The Patriots, at the height of their popularity, were riding the high of unmatched success under Tom Brady. With that success, also came a ton of seemingly misguided hatred. For the most part, football fans just didn’t like the fact that the Pats won so much. The Chiefs are currently suffering the same fate and the GOAT Tom Brady himself has some theories as to why.
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Taking to the Pivot podcast, in conversation with his former teammate Fred Taylor and former opponent Ryan Clark, Tom Brady gave some real insights into his time as a quarterback for the winningest team of the time. Talking not only about the mentality that went into winning, Brady also revealed why everyone seemed to hate the Patriots so much after they had a few Lombardis in their locker room. He said,
“As we got better and more people were taking shots I felt like we had to actually like hunker down even more… Man everyone’s after us now, like a lot what the Chiefs are facing now. At first you win ‘oh it’s amazing what an underdog blah blah blah,’ second time ‘man they’re pretty good,’ (by the) third time they’re like ‘can somebody else win’ you know… And like all you’re doing is like trying to do your job and like I love the fact that we want it but then everyone’s now now everyone wants to take you down.”
For Brady, all the hate directed towards him only pushed him to play harder and harder and come with a winning mindset to every single one of his games. Something similar can be observed with the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, who are now in pursuit of a three-peat, in this post-Brady era of football.
But it was not only the haters that were making Brady push himself year after year. He had been overlooked all the way since high school which caused him to have a chip on his shoulder.
Another Reason Why Brady Wanted to Win Every Year
There’s a reason Brady is considered the GOAT of the NFL. He had his eyes on the prize every single year, despite the strong opposition and despite the fans’ opinions that he’d won it too much. According to him, it was knowing that someone could topple him at any second, fueled his desire even further to be the best year after year.
“I was that young hungry kid that wanted to take down the top guy at one point point I was I was the kid that was overlooked in high school overlooked in college overlooked in the draft so I always had that mentality and still do today well believe me there’s a kid out there that’s coming for me so like the only way for me to stay ahead is to keep going rather than to go ‘okay well oh man I made it great I made it now what?'”
Tom Brady has 7 Lombardis to his name, more than any quarterback in history. Its safe to say, he has earned his title. Being overlooked time and time again helped Brady strive for success day after day.
And while Pat Mahomes didnt have exactly the same experiences as Brady in college and high school, he still gets on the field everytime like he has something to prove. The question is, whether he will be able to sustain this drive, and end up taking Brady’s place in history.
