Surprise!
Scott Zolak and Rob “Hardy” Poole were able to get Tom Brady Sr. on with them during Thursday’s Zolak and Bertrand Show for a surprise interview and ended up having a phenomenal 15 minutes with him. Zo and Hardy asked Brady Sr. about a number of different things, most notably the return in Week 4 and he had quite a few interesting things to say, here’s a complete breakdown of it all:
On the Week 4 matchup and returning to New England: “I started salivating when I saw we play the Patriots in the fourth game of the season and we’re coming up here to make our record 4-0 after the fourth game. It’s a pretty fun time…they’re all tough. There are no walkovers, but coming back home to Boston, it’s our second home here and the Patriots are our second favorite team. It’s a game where we get to root against nobody…we get to root for the Patriots, but we…our most favorite team of course is the Buccaneers. We expect them to beat the Patriots rather handily frankly.
On whether or not there has been any contact between old teammates or coaches: “Oh yeah, this is our home, this has been our home for 20 years. We love Boston. It’s been a very special place in our heart for so many years. When you leave town you don’t leave all your happy thoughts and your friends and acquaintances behind, there’s a lot of communication amongst the players. It’s not a matter of walking out of town and being unhappy, he had a happy 20 years here, a successful 20 years here, so now he’s in another place with another opportunity to win and that’s really great. The Patriots have reloaded and their going to be fit-to-bear as well. From my take on it I think it’ going to be great and I get to have. Favorite team in the AFC and a favorite team in the NFC and they play the fourth week of the year. I’m thrilled for this, the weather will be good, there won’t be any moaning or complaining about the whether in the Boston area or whether it’s in Florida. I think it’s going to be great, we’re looking forward to getting up here and I think the Buccaneers are licking their chops to take the Patriots down. Notch or whatever.”
Whether he’s spoken to Tom about coming back in Week 4 and whether he’s concerned about a long road trip the week before: “He just says you put on your big boy pants and you don’t worry about where you have to play, you show up and play. As professionals that’s what you do, so whiners complain if they don’t want to lose and winners just buckle up the pants, put on the cleats and go at it. He doesn’t care where you play, he just wants to play, he loves everything about it.”
On Tom potentially breaking Drew Brees’ passing record at Gillette: “I think the fans at Gillette will embrace him until the opening kickoff and then they’re going to boo the hell out of him, which is great. I think the appreciate what he’s done, I assume they appreciate everything he’s done for them for 20 years, but at the same time they’re Patriots fans not Buccaneers fans, so while you can root for Tommy you’re rooting against the Buccaneers. It would be fun, we talk about the passing yards and stuff, that’s just regular season. Tommy’s had the other one for a while now, total games and total passing yards in a career, so I think it will be fun. It would be a cherry on top of the chocolate Sunday.”
On Tampa bringing back all of its starters: “I think he’s got a pretty good relationship with the players, so a lot of the players really want to play for him. They might take a little bit of a hometown discount to be able to walk it back a second time, so I don’t think it would take much heavy lifting on his part. I know Jason Licht our general manager was very much determined to bring back as many guys as he could and fortunately I think he got 25 or 26 guys that were front line guys. We had the kickers and the snappers and the rest of the offense and defense and stuff, so I think he may have had something to do with it, but it may just be a reflection of who he is rather than him being intimately involved with anything every step of the way, I don’t think that’s his job and I don’t think that’s something he particularly engaged in.”
On if Tom is happier now in Tampa than he was towards the end of his time in New England: “I think he’s in a pretty good place because he just won the Super Bowl. I’m not sure…he had a happy 20 years here. He met his wife, raised his family and had great success with the Patriots. With that being said, I know that the last month it was 85 degrees or so in Tampa as opposed to 45 degrees in New England. We still love New England, our daughter and her family is here, so the fact he won the Super Bowl has a lot to do with his happiness. I also think it’s a whole different culture…how do you do anything but appreciate everything the Krafts have done for him and Belichick’s done for him and the coaching staff. These guys have been in the trenches for 20 years together. While he’s happy now, I think he’s starting to realize that the end for he career is coming to an end and he’s savoring every moment as he walks down the final stretches whether it’s next one year, two years or 12 years.”
On Tom finding a different way to prepare in the offseason later in his career and why he was so opposed to in-person OTA’s: “I don’t know. I know he prepares every single day through the offseason. I know that he’s very well prepared when the OTA’s start, but at the same time I think you need some of these offseason reps to get to know them. I think the really key thing (Zo) is, and I didn’t know this until I saw the discussions going back and forth, I was pretty surprised that he felt that way but the analytics say there are a whole heck of a lot less injuries last year during the regular season. That speaks to something. I remember 40 years ago, 50 years ago they had training camps guys would tackle and have a million uys getting hurt in practice sessions. The less they’ve done the less injuries there’s been. As you know (Zo) these guys are bigger and faster and stronger and hit harder than they’ve ever hit before. You’ve got to protect them to a certain extent and the OTA’s they don’t do the pads. They’re trying to eliminate the injuries, so it’s not so much learning something new, just realizing your body only has so many hits in it. If you waste them during the OTA’s for a lot of offseason stuff then that’s another deal. A lot of the stuff is mental and they can do that on Zoom, they can do that, that’s fine and dandy…especially the lineman, they crack heads every single play. That’s no way to be able to enjoy longevity in the league if you’re just beating the heck out of your body. It’s just a position he felt for the good of his guys so they don’t crash heads and break bones in needless offseason workouts.”
On Tom dealing with the new number change rule in the NFL: “That’s beyond my comprehension. I know he’ll figure it out and the other guys will too. I know when you’ve done something for 25 years and gotten into a little bit of a system it’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment.”
On how long Tom will play: “I truly don’t know that and I’m not sure that he does too, it just depends on how you feel. We’ve talked about this in the past, if you enjoy doing what you’re doing and you’re good at it, and people still want you to do it and you’re not embarrassing yourself then do it until it makes you unhappy. If that’s 46, 47 I don’t know. That’s between him and his wife and he and the team. I don’t know that there’s anything hard and fast, I just know he’s got a contract for two years and he’s said he’s playing this year so that’s as far as I know.”