New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady got into the limo with Bill Belichick on the morning after Super Bowl XXXVI, the first championship win of their career. And Belichick paid Brady a rare compliment.
“Tom, just wanted to let you know you had a pretty good year,” Belichick told Brady.
Brady discussed the moment during a sit-down interview on NFL Network as a part of TV feature for the NFL100 All-Time Team. Brady was selected in large part because of Belichick, who had a major role in the selection committee. Back in February of 2002, Brady remembered being exhausted after a long night of celebrating, which didn’t include any sleep. Clearly, the sweet moment between the star player and his coach stuck with Brady.
“It’s been pretty magical ever since,” Brady said.
They have won five more Super Bowls, and they’re headed to the playoffs this year after winning their 11th consecutive AFC East title.
"He was clearly a leader on the field." – Bill Belichick
From day one, @TomBrady showed promise. After 20 seasons he's named to the #NFL100 All-Time Team 🐐
📺: NFL 100 All-Time Team on NFL Network pic.twitter.com/Fi7AhT6mD2
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) December 28, 2019
Brady reflected upon a number of things about Super Bowl XXXVI, including the final drive when the Patriots set up kicker Adam Vinatieri for the game-winner. That decision ran contrary to popular opinion in the moment — the broadcasters believed Brady and Belichick should settle for overtime, rather than risk a turnover in an attempt to generate that game-winning attempt. But Belichick trusted Brady to string together a drive. That’s exactly what the young quarterback did.
“We started pretty conservatively, and Tom did a good job managing that game,” Belichick said. “The big play was to Troy Brown on an under route. The Rams were in a 3-man rush, and Tom hit Troy. Troy got out of bounds, and then that really gave us a chance to set that up. And Tom handled that play perfectly with a little return route to [Andrew] Wiggins, putting Adam in position. At that point, I thought we were sending out best player, Adam, on the field to kick us a game-winning kick.”
Finally, Brady reflected upon his naivety in that first Super Bowl. The quarterback admitted he had no idea just how hard it was to win a championship. He’d won bowl games in college, and though no more of the Super Bowl than those games. Years later, he seems to see a clear difference.
“I’m glad I didn’t have the perspective of how hard it is to actually win the Super Bowl,” Brady said. “It was, ‘I won at Michigan and I had a chance to play for the Patriots and we were winning this year.’ It just felt like it was a continuation of a lot of things that I had done. I didn’t realize how hard it was until 2010 and ’11. I was like, ‘God, I never realized how hard it was to win the Super Bowl.'”
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