New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was under fire last week when he expressed frustration after a win in Week 11. Even former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski admitted Brady’s comments and the Patriots’ doom-and-gloom attitude was one reason why Gronk was happy to stay retired.
But Brady knows what he’s doing. He has explained after a win in Week 12 that he’s being genuine, rather than faking positivity. That genuine display of emotions is a product of his leadership style.
“I think I have a lot of emotions over the course of the year, and I think part of it is just processing them and dealing with them and putting them in the right place,” Tom Brady said on Westwood One on Monday night. “I hope my emotions never effect my preparation for the next game, but I think they can help refocus as well.”
He added: “I think I balance out those emotions with positivity, enjoyment, happiness and leadership. I think in the end, they all balance out. … My teammates know how I am and know how I think about them and how I care about them.”
Brady said he needs to be honest with himself, with the media and with his teammates in order to open a healthy line of dialogue. The Patriots offense looked like a mess in Week 11. And perhaps partially as a product of Brady’s frustration, the unit improved in Week 12, even if it was without receivers Mohamed Sanu (ankle) and Phillip Dorsett (concussion).
Maybe Brady looked mopey and ticked off after a win over the Eagles in Week 11. And maybe he also knew the offense wasn’t good enough to keep winning if they played like that. So the moping and the frustration was an effort to motivate his teammates for the coming weeks, when they will need to step up.
“I feel like I have some accumulated knowledge of what it takes to be a very high caliber offense, and we’re working to get there,” Brady said. “I know we haven’t found our stride quite yet, but we’re working hard to find it. There’s times where you find it early in the season and there’s times where you find it late in the season.”
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