“It Was a Sickness”: Tom Brady Reveals How Addicted He Was to Throwing a Perfect Spiral

There is not much of a debate these days about who the greatest of all time is when it comes to the NFL. It is Tom Brady. A big reason for his extended period of greatness was his obsessive, competitive attitude, which made him a psycho when it came to the details.

One of Brady’s most lasting addictions was his obsession with throwing the perfect spiral as often as humanly possible. You would think that most QBs would be obsessed with that, considering their whole job is throwing a football. But to hear Brady talk about it is to hear a real nut delving into his craft.

Brady went on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast as a guest this week, and he talked about his beloved spirals. To try to relate to the guys he was talking to—podcasters and hockey players—he compared it to something they all do: play golf. Brady said throwing the perfect spiral is like hitting a perfect seven-iron shot at the driving range. And he took it a step further, calling it “euphoric.”

“When you’re addicted to throwing a perfect spiral, that’s all I needed. I was just like, let’s throw,” Brady said.

“When that ball would come outta my hands, and it would just be the perfect pace, with the perfect amount of rotation, with the perfect rotation, it was euphoric. And I would just go, I want to do that again. How do I do that again? And I would just work on it,” he added.

We thought he was about to go full Mark Kerr in the Smashing Machine and call the perfect spiral “orgasmic,” but we’re glad he stopped short there.

Brady threw fewer perfect passes than you’d think

TB12 was so obsessed that he actually called the art of perfecting a spiral a “sickness” and an “addiction.”But in a good way, of course.

Brady estimated that he threw about 700 passes per season (he topped 700 in his final two years in Tampa, but he averaged about 611 a year throughout his career), and he asked the guys on the podcast how many of those 700 they think Brady viewed as perfect spirals. They all guessed somewhere in the 15-40 percent range. But it was three. Three percent.

“I’d say, out of 700 throws, maybe 20 of them did exactly what I wanted to,” revealed Brady. “I would say 20, where I was like, ‘You know what, that was exactly how I wanted that ball to come out.’ My misses were still pretty good! Because I was really focused on those 20. If I was aiming right for your nose and I hit your right ear, you may not know that, but I knew where I was throwing it.”

This is the second time this week that Brady has delved deep into his mind and mechanics when it comes to throwing the football. While calling an especially windy one between the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers on Wild Card weekend, Fox took the viewers in the booth for a little throwing in the wind tutorial with Brady.

“I talk about the point of the ball a lot,” admitted Brady. “When you’re throwing into the wind it has to be neutral. If the point of the ball is up, any wind friction is gonna push that ball up over the top. So, as a quarterback, you don’t really like that U-throw underneath, because naturally that’s gonna point the tip of the ball up. You want a C or reverse C, that’s how you kinda control the point of the ball.”

It was a highlight in what was overall a really good performance from Brady in the booth during that 24-19 upset win for the 49ers. He’s finding his stride in that job.

And if Fox knows what’s good for them, they’ll keep delving deeper into the mind of this football sicko whenever they can. It’s what sets Brady apart and makes his $375 million contract worth it.