New England Patriots: Tom Brady has the ‘Eye of the Tiger’, an NFL warrior
Why the New England Patriots nor any other team will ever see another Tom Brady.
What separates Tom Brady is his heart. He has the heart of a lion, or more correctly, a Lion King.
That is what made and makes TB12 special among athletes. Even some great athletes.
There’s a quote out there that pretty much sums up what Tom Brady is all about. You may or may not have heard it. It says you can’t measure heart. Mike Reiss of ESPN alludes to Brady’s using just that expression in 2017 to encourage that year’s rookie class:
More from Chowder and Champions
- 3 Midseason Chaim Bloom Decisions That Have Killed the 2023 Red Sox
- 10 Patriots Who Will Be Cut by Tuesday’s Roster Deadline
- MLB Screws Red Sox Fans With Broadcast for Mookie Betts Return
- 3 Most Underpaid Celtics Heading Into the 2023 Season
- Red Sox Continue Rollercoaster Season With Massive Win
"Remember: they can’t measure heart. Whether you’re picked first, last or not at all, YOU decide what happens next, every day. Good luck!!!"
Brady is a steely-eyed assassin on a football field. He will do anything and everything to beat you. As did in New England for nearly 20 years.
I’d say he has always had, “The Eye of the Tiger”. That’s after a song by a group named, Survivor in 1982. It was the theme of a Rocky movie. It fits Brady, to a T.
The fans, the coaches, the personnel people, all of us were the beneficiaries of Brady’s competitiveness and heart, as well as the team itself. (Though the team seems to have conveniently forgotten that fact this offseason.).
And it wasn’t just in New England. Looking back at Brady’s days at Michigan, there’s this falsehood you hear occasionally that he wasn’t good enough to even start at Michigan, blah, blah, blah and that’s why he was drafted so low. That’s poppycock.
Brady played 12 games in 1998 and 11 in 1999, his last two seasons at Michigan. His first season he was maybe 6th on the depth chart. Then in 1997, they had a pretty good quarterback named Brian Griese. Griese went on to play 11 years in the NFL.
Then came 1998. Brady beat out one of the most heralded high school quarterbacks, maybe ever, Drew Henson. Here’s what diehardsport.com writes about Henson coming out of high school,
"Although recruiting services like Scout, Rivals and 247Sports weren’t around back then, there were still people who rated high school players, including CBS Sports’ Tom Lemming. Lemmings not only tabbed Henson a 5* recruit but one of the top 10 football players he’s seen."
Brady and Henson went head-to-head in 1999. Brady and Henson alternated, for a time, before Brady’s steely-eyed will won out and Lloyd Carr, then Michigan’s head coach finally came to his senses.
And he just won. Hayden Bird of Boston.com recounted,
"Now the starter, Brady closed out the season with five straight wins. The run included comebacks against Indiana, Penn State and – in what would be his last game for Michigan – Alabama in the Orange Bowl. In his final college game, Brady threw for a then-Michigan record 369 yards, with four touchdowns. He guided the Wolverines back from two 14-point deficits to win in overtime, 35-34."
Carr recalled Brady’s senior year in an article by Gary Meyers in the New York Daily News,
"“To me, where he really displayed his ability beyond any doubt was if you looked at the last four or five games of his fifth year,” Carr said. “His last game at Michigan, I don’t know of anybody who has played better than that against an SEC Championship Alabama team.”"
Yes, that’s our Tom Brady. If I recall correctly, they called him the “Comeback Kid” even then. He beat out the supposed best, won the day, and then games. Then he was drafted on the 199th pick in 2000 by the New England Patriots in what has become the luckiest draft pick in the team’s and in NFL history.