Former New England Patriots and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady sat down Wednesday with legendary shock jock Howard Stern on his SiriusXM radio show.
This, in itself, is quite odd, as Brady is the epitome of a reserved guy most of the time off of the football field, while Stern isn’t known for being shy in his questioning.
The six-time Super Bowl champion addressed several topics, including his wife Gisele Bündchen, Bridget Moynahan, who is the mother of Brady’s oldest son, concussions, the Patriots, Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and, of course, his decision to leave.
When asked about the physical toll of playing football, Brady admitted he’s had his share of head injuries over his career. Brady also made it clear that he’s not going to let other people tell him when to walk away from football.
“I could sit here and (say) ‘stop playing football’ so I could worry about what’s going to happen or worry about this or that instead of saying ‘why don’t I live my life the way that I want to and enjoy it?’ For me, it’s doing what I love to do. You don’t tell a musician to stop singing at age 42. You don’t tell a great painter: ‘stop painting at 42.’ If you want to stop, stop, go ahead. But for me, because I feel like I can still play doesn’t mean I should just stop playing because that’s what everyone tells me I should do.” Brady said.
When asked by Stern, Brady admitted that he knew the end was near in Foxboro even before the 2019 season began.
“I don’t think there was a final, final decision until it happened, but I would say I probably knew before the start of last season that it was my last year. I knew our time was coming to an end.”
On the subject of Brady and his relationship with Bill Belichick, Brady had this to say: “I think he has a lot of loyalty. He and I have had a lot of conversations that nobody has ever been privy to, and nor should they be. So many wrong assumptions were made about our relationship and how he felt about me. I know genuinely how he feels about me. I’m not going to respond to every rumor or assumption made other than what his responsibility as a coach is to get the best player for the team, not only for the short term but the long term as well. … I got into unchartered territory as an athlete because I started to break the mold of what so many other athletes experienced. I was an older athlete, and he started to plan for the future, which is what his responsibility is, and I don’t fault him for that. That’s what he should be doing.”
Brady also spoke about his conversation with Patriots owner Robert Kraft when he told him he was leaving New England. He also noted that he cried during their conversation.
“I just went over and I said, look, I just want to say how much I love you and appreciate what we’ve done together. I know we’re not going to continue together, but thank you and thank you for providing what you have for my family and for my career. I was able to call Coach Belichick at the same time, and it was great.”
When in so many words Stern asked why now, why not finish his career with the Patriots and only play for one team, Brady’s response was blunt.
“I would say I never cared about legacy. I could give an (expletive) about (that). I never said in high school, ‘Man, I can’t wait for what my football legacy looks like.’ That’s just not me. That’s not my personality. So why would I choose a different place? It’s just time. I don’t know what to say other than that. I had accomplished everything I could in two decades with an incredible organization and an incredible group of people. That will never change. No one can ever take that away from me. No one can take those Super Bowl championships or experiences away from us.”
Stern then asked Brady about whether he and Belichick would have been able to have success without the other and who deserves the most credit for the Patriots’ success. Brady’s response was again very direct. “I think it’s a pretty (expletive) argument that people would say that. I can’t do his job, and he can’t do mine. So, the fact that you could say ‘Would I be successful without him?’ The same level of success, I don’t believe I would have been. But I feel the same and vice versa as well. To have him allow me to be the best I can be, I’m grateful for that, and I very much believe he feels the same about me because we’ve expressed that to each other.”
Stern even got the quarterback to indulge that in high school he liked to party. He drank and smoked weed on occasion.
When asked how he approaches adversity, Brady used, sorry Falcons fans, the Patriots’ historic comeback against the Falcons in Super Bowl LI as an example.
“We were down 28-3 against Atlanta in Super Bowl 51. You can look at that situation and basically quit and say, you know, (expletive) it. We have no shot of winning,’ or you can say ‘This is going to be an amazing comeback. When we come back from this, this is going to be the defining moment in life,’ or a defining moment in a professional career.
“I think when you shift your mind and think that way, it becomes very empowering as opposed to very discouraging. So anytime we’re down in a game, I think, ‘Man, if we come back and win this game, we’re the hero,’ rather than ‘Oh, s—, we’re screwed. We have no shot.’”
The interview almost didn’t happen because of shotty video connections, but it did and it was very candid and entertaining.
