swimeasy
01-30-2012, 09:35 PM
Mon, 01/30/2012
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told Dennis & Callahan in a
revealing interview that aired Monday morning that he is grateful for
the opportunity to compete in a fifth Super Bowl, and that he
understands and appreciates the responsibility that comes with it.</p>
Brady talked about how far he's come since he arrived in New England
as an unheralded sixth-round draft pick out of Michigan in 2000.</p>
"I think I realize how fortunate I am," he said "I don’t take those
things for granted. I think because it’s my life, I don’t go, 'Wow, look
at what I’ve accomplished.'</p>
"I was sitting in front of my locker the other day talking to Deion
, who’s my lockermate, and we’re like, 'Can you believe this?' I
don’t think, as an athlete, you can ever imagine that. You hope for the
best, you work hard for it, and if you get the opportunity, a lot of
things need to come together to make it to this point. Look at the
Packers, the Saints. It’s hard to get to this game. To do it five times,
it’s crazy. You don’t take it for granted."</p>
Looking back at the Super Bowl XLII loss to the Giants, Brady was
asked if he went into the game convinced the heavily favored Patriots
would win the game.</p>
"Sure," he acknowledged. "I don’t think anyone thought we’d lose that
game, not because we’d roll our helmets out on the field and we’re the
Patriots and we’re going to win. We thought we’d go out there and play a
great game. When we played them earlier that season, it came down,
basically, to one third-down conversion. Kevin Faulk made, on a
third-and-9, where I threw it he made a great catch and run, we ended up
scoring on that drive and made an interception on the next play. It
comes down to one third-down conversion.</p>
"You look at the last game we played against these guys. We were
2-of-5 in the red area and they were 3-of-5. If we had one more
third-down conversion that game, do we win the game? If they had one
less, do they win the game? I think all those critical plays that you
talk about, we have 60-70 offensive plays in this game. One or two plays
made the difference, and one or two plays made the difference in the
Super Bowl."</p>
Looking at Sunday's game, Brady talked about the one element that might be most criticial to success.</p>
"We’ve been in 18 games this year," he said. "Even the three losses
have come down to the last drive of the game. Our loss to the Giants
came down to the last drive of the game.</p>
"When we work on the two-minute drill in practice, I think
offensively or defensively, it’s going to come down to that. Whoever
executes best in that last situation, I think it’s going to come down to
that."</p>
Reminded that the Giants have proven to be pretty good at
last-minute, game-winning drives, Brady replied: "So are we. I hope we
get the ball."</p>
Following are more highlights from the interview:</p>
[b]On the downside to being as famous as he is: "I
don’t think I look at things like that. I don’t think, 'Man, this
sucks.' Like any human being, you have your moments. I’m probably more
to myself now than I’ve ever been. I really don’t do anything these
days. That part is a little bothersome for me.</p>
"To be social is probably more challenging for me now than it’s ever
been, because I’m never really in social environments. I’m in a locker
room and I’m in my house. If people want to see me, like my parents,
they come to my house. Probably six or seven years ago, the Friday night
they’d come into town, 'Where do you guys want to go to dinner?' 'Oh,
let’s go to Abe & Louie’s.' 'Great, let’s have a steak.' I don’t
even do that now.</p>
"I don’t have as much energy as I used to. I really feel like I need
my energy for this team, and I need to be emotional. By the end of the
week I’m kind of spent, and I need to regroup before the game because
that’s how I play the game. Then, after the game, I’m exhausted. Like
the AFC championship, we win the game and I have all of my best friends
in town, and they’re like, 'Can we come over?' Nope, I’m putting my kid
to bed and I’m going to sleep. I wish there was a part of me that felt
like I could be a little more social and outgoing -- to go to a Celtics
game, which I’d love to do, but to me, it ends up being a little more of
an energy drain than something I can really enjoy."</p>
On the recognition and attention he receives in public:
"If people get the opportunity to come up to me and introduce
themselves to me, I want them to walk away and feel, you know what? That
was a nice experience. I think there’s times when I don’t have that
energy to put on a face, like everything’s great. I sucked in [the AFC
championship] game. I didn’t want to go out there and shake hands,
'Thanks.' I just wanted to go home and really be myself. I think the
place where I can be myself is at home with my family and my friends.
That’s probably where I’m most comfortable."</p>
On if he ever loses his patience: "My stress, I try
to do a better job managing my stress. At the end of the week, you
really don’t want to ask me for a lot of favors on a Friday night. I
feel like the last three weeks, I’ve really been a little bit worn down.</p>
"You’ve got to find ways to regroup. If a guy cuts me off on the
road, I don’t get pissed off. I probably drive slower on the road now
than I ever used to. A lot of those things don’t really get me pissed
off. It’s hard to get me pissed off."</p>
On if he really thinks he "sucked" against the Ravens:
"I think there were two plays I wished I had back -- the two
interceptions. I thought we didn’t do a great job scoring, but the
turnovers hurt you.</p>
"There’s nothing that correlates more to winning than turnover ratio.
I think coach Belichick said when you’re minus-two in turnovers, you
have a 17 percent chance of winning in the playoffs. When you think
about that, you pretty much escaped. Yeah, we won, but it’s not going to
happen -- it’s 17 percent of the time, and I’m responsible for that.
So, when you’re sitting on the sideline and watching Baltimore go down
the field at the end of the game, you’re thinking, 'I blew this game for
us because of those two plays.'</p>
"Every fan, every player on this team, every fan of the Patriots,
when you hold that football, you hold the hopes of every single person
of winning the game with that ball. To turn it over or to play
carelessly, that’s something that I’m pretty hard on myself about."</p>
On if he still is surprised to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated:
"Every time. Every time. I get the chills. … I used to tear those
covers off and put them up on my wall. It’s a pretty unbelievable thing
to see that and to think, man, there are kids who are tearing those out
and putting them on their wall.</p>
"I feel a big responsibility, as an athlete, to represent yourself in
a certain way because you really are lucky. It doesn’t mean you have to
go out of your way every single day to make people’s lives and
experiences better. It just means you are blessed. When you have the
opportunity to share certain things with some kids or some schools, it’s
really a great thing to do because you can be a big influence."</p>
On what Albert Haynesworth might be thinking now:
"I’m not sure. I’d give anything to play in this game. It just didn’t
work out for Albert. That’s all. I actually had a great relationship
with Albert, and I was hoping he’d do great because that would be for
the best for this team. It just didn’t work out. I feel good for Shaun
Ellis, playing for the Jets for all those years, not going anywhere,
then he comes to us for one year and he’s playing. I feel good for all
these guys who have been around, and been on good teams, but now they’re
on a team that’s in the Super Bowl."</p>
http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/this-just-in/21172866/brady-dc-its-hard-get-me-pissed
</p> <a style="margin-right: 15px; float: right;">http://www.weei.com/sites/all/themes/weei/images/social/print.png</a>
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told Dennis & Callahan in a
revealing interview that aired Monday morning that he is grateful for
the opportunity to compete in a fifth Super Bowl, and that he
understands and appreciates the responsibility that comes with it.</p>
Brady talked about how far he's come since he arrived in New England
as an unheralded sixth-round draft pick out of Michigan in 2000.</p>
"I think I realize how fortunate I am," he said "I don’t take those
things for granted. I think because it’s my life, I don’t go, 'Wow, look
at what I’ve accomplished.'</p>
"I was sitting in front of my locker the other day talking to Deion
, who’s my lockermate, and we’re like, 'Can you believe this?' I
don’t think, as an athlete, you can ever imagine that. You hope for the
best, you work hard for it, and if you get the opportunity, a lot of
things need to come together to make it to this point. Look at the
Packers, the Saints. It’s hard to get to this game. To do it five times,
it’s crazy. You don’t take it for granted."</p>
Looking back at the Super Bowl XLII loss to the Giants, Brady was
asked if he went into the game convinced the heavily favored Patriots
would win the game.</p>
"Sure," he acknowledged. "I don’t think anyone thought we’d lose that
game, not because we’d roll our helmets out on the field and we’re the
Patriots and we’re going to win. We thought we’d go out there and play a
great game. When we played them earlier that season, it came down,
basically, to one third-down conversion. Kevin Faulk made, on a
third-and-9, where I threw it he made a great catch and run, we ended up
scoring on that drive and made an interception on the next play. It
comes down to one third-down conversion.</p>
"You look at the last game we played against these guys. We were
2-of-5 in the red area and they were 3-of-5. If we had one more
third-down conversion that game, do we win the game? If they had one
less, do they win the game? I think all those critical plays that you
talk about, we have 60-70 offensive plays in this game. One or two plays
made the difference, and one or two plays made the difference in the
Super Bowl."</p>
Looking at Sunday's game, Brady talked about the one element that might be most criticial to success.</p>
"We’ve been in 18 games this year," he said. "Even the three losses
have come down to the last drive of the game. Our loss to the Giants
came down to the last drive of the game.</p>
"When we work on the two-minute drill in practice, I think
offensively or defensively, it’s going to come down to that. Whoever
executes best in that last situation, I think it’s going to come down to
that."</p>
Reminded that the Giants have proven to be pretty good at
last-minute, game-winning drives, Brady replied: "So are we. I hope we
get the ball."</p>
Following are more highlights from the interview:</p>
[b]On the downside to being as famous as he is: "I
don’t think I look at things like that. I don’t think, 'Man, this
sucks.' Like any human being, you have your moments. I’m probably more
to myself now than I’ve ever been. I really don’t do anything these
days. That part is a little bothersome for me.</p>
"To be social is probably more challenging for me now than it’s ever
been, because I’m never really in social environments. I’m in a locker
room and I’m in my house. If people want to see me, like my parents,
they come to my house. Probably six or seven years ago, the Friday night
they’d come into town, 'Where do you guys want to go to dinner?' 'Oh,
let’s go to Abe & Louie’s.' 'Great, let’s have a steak.' I don’t
even do that now.</p>
"I don’t have as much energy as I used to. I really feel like I need
my energy for this team, and I need to be emotional. By the end of the
week I’m kind of spent, and I need to regroup before the game because
that’s how I play the game. Then, after the game, I’m exhausted. Like
the AFC championship, we win the game and I have all of my best friends
in town, and they’re like, 'Can we come over?' Nope, I’m putting my kid
to bed and I’m going to sleep. I wish there was a part of me that felt
like I could be a little more social and outgoing -- to go to a Celtics
game, which I’d love to do, but to me, it ends up being a little more of
an energy drain than something I can really enjoy."</p>
On the recognition and attention he receives in public:
"If people get the opportunity to come up to me and introduce
themselves to me, I want them to walk away and feel, you know what? That
was a nice experience. I think there’s times when I don’t have that
energy to put on a face, like everything’s great. I sucked in [the AFC
championship] game. I didn’t want to go out there and shake hands,
'Thanks.' I just wanted to go home and really be myself. I think the
place where I can be myself is at home with my family and my friends.
That’s probably where I’m most comfortable."</p>
On if he ever loses his patience: "My stress, I try
to do a better job managing my stress. At the end of the week, you
really don’t want to ask me for a lot of favors on a Friday night. I
feel like the last three weeks, I’ve really been a little bit worn down.</p>
"You’ve got to find ways to regroup. If a guy cuts me off on the
road, I don’t get pissed off. I probably drive slower on the road now
than I ever used to. A lot of those things don’t really get me pissed
off. It’s hard to get me pissed off."</p>
On if he really thinks he "sucked" against the Ravens:
"I think there were two plays I wished I had back -- the two
interceptions. I thought we didn’t do a great job scoring, but the
turnovers hurt you.</p>
"There’s nothing that correlates more to winning than turnover ratio.
I think coach Belichick said when you’re minus-two in turnovers, you
have a 17 percent chance of winning in the playoffs. When you think
about that, you pretty much escaped. Yeah, we won, but it’s not going to
happen -- it’s 17 percent of the time, and I’m responsible for that.
So, when you’re sitting on the sideline and watching Baltimore go down
the field at the end of the game, you’re thinking, 'I blew this game for
us because of those two plays.'</p>
"Every fan, every player on this team, every fan of the Patriots,
when you hold that football, you hold the hopes of every single person
of winning the game with that ball. To turn it over or to play
carelessly, that’s something that I’m pretty hard on myself about."</p>
On if he still is surprised to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated:
"Every time. Every time. I get the chills. … I used to tear those
covers off and put them up on my wall. It’s a pretty unbelievable thing
to see that and to think, man, there are kids who are tearing those out
and putting them on their wall.</p>
"I feel a big responsibility, as an athlete, to represent yourself in
a certain way because you really are lucky. It doesn’t mean you have to
go out of your way every single day to make people’s lives and
experiences better. It just means you are blessed. When you have the
opportunity to share certain things with some kids or some schools, it’s
really a great thing to do because you can be a big influence."</p>
On what Albert Haynesworth might be thinking now:
"I’m not sure. I’d give anything to play in this game. It just didn’t
work out for Albert. That’s all. I actually had a great relationship
with Albert, and I was hoping he’d do great because that would be for
the best for this team. It just didn’t work out. I feel good for Shaun
Ellis, playing for the Jets for all those years, not going anywhere,
then he comes to us for one year and he’s playing. I feel good for all
these guys who have been around, and been on good teams, but now they’re
on a team that’s in the Super Bowl."</p>
http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/this-just-in/21172866/brady-dc-its-hard-get-me-pissed
</p> <a style="margin-right: 15px; float: right;">http://www.weei.com/sites/all/themes/weei/images/social/print.png</a>