Tom Brady was always about the team first when he went from Michigan to the New England Patriots. Having that type of mentality first and foremost set him apart from most quarterbacks.
He channeled that mentality into success and became arguably the greatest quarterback of all-time. If you’re wondering why Brady accepted that type of mentality right away in New England, thank the Michigan staff.
Being in Ann Arbor molded Brady before he ever step foot onto a field on Sundays.
“I think I’ve always shown the world parts of me and I think there’s other parts which I didn’t really feel like was the right place to express it to because even when I went to Michigan, it was a very team focused program,” Brady said on The Pivot. “It was like all about the team, like Bo Schembechler said: ‘the team, the team, the team.’
“Then I go from that program for five years, right to the Patriots and coach Belichick was the team, the team, the team and that was 28 years where it really wasn’t my voice. It was the team’s voice. And I felt like as the leader of the team, well, this is how we should do it.”
Brady never second-guessed that team first mentality throughout his entire career. That’s likely why he won seven Super Bowls as a starting quarterback.
“And in a lot of ways I liked that because I thought we always did a good job of doing our best to keep the distractions at a minimum,” Brady said. “You know, when you have different factions within a team. I never went positive or negative. I don’t ever think like that’s the clearest path to success. It’s very challenging to go beat the Steelers, to beat the dolphins (and others).”
Along with his love for football, Brady’s approach to the game was a big reason for winning as much as he did. On the podcast, the former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback talked about playing angry.
“To me, anger was a great way for me to approach the field,” Brady said. “I could not look at you on the field and — Ryan when you take your stuff off [and we’re] off the field, great — Ryan the Steeler, you wanted to kill me and I wanted to kill you. That’s just the way it was.
“Not literally, but I just wanted to make sure that we did our job and I think when you’re out there on the field that was a gladiator persona for all of us. When I walked off the field, I didn’t have to be that person anymore, which was good because I didn’t want to be that person in my everyday life.”
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