Tom Brady Provides Peek Inside Brain In Interview With Peter King
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady is the greatest. Everybody knows that.
But what none of us have ever really been privy to is what exactly goes on inside of Brady's head when he calmly and confidently delivers perfect passes in the most pressure-packed situations possible. It is, really, the hallmark of Brady's Hall of Fame career: remaining cool, even in the final minutes of the Super Bowl.
It is what put Brady on the map back in 2001 against the Rams, and again in 2003 against the Panthers, two Super Bowls in which Brady led late drives that resulted in game-winning field goals. Brady also led the Patriots on a go-ahead drive when his team trailed late in Super Bowl XLII against the Giants, but the David Tyree catch and Plaxico Burress touchdown are all that most remember about that fourth quarter.
Yet last Sunday, Brady did what he had never done before, engineering two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter against an all-time great defense when his team trailed by 10 points in the Super Bowl. It was a remarkable feat, and one week later, the quarterback provided insight into what went through his mind during those two scoring drives.
In an hour-long interview with Peter King, Brady recalled those two legacy-defining drives. Some highlights:
--On Danny Amendola's touchdown on the Patriots' penultimate drive, Brady was thankful that safety Earl Thomas looked into the backfield and showed up just a tick late to break up the pass.
"Earl was indecisive," Brady told King. "Thank God."
--Even though he won his fourth Super Bowl and set or tied a whole bunch of records, Brady was hard on himself, as he always is.
"I felt good that we got the lead. I was THE reason we lost the lead," he said of his mind-set following Julian Edelman's touchdown.
Brady credited Bobby Wagner for simply making a fantastic play on the quarterback's second interception of the night -- "If I ever play those guys again, I will not lead Bobby Wagner anywhere with my eyes" -- but he put all the blame on himself for his first-quarter interception.
"I should have called time because I just didn't like what I saw, and then it was too late when I made the throw. Dumb throw," he said of the pass that was picked by Jeremy Lane.
--Perhaps the most fascinating nugget came when Brady discussed the now-famous third-and-14 completion to Edelman. Brady mentioned a play run with Wes Welker back when the Patriots visited Seattle in 2012 as a point of reference.
"This was identical to a play we ran in 2012. I hit Wes Welker. They played that same coverage against Welker in 2012, with a lineman dropping back on him in coverage in the short middle, and I hit him," Brady said. "I watched a lot of tape -- our game with them from two years ago three times, Dallas this year multiple times, their championship game against Green Bay three times. I'm always trying to match the perfect amount of physical preparation with the right mental preparation. ... [Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels] knew it would work. He knew Julian would be there for me, and he was. Watching that tape, I saw it from a couple of years ago -- and Josh saw it too."
--Brady also talked about the relative ease of throwing to Rob Gronkowski whenever linebacker K.J. Wright was in coverage. Gronkowski had hauled in a touchdown pass earlier in the game on a go route when Wright tried to cover him, and when Brady saw Wright lined up 1-on-1 against Gronk on the right sideline, both players knew that a completion was upcoming.
"Gronk sells the go route, and runs the stop route," Brady said. "Gronk knew it. Later, he told me, 'As soon as the ball was snapped, I knew you were throwing it to me.'"
Sell it, Gronkowski did. Here's what happened to Wright after Gronkowski faked like he was going deep, planted his feet and turned around:
--King recapped those two touchdown drives perfectly: "In the span of 10 minutes, Brady took the Patriots 76 yards in eight plays (after the Bruce Irvin sack), then 64 yards in 10 plays. He completed 13 of 15 passes. He's had some good Super Bowl quarters in his three previous wins, but none like this one. None under this pressure, against a defense this good (though wounded, without Cliff Avril down the stretch) and with so much on the line."
You really ought to read the whole thing on MMQB. It's pretty spectacular.
Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here. You can email him or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
