Tom Brady talks Bill Belichick and his Super Bowl success at media day
HOUSTON -- New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady addressed the media Thursday afternoon ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl LI face-off with the Atlanta Falcons.
It will be Brady’s seventh appearance in the game, in which he has four wins.
According to CBS Boston, the 39-year old was reflective, insightful and honest. He spoke on a number of topics including his coach Bill Belichick and his advice for younger teammates. However, reporters did not bring up his “deflate-gate” suspension from earlier this season or his friendship with President Donald Trump.
On what it has meant to him to have head coach Bill Belichick as a coach and who will retire first…
“That’s a good question. I don’t know what he plans on doing. He’s the best, and I’ve been very lucky to play for him. He’s so focused on coaching and doing anything he can to help us win. There’s no B.S. with Coach Belichick, and I think that’s what players appreciate. When you come into the program, you realize it’s all about football and it’s not a bunch of rah-rah crap that’s not going to matter and has no bearing on preparing you for the game, but it’s just coaches screaming louder and louder and thinking that’s going to emphasize some certain point.”
“I think Coach does a great job of every week putting the urgency on the team and making us understand that we’re going up against a very competitive team that could beat us if we don’t play the way that we should play. Every week, he’s so consistent, and I think that’s a great thing for us as players is to have a leader like that who brings it every day. Whether that’s April or whether that’s early February, his attitude is the same. He’s trying to do and coach the best way that he can in order to get us to go out there and execute at the highest level possible. I love it. He’s certainly a disciplinarian, so in that sense, it’s great because when you’re the quarterback and you coach does that for you, I don’t really have to do any of those things. I can be just like one of those other guys. I’m yelled at just like everybody else, but it’s nice to feel, especially in my 17th year, that I am one of the guys because I think that’s ultimately the best thing for our team. He certainly takes the lead and we all fall in line.”
On how Belichick has been able to get the best out of him throughout his career…
“His style, I think, is very conducive to just getting the best out of me, so I think it’s a good fit. I probably don’t take compliments very well is something you guys probably know covering us, and he doesn’t give very many compliments out. I think in that sense, he coaches us hard. There’s some throws that I make and you throw it 50 yards downfield and hit the guy in stride, and I’m like, ‘Damn, that was a pretty good throw.’ And I’ll look back at him and he’ll be looking for the next play. That’s just his style. He has a very high level of expectation. He’ll say all the time, ‘I hope my expectation for you guys isn’t better or more than your expectation for yourself.’ I think those types of things really challenge us as players to be at our best every single day, to never take these opportunities for granted and to try to keep reaching a higher level as the season goes.”
On whether this Super Bowl will have greater significance to him than his previous six…
“They all were pretty meaningful. At different points -- I mean, they’re all very important and very meaningful. I think they’re meaningful, obviously, for me, for this game. A lot has gone into this game. A lot has gone into it for every player that’s going to be taking the field. When you play in the Super Bowl, and I said the other day, it is once in a lifetime. You can’t take these things for granted. We’ve been very blessed, as part of this organization, for the guys that have been on these teams to make it this far, but it’s a very steep mountain to climb. When you get to this point, walking off the practice field today, there’s two quarterbacks probably in the world that are practicing today preparing for this game. Myself and [Atlanta Falcons quarterback] Matt [Ryan] should feel very privileged to be able to do that. There’s a lot of guys that don’t have the chance, and I think you do feel very humbled when you’re walking off the field to say, ‘Wow, we had an opportunity to go out and practice and prepare for a game that’s so meaningful to all of us that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.’ I’m just very blessed for that.
“Ultimately, it’s going to come down to -- again, how we remember this week will be determined by the score of the game. There will be great feelings if we win, and I’ve been on the other end of that, too, which those are some crappy feelings that I’m sure the Giants fans still love, but that’s just the way it goes.”
On how he balances football and family this week and his advice for younger teammates…
“I think for our families, it’s great because they’re coming in as fans and they get to enjoy the festivities. I think for the players, we’re busy trying to win a game. For me personally, I don’t plan on doing anything other than getting ready to play football. Obviously, I’ll see everybody at some point, but there’s plenty of time after Sunday to do that.
“They’ll kind of enjoy the game, enjoy the Super Bowl and all the wonderful things that go along with being here and this week. I know there’s some events for families tonight and all the way through the weekend. I think it’s just staying focused on what our job is, trying to actually regain some of our energy over the course of the next three days that we’ve kind of spent in other places.”