Tom Brady’s success on the gridiron is not a secret, but his dedication before the game, which propelled the Patriots to great heights, is often overlooked. His teammates, however, especially Julian Edelman, remember how the seven-time Super Bowl champ remained consistent and worked tirelessly on the field so that even the trickiest plays felt like déjà vu.
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When asked about how ‘intense’ Tom Brady was on a day-to-day basis during a sit-down interview with ‘The Rush’ podcast, Julian Edelman, without skipping a beat, reminisced that his former QB-teammate always came to practice with a purpose. He didn’t care who was at the facility that day or the time of the year; Brady went to practice with a sole purpose — addressing any shortcomings from past games.
While he could have called it a day with a couple of throws and some camaraderie during practice, TB12 instead sought to simulate game scenarios and refine his skills for when the time came. But it wasn’t only about him; this dedication extended to his teammates as well, whom he would challenge to perform under pressure, and identify those who he could trust in crucial moments.
And it often worked, as he and his teammates would flawlessly execute game-stealing plays. Because they had practiced those plays beforehand. Even if it meant risking a penalty flag, Brady would insist on running through each one. Moreover, when they successfully executed these plays, they, in Edelman’s words, felt a sense of “déjà vu“.
“One thing with Tom Brady is — he always practiced with a purpose; it didn’t matter what time of year it was, who was around, he always went out (to practice) with something he was trying to fix,” Edelman said of TB’s dedication on a day-to-day basis. “He wasn’t just putting his s*it on, going out, slapping out a couple throws; he would go out there and he’d try to simulate, as much as he could, the mindset you have to be in when you’re playing in a game… So he would always try to challenge you and he would always try to make the things as hard as possible, so that when we’re doing it in the game; it was easy. You know, you already put the work in, you’ve already seen it. It’s like déjà vu.”
Julian Edelman says Tom Brady would simulate game situations every time he practiced — Brady would even simulate a flag being thrown, so they would run the same play back-to-back multiple times.
But there’s more to the story. Brady maintained a competitive spirit for 23 years, winning seven Super Bowls, a feat even franchises have failed to achieve. Moreover, Edelman came to Foxborough when the Patriots had already positioned themselves as a dynasty, and he hung up his cleats even before the star QB called it quits last year.
Tom Brady’s Recipe for Success ft. Bill Belichick
Brady’s journey to stardom started in 2001 after Drew Bledsoe concluded his season with a brutal injury. It was Week 2 of the regular season and the Patriots were 0-2. Brady was given the starting role, albeit with a pinch of hesitation. He, however, had an aim — an aim to take the field and never get benched. He told his college classmate about it too. And he did exactly that by first defeating the Colts and eventually winning the Super Bowl in the same year.
However, the story could have changed if the rookie was benched in the big game since Bledsoe made a return in the AFC championship. He helped beat the Steelers with a 24-17 score after TB12 got injured. But Belichick saw something in Brady; perhaps the same thing he saw during the 2000 draft, and he couldn’t simply let Bledsoe take over.
But there’s more. While Bill Belichick is often vilified for looking the other way when it came to bolstering the offense, one cannot simply forget about the ruthless secondary he put up. It was always effective, and the 2003 AFC Championship against the Colts is the perfect example. His defensive side of the ball intercepted Peyton Manning a total of four times, eventually winning the game with a 24-14 score.
However, in order to reach that summit, Belichick had traded every player that he felt wasn’t helpful to the team from Drew Bledsoe to Lawyer Milloy. But it was just the start as Randy Moss suffered the same fate in later years, as did Richard Seymour, Terry Glenn, and Logan Malkins. His unwarranted decisions were what made the team great, along with Brady’s prowess on the field. And it will take decades before someone even reaches that point.
