Now former Patriots QB dishes for more than two hours
Tom Brady guested for more than two hours Wednesday on Howard Stern’s unsensored SiriusXM Radio show.
And, yes, the no-holds-barred host went far down every audacious and raunchy road with his questions for the star NFL quarterback — from how often he has sex with his supermodel wife Giselle Bundchen (enough, Brady said) to whether he has suffered concussions in football (multiple, Brady said).
Mostly, though, Stern kept drilling deep down into the relationship the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting passer had with his now former head coach in New England, Bill Belichick.
Brady — who revealed he had been a huge fan of Stern for years — obliged throughout with thoughtful, revealing answers to almost every one of Stern’s questions, no matter how probing, playful or crass.
The 42-year-old granted Stern a level of access and on-the-record frankness every NFL reporter this century has dreamed of.
Among Brady’s top revelations about his departure from Foxboro:
On whether he ever asked Belichick to pull a lazy or failing receiver out of the lineup:
“I (could) definitely express my opinion to say, ‘If you put him out there, I’m not going to throw him the ball because the whole team is trusting me to do what’s right by the team. So you can’t put someone out there that I don’t believe in — because if I don’t believe in him, then it’s worthless for the team.’
“Fortunately for me, coach Belichick always saw it the same way as me, which is why I think we have such a great connection … I think that’s why I was a great fit for that system, because we saw the process of winning very much the same way.
“Rarely did I ever need to go up to a guy and say, ‘Listen, you’re f—ing the team.’ He would know that from someone else before I would ever need to get to him.”
On whether he sensed Belichick was ever resentful that his successes in New England always were seen as joint successes with Brady — and whether he thought, “F— Belichick. I’m the reason for our success here”:
“I think it’s a pretty s–tty argument, actually, that people would say that.”
Brady said he would not have been as successful in New England if Belichick weren’t his head coach.
“But I feel the same in, in vice versa as well. To have him allowed me to be the best that I could be. So I’m grateful for that. And very much believe that he feels the same about me, because we have expressed that to each other.”
On whether Brady resents Belichick for not making him a Patriot for life:
“No. Absolutely not.”
Because moving on to Tampa Bay is a chance, he said, “to experience something that’s very different. There are ways for me to grow and evolve in a different way that I haven’t had the opportunity to do — that aren’t right or wrong, but just right for me.”
On whether not retiring as a Patriot might affect his legacy:
“I never cared about legacy. I couldn’t give a s–t about it … It was because it was just time (to leave) … I accomplished everything I could in two decades with an incredible organization, and an incredible group of people. And that will never change, and no one can take that away from me … or us.”
On rumours Belichick wanted to bring in a new quarterback in recent years, perhaps, in part, to prove he could continue the Patriots’ winning ways without Brady — and whether Brady viewed that as disloyalty to him, and whether it influenced his decision to leave:
“I think he has a lot of loyalty. He and I have had a lot of conversations that nobody has ever been privy to, and nor should they be. So many wrong assumptions were made about our relationship, or about how he felt about me. I know genuinely how he feels about me. Now I’m not going to respond to every rumour or assumption that’s made, other than what his responsibility as coach is to try to get the best player for the team not only in the short term but in the long-term as well. So what I could control is trying to be the best I could be in both of those situations also. So I got into unchartered territory as an athlete because I started to break the mould of what so many other athletes had experienced. I got to the point where I was an old — or an older athlete — and he’s starting to plan for the future, which is what his responsibility is. And I don’t fault him for that. That’s what he should be doing. That’s what every coach should be doing … I recognized that. We talked about it.”
On when he decided when he wanted to move on from New England:
“I don’t think there was every a final, final decision. But I would say I probably knew before the start of last season that it was my last year. And I knew that our time was coming to an end.”
On saying goodbye to Patriots owner Robert Kraft in person a few weeks ago and together calling Belichick to likewise inform him:
“Yeah, I was crying. I’m a very emotional person.”
On why he didn’t have more in-depth talks with the Las Vegas Raiders:
“They could probably speak to that more than me … There were probably a lot of different teams that were interested in me, I would say.”
He would not elaborate on how many teams, or which others.
JoKryk@postmedia.com
@JohnKryk
