did, but not the lower level.

And they would get the films and

they'd be watching films of

the games.

I'd be watching films of other

teams, but they're watching

themselves and critiquing

themselves. And then I'm sure they

bring it home. And, you know, Tom.

Senior is doing it.

Back in the early 90s, there wasn't

a lot of football film study,

especially in high school.

And Tom brought it on himself with

myself and the other receivers.

Every Sunday, we'd play on either

Friday or Saturday.

Every Sunday, we'd go to his house

for lunch, meeting him and the other

receivers. His mom would make us

sandwiches.

We'd sit down and analyze the film.

Brady the throw, Kirby with a great

catch over the

shoulder and the thirty five.

"Sprinkler gate" was our sophomore

year championship when Tommy, it was

his first year as a starter and my

first year as a starting receiver,

we went down to play Bellarmine for

the league championship.

We were driving for the winning

touchdown. Go ahead, touchdown.

And it was six p.m.

because our game had gone so long

and at six p.m.

back then the sprinklers came on.

So we had to wait about fifteen

minutes for them to clear everything

out. Sprinklers go down, you start

driving down the field, sprinklers

come on again.

Have to stop it again.

Get the ball back.

The ball's wet.

Tommy drops back, throws a swing

to our running back.

He fumbles, they pick it up and

take it to the house.

And I swear to this day, Bellarmine

turn the sprinklers on on purpose.

I think the fact that Tom Brady was

a really good recruit when he came

to Michigan.

People expected him to be a good

player.

They never expected him to be a

great player, and that's what he

became. In my book about Greg.

Harden, the counselor at Michigan

who worked with our athletes, Tom

Brady, walked into his office one

day and said: "One of the guys on

the team said, you can help me.

You know, I want to be the starter

at Michigan.

I'm not there.

I'm way down on the depth chart."”

And Greg Harden got

Tom Brady to believe in himself

in their conversations

to the point where he was able to

perform at a high level.

Tom Brady kind of becoming an

afterthought.

You know, Tom Brady and Drew Brees

played against each other in college

in 1999,

Everybody talks about their pro

careers. But in 1999,

Tom Brady and Michigan was

number four in the country and.

Purdue is number 11 in the country

in 1999,

And Tom Brady and Michigan won

38 to 12.

And that was the first time that

those guys played.

You know, that's phenomenal that two

guys both lasted

for over 20 years in the game of

football and became, you

know, perhaps the two

most accomplished statistical of

quarterbacks of all time.

Drew Henson was

LeBron James and Tom Brady

level high school player.

He was the best high school player

in baseball and football in the.

United States. He won them both in.

USA Today.

And Drew is from Brighton, Michigan,

which is about 20 minutes outside of

Ann Arbor. He was the biggest

recruit probably in the history of

Michigan football.

He came here to Michigan.

Great talent, great friend of mine,

great guy.

And he was chiefs...

he was supposed to be the Michigan

quarterback in ninety eight

and ninety nine.

And there was one problem.

There was one person in

Ann Arbor who didn't think the

grandson should be the quarterback.

Thomas Edward Brady didn't think.

Drew Henson should be the
quarterback.

The Syracuse game

in nineteen ninety eight was one of

the worst experiences I've ever had

at Michigan, I was with the team for

almost six years.

We had lost the first game, Notre.

Dame.

We lost the Syracuse game, full

team had played and the fans started

on Tom and they were booing him,

they wanted Drew Henson to play.

It was very bad.

I was afraid I was going to leave.

I thought it was going to transfer.

It was very bad. I thought Drew.

Henson was going to be the

quarterback from forward.

And I just let Tom know I believed

in him and we're going to rally

and he's got to keep fighting and I

believe in him.

We played basketball together

and we're playing this

frat guys and they're making

fun of Tom because of Drew Henson

and the game's over, we're about to

win. We're up by like 20 points.

And Tommy looks at me

and says: "Beav, how many fouls do I

have?" And Tommy's got

two fouls, you're allowed four

and he says: "Beav, the next time

you bring the ball up the court,

sprint off the court

and don't look back.

Whatever you do." I get the ball,

speed up the court. All of a sudden,

I here a "splatt".

Tommy elbowed the guy that was

making fun of him the whole game

and knocked the kid off.

That's like Tom Brady today moment

in nineteen ninety nine,

hilarious. Just... and I was offered

to beat this kid up the whole game.

Tom was like: Beav don't worry about
it,

just classic, classic

Tom Brady. Cleans up his own mess,

as he'd like to say.

By the time he left Michigan, he had

a great Orange Bowl game

where he threw for three hundred and

sixty nine yards and five

touchdowns, that was his last

college game, beat Alabama

in overtime.

And that's the game that

put him on the map.

Simply by that, he's a role model

to a lot of people, simply by being

an NFL player and becoming

one, making that transition from

college to the NFL opens a lot of

doors and dreams for the youth.

But then being as successful as he

was, his work ethic, his continues

drive

to win. There's a lot of things

that we can learn from that man.

And I remember when we drafted him

back in 2000,

I mean, he had a chip on his

shoulder because he was so

annoyed that he got

taken so late in the draft,

he got taken in the sixth round.

One hundred and ninety ninth player.

I think Tom Brady definitely

had to have a chip on his shoulder

as a sixth round draft pick.

"And that's all they think of me?"

You know, knowing that he closed out

his college career so strongly,

he probably didn't expect to be a

first round draft pick, but he might

have been thinking: "I'll go the

second, the third round"

and then tick, tick, tick sixth

round. You go and it's like: "I've

got some people to prove some things

to."

I think if Tom wasn't dropped in

the sixth round or dropped in one

ninety nine, it would have changed a

lot of things.

Because what makes Tom

so successful, he wants to prove the

one hundred ninety eight guys ahead

him that no one's as good as him.

When Tom Brady got drafted by the.

Patriots, I was the pro football

editor of the Tampa Tribune

and I'm paying attention to who the

Bucs are drafting.

But more than anything, I'm

actually: Where are my boys going?

The guys I covered in Michigan.

And when I saw that he went there, I

knew it was a winning program and

that that would be good.

But I also knew that Drew Bledsoe

was the quarterback and that wasn't

that good. However, as a sixth

round draft pick, you figure Tom

had needed a couple of years to kind

of get his feet on the ground and be

ready to be a starter.

So it seemed like a good situation

for Tom to go to New England.

He was so excited.

I told him I was excited for him.

He's going to my team, the Patriots,

and he was getting ready to hang up

on me. And he said something pretty

damn funny.

He knows I love Drew Bledsoe

and of course, Tom Brady being Tom

Brady, says: "Beav, I'm going to

take Bledsoe's job."

The thing that amazes me about Tom

Brady is, he's a sixth round draft

pick, those guys are marginal.

They might not even make the team.

And he meets Bob Kraft, the owner

of the New England Patriots, and he

says: "I'm the best decision

this franchise has ever made."

Just think about that.

You know, I mean, here's a guy who

was a pretty good quarterback at

Michigan who goes sixth round of

the draft, and that's what he tells

the owner and he made

good on it.

I was happy when Tom Brady

made the Patriots,

I felt sorry for Drew Bledsoe, but

when that went down, we had

a few of the other coaches around

and we were so excited.

"He's in the game, look, I don't

get... he's made it to the pros!" And

then it just escalated from there.

They can't really see your heart,

you know, and there are so many free

agents, so many late round draft

picks who had amazing Hall

of Fame careers, because one

thing you can never measure or see

is the heart, really.

And I think he's one of those

players, with this... the eternal

nonstop drive for you to

become the best. To be better than

you were yesterday.

Brady being drafted in

the sixth round,

he can name the quarterbacks that

went before him, every one of them,

seen him do it plenty of times.

For them, Brady is like: You're

good, but you're not good enough to

be the mayor, you know.

So I think for him getting drafted

in the sixth round, every

quarterback going before him,

that just gave him the motivation to

go out and try to prove that he can

play this game at a high level.

I think, you know, when I think of.

Bill Belichick, I think of

toughness.

And he demands that of his players,

toughness and loyalty and playing

the game the right way and being a

12 month a year player.

I think that, you know, he's an

old school football coach, not just

because he's an older guy.

You know, I think he's made good

contributions to the game.

Anybody who wins the number of Super.

Bowls he's won has to be a solid

coach.

I don't know if they had a huge

impact on Tom Brady.

I think he had some impact on Tom

Brady, but not a huge.

I think Bill did a really good job

back in and 2001,

on August 5th

of that year, the guy

who was just coaching quarterbacks,

close friend of mine by the name

of Dick Rebind died.

OK, he died in training camp

on a day off.

We had a day off in training camp

and he was running on a treadmill

and passed out on a treadmill.

And I talked to him that day

and he was fine.

And he was going to get a

stress test the next day and

had the stress test and

he dropped and he was dead.

And Belichick and I sat

down and we decided that we would

handle the quarterback position just

ourselves.

So I think even back

then, starting all the way back in

2001, I mean,

I think he's had a very, very big,

positive influence on Tom.

I'm from New Jersey, and

as you know, growing up

in New Jersey, even though Tommy was

kind of cocky, he knew not to get

carried away.

I mean, we had one instance

in practice where Tommy

threw the ball to the wrong guy.

It was a completion, OK,

they caught it.

But, you know, certain plays are

designed to go to a certain spot

and he didn't throw it to the right

spot.

So I looked at him and I said:

"Why didn't you throw it there?"

And he goes: "Well..." and I said:

Where are you supposed to go versus

that coverage? Where's the ball

supposed to go? "And he goes: " Well,

it's really supposed to go to the

tight end. And I go: "Was the tight

end open? "He goes: "I

don't know, I didn't look at him." I

said: "Why didn't you look at him?"

And he goes: "Well, because, you

know, I threw it back there."

So I took off my

whistle around my neck

and I threw it at him.

And he goes: "What?" I said: "You

might as well call the plays.

I mean, if you're not going to

listen to me, I mean, you know,

I'm the one supposed to be calling

the plays. Now you're calling the

plays?" So for the

next few years, we no

longer had that argument.

He actually was our fourth string

quarterback that whole year,

you know, most teams in the league

keep three.

We kept him because we saw something

in him, he wasn't anywhere near

ready.

He used that year to get himself,

his body ready and his mind

ready. And, you know, by

the end of that first year, the

first year, he only threw three

passes and one completion.

It was one for three, his first year

in the league.

Brady had already been in.

New England, a year before I got

there, they drafted him

in 2000. I got there two thousand

one, but.

Drew Bledsoe was the mayor.

Drew Bledsoe had just

signed a contract to become...

just became the first hundred

million dollar quarterback.

And

so it's Drew's team.

And nobody could have fathomed, Drew

Bledsoe was the highest paid player

in the NFL at that time and really

top notch quarterback.

And the fact that Tom Brady

took the job when he got a chance

and never looked back at that.

I think that's most phenomenal thing

and you think, what if Drew Bledsoe

had never gotten hurt?

What if Tom Brady had backed him up

for three years?

What if he, you know,

sort of atrophied or something like,

you know, in his career and never

really got the chance to be Tom

Brady? But a lot of you know, when

a guy becomes great, they need to

really want it, which Tom obviously

wants it as badly as anybody still

does.

Until he get a full grasp

of the offense and of the playbook,

because he's just getting thrown in.

He had to lean on me, had to lean on
Antowain the running back,

until we slowly brought

Tommy along in the playbook

and you can see each game he's

getting better and better in

the passing game.

He's getting more familiar.

He's getting you know, he's getting

more comfortable

in the plays that's being called

and you can see... and

you can see he's a very fiery

guy.

Tommy needed to be on the Patriots

and learn from Bill Belichick

and Charlie Weis and Dick

Reebein and Drew Bledsoe.

You asked me if Tom would be

what he was if Drew Bledsoe didn't

get hurt? I don't believe so.

But there's a second part to that,

that is very important that nobody

talks about. Tom won the second, the

backup quarterback job in the

off season in 2001 from Damon Heward

and if he didn't work hard

and win that job, you would not know

who he is. You would not be
interviewing

me right now.

As they say,

one man's trash is another

man's treasure.

He was in a fight for the

backup quarterback with a guy

that we had just picked up from the.

Dolphins by the name of Damon

Heward.

And at the end of training camp,

Bill and I sat down and we

picked Tommy by this much.

Wasn't like he beat them out by a

lot. And when Bledsoe got

hurt early in the year and Tommy

went in, we took baby steps.

We didn't get too wild.

We didn't throw the ball all over

the place.

We kind of took steps and let the

offense grow as the year

went on and grow it did, because by

the end of that year, you know, we

were in a two minute drive to win

the Super Bowl with Tommy at

the helm. And next thing

you know, the confetti is all over

the place. And we had just

won the Super Bowl.

That was Super Bowl 36.

Super Bowl Sunday!

If you're playing in it, you're a

wrack. First

of all, the night before seemed

like the longest night.

You have plays

going over in your head.

You don't want to make a mistake,

you can dream about making a big

play, but you also dream about.

You really don't get no

productive rest.

You wake up that morning

about 6:00 a.m.,

you go to breakfast.

You know, the Super Bowl is played

later on that evening. So you got

another long day anticipating,

waiting for it to happen.

And you just

kill yourself, beat yourself up.

You just you can't rest.

You just want to get to the stadium

and get that first lick so

you can get the butterflies out your

stomach. So then you know that

you're ready to play ball.

His biggest moment ever was Super.

Bowl 36,

where he hit Troy Brown,

we had four wide receivers on the

field.

It was a tie ball game.

Bellichick was like defense, you

have to be physical on their

receivers, because their little,

fast receivers get in and out. And

he was like, on the offensive side
Antowain,

we got to run you, we got to play

off ball control game,

you got to slow the game down for

them. Keep the offense.

If our offense is on the field,

that means, the offense is on the

bench and that's what we want to do,

slow them down.

They had all the momentum, so it

was a little over a minute to go.

We had no timeouts

and we're playing with this

inexperienced quarterback,

a second year guy and his first

year playing. The last thing Bill

said to him: "No

matter what, you can't take a sack.

You can't take a sack." And

I said to him: "Don't forget your

checkdown", which is a very

conservative route.

We just dump the ball off to the

back.

And Bledsoe was standing there, he

goes "The hell was that." He

goes: "Just swing it", you know, and

"just go ahead and swing it.

Don't worry about that."

The Rams had just tied the game up.

It is 1717.

They went that they had all the

momentum and

they kicked the ball off.

We get stuck deep

in our own end

of the field. So first

play, Brady comes out,

almost gets sacked.

He does

a little dump off pass to J.R.
Redmond.

J.R. gets up, he gets some yards.

So, second play,

Then he hits J.R. again.

So J.R. on the sideline, he does a

little move, he gets out of bounds

and now everybody

on our sideline is feeling good

about ourselves.

Here we go. Because we don't want

to go to overtime.

And you know how it is in momentum,

once the team's got a momentum, you

know, it's tough to stop that

rolling once they have it.

So, I mean, it was

probably one of the greatest drives

that there's been in the Super Bowl

history because all the momentum

was on the other side, with

a relatively inexperienced

quarterback.

And I honestly feel if the game had

to went to overtime, I think the.

Rams would have been... it would have

been a different outcome.

Okay, we're just on our side

of midfield, okay?

We had three receivers on the right,

one on the left, all

three receivers on the right.

We're all running in cuts.

We're all running ends at different

levels.

He hit the first of the three,

the inside guy of the three.

His name is Troy Brown,

one of my favorite players

who then ran out of bounds

up the left sideline and got us

into field goal range.

When he kicked the ball, I'm

behind so I see it, if anybody

ever see that dude

that's running on the field when we

won the first Super Bowl, high

kicking and doing this?

That's me, because I'm behind,

I see it, I'm on the field.

I'm standing

like: Oh shit, we won,

it's just, I lose my mind

man, it's just... it's unbelievable.

In that moment, the feeling it's

just, total emotions

just take over.

And that was the greatest feeling

I have ever had.

I think the locker room after his

first Super Bowl win,

I think that would have been

pretty terrific.

I would love to be there.

Oh, the after party

after winning the Super Bowl.

So, Mr.

Kraft,

he has set up for us.

He has it set

up, we go back to the hotel, we

go to the party room it's

champagne, it's beer, it's

caviar.

And all the players and their

family, everybody in one big

room and everybody just

had had a blast into the

morning hours. Everybody

congratulated, taking pictures

within the Lombardi trophy, just

feeling good about ourselves, like

we are the champions of the world.

After we won Super Bowl

thirty six, all of a sudden

he had all these girls chasing

him, all these movie stars, and

because they heard how close

he and I were at the time,

I would have agents

for these movie stars

reaching out to me

to see if they get to Tommy.

So I set

him down and said: Look, you didn't

get a good looking overnight.

Like all of a sudden,

no one wanted you.

Now all of a sudden you won a Super.

Bowl and they think you're good

looking. So I was making fun

of him. But in reality letting him

know, be careful,

be careful, because you've gone from

a person that no one knew

to a superstar.

You know, you got to be careful.

So that was my advice to him off the

field.

Bill Belichick in the way he

handled his business, the Patriots

way and the way Tom Brady

functioned not only as an athlete

but as a human being.

Well, the Patriot Way is, you

know, there's one phrase: Do your

job.

Check your ego at the door.

That's a simple way of telling

you what the Patriots are about.

Check your ego at the door.

I was one of the team

mates that they kind of started

the Patriots way, you know, we

start winning, but it's just

hard nose grinding,

knowing your assignment as the

phrase they do know, that again also

is: Do your job, meaning just,

do your job.

Don't worry about trying to do

nobody else's job.

You've got 11 guys doing their job.

That's the Patriots way.

And it's just playing fun.

Some fundamental football

mistake free.

You've got a lot of people,

you know, a lot of people and a

professional sports team that have

big egos, you have

owners who have big egos,

you have coaches who have big egos.

You've got players who have big

egos.

Okay, there's a lot of egos.

And Bill, better

than anyone I've ever seen,

has been able to get everyone to

check their egos at the door and

make it all about the team.

He cuts players that are really

good players.

He trades players that are really

good players because if it's in the

best interests of the team then

he's going ahead and doing it.

That's because of the locker room.

See problem guys we used to say

they like to find that little group

in the locker room where they

can bitch and moan about, you know,

everything.

But when you walk into that locker

room, there was nowhere for them

to go.

So what would they do?

They'd convert because that's what

you do.

And I think that Bill gets credit

for that, for building that

mentality, that good football

team. The locker room really

controls, you know,

what happens with the players.

Tom is always focused

on his job, whatever his task is,

whether it's being a dad, whether

it's being a quarterback, whether

it's being in training for football

and in life, he's always laser

focused and he's got

an incredible ability to focus on

whatever he's doing at the time at

excel at it.

Sometimes you got to fight your own

way through.

And that's exactly what

Tom proves, you know, all the way

through Michigan and then, you know,

becoming what he is today.

Tommy yeah, there was always better

athletes than Tommy.

Harder workers?

No. More heart?

No. More competition?

No, those are the little extra

boxes that you check off when you're

playing.

He has this insatiable

desire to

make himself better and make his

team better.

He never rests on the accomplishment

that he, that he has right

now or in the past.

He's always looking to get the

next ring, the next win, the next

championship.

Well, it's, there's nothing about

last year and that's in the past.

And we have a new experience this

year, so.

Our future, you know, we've got to

be able to create our own future.

And that's really

about attitude, effort, preparation.

Tom is always motivated by:

"Tom you're too old.

Tom you're too slow." Tom's

next game isn't against the

opponent. It's against the critics

and the people who don't believe in

Tom. And Tom's whole focus

is, I'm going to shut these people

up.

You can find somebody like that and

you still let them know: You can't

do it. That just adds even more

gas into the fire where it's just

like: Oh, you think I can't do it?

Now imma go twice as hard.

So it's like, there's certain people

you should not, you know,

irritate them.

Is Brady a practice

monster?

Let me, let me, let me take my hat

off for this one.

It will be sometimes

after practice.

Now, Brady started

off as the third string quarterback

and moved his way up to the second

string and when Drew Bledsoe got

hurt he became the first string

quarterback. And

he will have us after practice,

running routes, catching

balls.

"Come on Antowain, let's go."

Out the backs running the routes and

we'll be like: "Goddamn, we just

practiced, full

pads for two hours getting hit on.

All you did with all the

quarterbacks, you can't hit the

quarterback, but

we beat up. But he still want to go

out there and practice.

But that was

him

learning the game and being the

professional player that

he is today.

Just that drive to be the best that

he could be.

Tell me he truly

plays the way that he practices.

In practice

he would talk at.

Lawyer Milloy and Ty Law,

because when he was younger, coming

in with Bledsoe, they would tease

him, they would pick him up: "Throw

it right here Brady", and that would

fire him up. That would make him so

mad.

And so when he would make a good

play against one of those, against

Ty, Lawyer or somebody in practice

or anybody with a good throw, he'd

be like: "Yeah,

yeah. That's it.

I told you, I got this"

and know, that's the type of fiery

guy that Tommy is

and it started truly. So what

you see, he was doing that

in practice, so that is what he

does in the game. Ain't no

pretending right there, that is Tom

Brady.

I don't know what motivates

Tom now, but I'll give you an

example.

He was playing in one of those

little golf tournaments.

Tom was in the parking lot before

doing sprints.

And I know this because my son in

law was there watching it.

And he's going, he

left. He did sprints.

He played 18 holes and then he went

back to the parking lot and did more

sprints because he had practice

coming up in a few days.

That in itself saying he's always

doing something. And when he was

here, it was like: "Well, I need to

throw extra, coach stay extra.

Hey, coach, I need to work on my

footwork...

He was very tough on himself.

And we may have won a game,

but he didn't get a hit.

And it was hard for him to accept

that and just to get him

to relax and understand how

important he was to us.

Got to come show up to work every

day, try to go out and get our job

done. I'd say,

you know, today wasn't our best day.

So I guess I'm a little frustrated

from that.

We as running backs

been practicing all day, you got

pads on you can beat up, you can

beat to the ground.

And he wants to play catch at the

practice and you're like:

"Damn Tommy, man we're tired" and

then he's coming: "Oh, we're

trying to be great" and then

one of them days you be like: "Man,

I don't want to hear that today man.

I'm finna go in. I'm tired."

But then he goes:

"Oh, you...".

OK, man.

Now we got to play catch with him

because now he got mad

and we got mad because we're tired

and want to go in, but he wants to

play catch.

You know, it's one thing if, you

know, we miss a pass,

we catch a pass. I'm

just unconcerned that's, you know,

doing the things that we talked

about doing and executing them the

right way. And then, you know, the

throwing and catching and blocking

and tackling. I mean, that's for the

game. You know, you catch every ball

out here, you go in the game, you

drop it. It doesn't matter.

It's you know, you've got to work on

the fundamentals out here, work on

your communication.

You know, we could definitely do a

much better job of that.

And Tom, by the way, can be an

asshole when he's playing.

Tom gets on guys when they screw up,

he yells at them.

But they love Tommy.

His teammates love him.

And it's the fifth string guys

and the stars that love him.

There's this level of accountability

when you have veteran guys like

Tom around where

you're not only going to get it from

the coaches, but the

veteran players as well, just

with the expectations that they have

for you.

But he throws an incomplete pass, he

goes nuts.

Somebody runs the wrong route.

He goes nuts.

So when he throws an incomplete

pass, he'll go nuts on himself

now.

It's just not nuts on other people.

But I mean, if somebody runs wrong

route, he will say: What are you

doing?

That's an "In". "In".

He's like another coach on the

field. But in practice,

he's as competitive in practice

as he is in the games.

I don't know if you've ever

watched the movie Groundhog Day

with Bill Murray, where he wakes

up every day and

it's the same day,

that's what practice is.

Every day is the same.

So let's just say it's a

Wednesday, just a

Wednesday, so Wednesday morning,

I'm going to

him, because I always used to have

to be prepared before he got there.

So I'd be ready to go at five a.m..

My assistant coach that would help

with the quarterbacks would meet

with me at six a.m., at six

thirty every day Tommy

would come in, alone

and go over all the new installation

that was going in that we had

prepared the night before.

Seven o'clock the rest

of the quarterbacks would come in

and we do it all over again.

We go over that installation all

over again. Then eight o'clock

he would meet with all the skill

people, all the wide receivers,

the tight ends and the running backs

and go over the passes for the day,

okay, before we even install

them. So the players had their

heads up, then we'd have a team

meeting and then we get going, go

with meetings, get going with

practice.

Now your practice is over,

okay? Now you meet with the players,

you go over the videotape from that

day and then they

would be done with the coaches,

because now the coaches have to

start preparing for the next day.

He doesn't like missing practice,

Tommy does not like missing

practice. And if he's missing

practice it's just to save his body.

It has nothing to do.

He likes practice, you know,

because he always

felt and we always felt as an

organization that,

you know, when you're going to

practice, you're going to play like

you practice.

And I think one of the

reasons why our team won so much

is, because we practiced so hard.

People say Michael Jordan, they say

Kobe was arrogant and

cocky, but you earn it

with your play, you earned that

respect.

If you're not that good people

wouldn't say that you were cocky or

say that you're overrated, you earn

it through your play.

See he's the most hated quarterback.

Why? Because he's the

best quarterback.

To me, he'd done

more with less talent

around him than any other

quarterback, force at the wide

receiver position.

If you are being disliked by

people, then

you have to earn that.

And he earned

all the hate that he gets, he earned

it because he is the most successful

guy. It's tough

to be as successful as Tom

Brady and being liked by everybody.

That's just not the case.

I understand if you look at

him and you see some of

the stuff that goes on on the

sideline where he gets into it with

Josh McDaniels, offense coordinator,

you know, he's very competitive

and he will let you know if he's

not happy with anything.

And that rubs people the wrong way.

But ultimately, that's exactly

how you want a professional,

successful athlete to be.

But, you know, not everybody

understands that.

And I understand that fans

look at him and say: "Well, he's

too cocky.

He's too arrogant." Well,

yeah, that might be the case.

But you have to have that certain

edge to be the best

for.

Let's kill Brady.

Let's kill.

Every time you succeed,

people will hate and

this man had a lot of success.

So there is a

correlation between hate and

success.

No matter how good you are, no

matter how great, no matter how much

you perform, there's always somebody

who doesn't like what you do.

There's always somebody who thinks

somebody else could do better than

you.

Tom's focus is on winning the

next game.

Doesn't care what people's opinion

are, does not care.

Unless

they're in a decision making

position involving Tom.

He doesn't care about stuff like

that.

And that's why I really

like him, because he just, it

comes in here and gets out there.

Gronkowski has managed to be sort of

the frat boy, the party

animal without getting in trouble,

which is, that's pretty impressive

because almost anybody who who

flies as loose as Rob Gronkowski

does they tend to get into trouble.

And I can't think of of

any troubles that Rob's gotten into

with the law. He seems to know where

the line is, that's difficult if

you're out there, you know, partying

a lot.

Congratulations, Gronk!

Thank you, I appreciate that.

Oh, my gosh,

this is insane.

I think it's probably the brand that

comes with the jersey and the

brand that comes with the

individual, I think the Tom

Brady brand is a different brand

than the Gronk brand.

Big Gronk,

the party Gronk, I

can see why people would

rather associate with a

partying six seven, two

hundred and forty five dude

than a forty four year old

quarterback who has been playing

that game for, 30, 50, 60

years.

Tom Brady is not famous

for being a fancy, good looking

guy.

Uh, well, he is good looking.

He's got a gorgeous wife, too, but

he is not the swagger type

of fashion guy like Cam Newton

is. Or plus, he is

a different generation.

He is more the old school throwback

quarterback from the early 2000s.

He is not a Pat Mahomes

or Lamar Jackson with this Oakleys

on. That's not Tom Brady.

The good thing is he doesn't need to

sell one single T-shirt anyway

because I think he's pretty wealthy.

I think

he padded his game after Joe

Montana, I think

him winning seven.

Super Bowls, being

arguably the best quarterback

to ever play the National Football.

League. But you will have some

people that say Joe Montana.

And I truly

think he wants to be

up there by himself, I think Brady

wants to be up there on the mountain

by himself.

You have to have that certain

edge to yourself.

But obviously some people don't

like that. But ultimately, he wins.

And that's what matters in pro

football.

This year down 25 points.

I mean, it's hard to imagine us

winning, but it took a lot of great

plays. And

that's why you play to the end.

It's 60 minute game.

And, you know, at halftime, I'd say

we weren't down at all.

I mean, we were disappointed in the

way we played and knew that we could

go out and do a lot better in the

second half.

He's down twenty eight to three and

he wins thirty four to twenty eight.

I remember watching that game

when he was down and the announcers

even were starting to write him off

and I thought, I don't know if he's

going to win this game, but he's

going to make a game of it.

That's how good he is.

You're confident the guy is down by

twenty five points in the second

half and you still think it's Tom

Brady.

He's the only guy maybe in the

history of football that when

he's down by that much in the second

half of the game, you think: "It's

not over.

It's not completely over."

He's like a coach's nightmare.

Every coach is paranoid.

And until, like, you know,

they're up by 17 points with two

minutes to go. And football coaches

still feel there's some way they can

lose the game.

But Tom Brady

is, I think, part of the reason for

that nightmare, that they think

maybe this guy is going to be Tom

Brady, maybe somebody is going

to do what Tom Brady does and find a

way to beat us. And that's what Tom

does.

You know, the losses in this game

are tough.

I mean, you're going to live with

those for the rest of your life and

those will be games if you lose

there's regrets about

every play in that game.

So, you know, when you win, you

don't think about any of those

things. There's no regrets.

So you just got to try to,

you know, put everything aside.

so you can have your best

performance on Sunday night.

That's what we're going to remember

most about this week, is the game

and you know,

that's really what I want to get to

be focused on as well.

A lot of stuff that goes on in the

media really

has nothing to do with what's going

on inside that locker room.

Inside the locker room we are

worried about the next game, the

next opponent, what we can improve

on from the week before that.

The reality if the NFL is that

every year the deck of cards

gets shuffled and somebody

that you were just playing with is

on a different team.

You don't know if you're going to be

here. You don't know if there's

going to be a tomorrow for you.

It doesn't matter who you are.

It doesn't matter if you're the best

player at your position.

I just think it was time, you know,

and you see this a lot in

professional sports, sometimes

that's what happens.

And, you know, you saw the same

thing with Joe Montana at the end of

the career.

They want to bring in younger,

fresher people.

And Tom wasn't done playing, so

made the trip on over to Tampa.

As far as I know, they split on good

terms, you know, the press sometimes

can add a few things here from

what I heard, but it was definitely

a good split and everyone left

peacefully and now everyone's moving

on. And Tom is happier.

The Patriots letting him go.

One hundred ninety ninth pick in the

draft, the Brady six, the

six guys drafted ahead him.

He remembers all of it and that

fuels him.

The bust is your head.

So obviously

Tommy played there twenty years.

He won six Super Bowls there.

It's not going to change just

because Bill Belichick doesn't think

he can play anymore.

I don't really know what that was

all about, to be honest with you.

I think that Tom wanted something

different. He's been there a long

time.

Probably got a little tired of the.

New England weather. As far as

I feel I think he

wanted to change and I think he

wanted just to show that he can do

what he did.

Now they're becoming too

confrontational to each other.

They were starting to butt heads and

with the media and everything else.

Who was really bringing the

championship?

Who was bringing all the fame to the.

Patriots?

And they both have egos.

And I think it was just a parting of

ways, Bill Belichick wanted

Garoppolo, wanted

someone else instead of Tommy

to show that: "Hey, my system

works with anybody." I think Tom

took offense to it.

Tom goes: "Well, you know, my

contract's up.

I'm going to go, let me find the

right area.

Tampa Bay. We're going to build a

winner there...

I mean, you know, those are two

guys maybe who found

theirselves like, who just belong

together like a rock band.

They were

together and they we're super

successful. And when they split, you

see okay, who still has

it?

Yeah, I feel really good.

It's been you know, again, it's the

first time in 14

years I haven't had to wear a knee

sleeve. I mean, every

picture I've had since for 14 years

has been a knee sleeve.

And in games, I'll still wear a knee

brace just because I still want to

protect

you know, from kind of a vulnerable

spot for a quarterback, you know,

your front left knee.

But it's just nice

to practice and feel like I can just

kind of put a pair of shorts on and

run out to practice.

And it's good though, I'm

feeling, like I said, physically

feeling great, mentally in a good

place.

A player at the age of 30 might

be older in terms

of orthopedic structures,

but he has a lot more experience

to see situations that he can avoid

and to play the game more

economic than a younger player does.

Being at the age of forty three

is not a prerequisite

to get overuse injuries.

It depends on your state of training

and depends on your physical state.

So there are as many players

that get overuse injuries at the age

of 18 and there are as many players

to get overuse injuries at the end

of twenty five.

So an overuse injury

depends on several factors.

And that's: How you perform your

sports? How do you move?

How economic to move?

How well-trained is your body and so

forth.

I saw that he's doing

things differently with his

nutrition, you know, he would have

his meals prepared and always

eat something that looked very

healthy. You know, we might be over

here taking advantage of Fat Friday

and eating some burgers or eating

some pizza.

You know, he would always stick to

his regimen and just be super

disciplined about everything.

Right.

There's no, don't get

into TB 12 thing.

When he was young, he drank beer and

eat pizza, too, just like everybody

else.

The man eating avocado ice cream,

for God's sakes.

Who the hell eats avocado ice

cream? If I would want some ice

cream I want some real ice cream.

But that's what it comes to in

sports. It's, you spend

a million dollars a year on taking

care of your body.

Tom's TV 12 method

with the pliability that's showing

you a different way where you can

last a lot longer in sports without

all the rehabilitation, without the

drugs, without that.

And so he's been able to do his

whole career and last this long

without any of that.

So, you know, it's the stretching,

the pliability, keeping your muscles

nice and loose all the time to

prevent injury. That's what always

worked for him.

And I think that's amazing.

I would definitely pass that on to

my football players, you know, as

they go through in their careers.

But I love that he's standing for

that and showing natural ways

to take care of yourself, other than

the ways that a lot of us know.

And what Tom always believed

in the TB 12. My muscles have to

be more supple.

If I'm going to play to a longer

age, if I'm going to play through

injuries, my muscles can't be

all tight, rigid.

They have to be more fluid.

The TB 12 method will not

change the way the sport will be

played. The owners are

worried about cash,

money talks. Preseason games make

money. More I can do, the better.

More times I can put the product in

front of the people, the better.

The players, on the other hand, are

saying: " Hey, you already know who

your starters are.

We need more recovery time

and more game time.

We don't need all that preseason

stuff. That's great for the

rookies." But now the

older guys, more seasoned guys,

people who've been around for a

while, they're

the ones that are saying: "Hey, no,

we need more time off."

Years and years ago, I saw in Sport

magazine, which doesn't even exist

anymore a survey and they asked.

Olympic athletes, if

you could win a gold medal, but you

knew that it would

cost you to the point where you

would be dead in five years.

Would you make that pact?

The majority of them in this

poll said YES!

Oh my goodness.

That just tells you how

desperate people are to be champions

and I think maybe they think that

wouldn't really happen so, you know,

unless you're going to be held to

it, you know, you're not getting it

completely truthful answer.

But it amazes me that

anybody would put their health

on the line, especially

their life and death health on the

line.

The bottom line is in the NFL,

your job is there to be taken.

And I think that's the fear that

motivates more than anything.

If I don't play hurt,

they'll get somebody else who will

play and also play hurt.

Okay, the reason why they protect

quarterbacks, you know, with

the rules is because they're getting

paid the most amount of money.

So if you have a guy who is making

30 million dollars,

I mean, do you want that guy

hurt and sit in

a medical tent or you want him

on the field?

All those people in the stands are

paying the money to come watch him

play.

So that's why the rules protect the

quarterbacks.

If he goes down, nine times

out of ten, the team going down

so you can not hit the quarterback

in practice, you can not even get

close to the quarterback in

practice.

If you think you're getting close

to the quarterback in practice,

stop.

Because you will get a

lesson by the coach.

If I met Tom Brady today,

I would have a big smile on my face,

I'd give him a hug,

say he's

been a great influence on my family,

my friends.

And then he would look at me and

say: "What happened to you?

You used to be so thin."

When I saw him two years ago,

three years ago in

Boston.

It's exactly what he said.

He goes: "Coach - I

probably gained 40 pounds since

then. He goes: "What happened?" I

go: "Hey, I got older.

And two, the TB 12 system

doesn't work."

I mean, this game is about winning.

I mean, you know, we can give stats

for all sorts of people and he's

going to end up having all the

stats, too.

But I mean, this game's about

winning.

He is part of the reason why the.

Patriots are the Patriots.

But afterwards, when Tom Brady left

the team and went to Tampa Bay, he

won the Super Bowl ring.

When I heard that

he would be a free agent at

the end of the year,

I knew he wouldn't be there anymore

because how does a guy

who's

been that important,

you know, for your organization, how

are they free?

How are they not contractually

bound to being with

you? And, you know, whether

Tommy wanted out or whether Bill

wanted him to go is really

a moot point.

You know, the point is that

he was free and he went somewhere

where he thought he had a better

chance of winning the Super Bowl.

And how'd that work out?

Congratulations to the Bucs.

It's been a long time coming man.

Y'all made history tonight and

we champs.

Great. It was amazing watching the

Bucs win a Super Bowl.

This is great for Tampa Bay area.

Brady is like a savior

for Tampa.

We needed him. Thank God Brady.

Go Bucs!

Yeah, we spent a lot of money to

come down here to see our favorite

team and favorite player

Patrick Mahomes. And it was

disappointing. We got shocked.

Tom Brady's the G.O.A.T.

What you wanna do?

Well, when he went to the.

Buccaneers, they were the worst

organization in the NFL since 1976.

And he won a Super Bowl in a

Covid-season and beat the new golden

boy in the NFL, Pat Mahomes.

There was the game where they lost

and he threw a couple of picks

and he threw a pick because it was

a miscommunication with the

receiver.

I said, you

have to understand, he

is using this now

to get himself right and

get to know all these players,

because if the chemistry's right,

he's going to do it.

I knew it.

And then he won the Super Bowl.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers managed to

keep all 22 starters on offense and

on defense, he's got the same

group of guys around him and you can

bet that Tom Brady is going to keep

them motivated.

And he's probably already talking

about: "Ey, nobody is going to

expect us to repeat.

So let's show it to everybody

that we can repeat and let's,

you know, create history here in.

Tampa and do something that was

never been done in Tampa." So

I think there's a good chance for

him to hold the trophy again in

twenty twenty two.

His leadership is

so different.

And I think he, if you

get to the playoffs and have

somebody like him, your confidence

boosts so high

that you automatically play at

your best level. Did you see

how the defense played the Super.

Bowl, what?

His presence is so great.

And I think having him on the team

is like, if you play Madden

and you play "ultimate team"

and you have these cards that have

like you can boost and he's like an

absolute booster.

The funniest thing that I've ever

seen Tom Brady do was after

they won the last Super Bowl and

they had a boat parade in Tampa

down the Hillsborough River.

It's a nice, warm day.

The players had their shirts off.

They were horsing around. They were

having a good time they're probably

having a beer or two.

And everything's going along

and everybody's waving and

everybody's happy.

And then Tom Brady decides

to underhand

the Super Bowl trophy to the boat

behind him and one of

the receivers there catches it.

And when you watch him do this, you

thinking this is insane, the Super.

Bowl trophy is going to go glug,

glug, glug to the bottom of the

river. But he completed that pass

too. But it was a moment

where, I mean, I thought

it was staged, but Tom Brady

did it. And it was good for some

laughs, that's for sure.

You know what, how long Tom Brady

will play is the million

dollar question.

If he loses,

no, because he'll want to come back

and win.

If he wins, no,

because he wants to show that he

could do it a third time.

So, will it be his last season?

No, he will come back no matter

what, with a vengeance.

Tom, it's 103 degrees

out here, you seven Super Bowls.

You still feel comfortable with your

decision to come back?

Well, it's I mean, it's really fun

for me to

you know, it's very fun.

I love physically to train to put

myself in a position to compete.

You know, I love the mental aspect

of the sport.

And I have a lot of fun doing it.

It's a lot of joy in my life.

So, but I've got to keep earning

it. You know, I don't think it's any

aspect of me that thinks what

I've done last year means anything.

I've got to go do it this year.

Going from there and having that

mindset to keep going and

then win a Super Bowl and win

another, another and another

and then win another one, then

go to bucks and win

another one within a year with

a hew team.

I think there's a lot to learn from

that man.

I think Tom Brady is playing

only three more years to the max,

he can't be played to 50.

He's an... I don't want to say old

man, but win another ring and then,

call it, call it, call it.

Before he retires?

Yes, without question.

He'll win another Super Bowl.

Tom will get to eight minimum,

minimum.

Tom will win another Super Bowl.

What will I tell Tommy when I see

him next?

First thing I would congratulate

him on winning his seventh Super.

Bowl.

Tell him that I love him.

And we started that dynasty in New.

England.

I think because I think that it's

something big that we can learn, not

only for sports, but for life in

general to focus on, on what

is possible and not all the things,

or all the odds that are against

us. I would totally

agree with my kids taking

Tom Brady as a role model from a guy

that was not drafted very high,

was drafted very late, to

then rise up and become

the biggest person in the game.

Today's Tom Brady,

I think, he doesn't

get no pushback.

You're talking to a man that has won

seven Super.

Bowls.

What can you push

back on him about?

You're trying to learn from the

best.

Oh, there's no way Tom Brady is

going to be a football coach.

He might become a president. His
aspirations

are a lot higher than being

a football coach.

I see him being a CEO

of a company.

But he does like politics,

so it would not shock me

and to be honest with you right now,

if he ran, he'd probably have a

chance to win.

Tom Brady for president,

has a good ring to it, but I

think too many people hate Tom Brady

as much as they like him.

Tom Brady. Let's kill Brady.

He's the most hated quarterback.

Because he's the best quarterback.

Tom Brady never looked back.

He's got an incredible ability

to focus on whatever he's doing at

the time.

He took it upon himself to work

really hard.

Just that drive to be the best that

he could be.

Tom Brady is a winner.

He will come back, no matter what.

My favorite story about Tom Brady

is definitely his answer to

the question: "What is your favorite.

Super Bowl ring?" And he said:

"The next."