Brady: 'Privileged To Be' On Patriots
BOSTON (CBS) – It has been 12 years since Tom Brady was drafted by the New England Patriots 199th overall, and 10 since he took over as the team's starting quarterback.
Three Super Bowls, two MVPs and a near perfect season later, Brady is still amazed when he looks back at his career so far.
"Certainly you don't think that you have the success on the football field like we've had here, it's unprecedented," Brady told WBZ-TV's Steve Burton for Sunday's Patriots Gameday. "I'm privileged to be part of a place like this. I'm able to do what I really love to do; play football and lead a group of guys that hard-working, tough and disciplined. To be happily married with two healthy children, for any parent that's what you hope for. I'm blessed in many ways. I have a great family that loves me and supports me, and great friends. Doing what I want to do is pretty cool too."
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Football and family are his two passions, which doesn't leave much room for anything else.
"What else is there? I don't think there is anything else," Brady told Burton. "I don't have probably as many hobbies as I used to. I don't know what else I do besides, I'm down here, and I love doing that because I spend a lot of time doing that. When I'm not here I'm spending time with my kids, wife and family."
Brady emerged as a leader as soon as he took over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001. But with a decade under his belt, he has evolved into one of the faces of the NFL, and has become a better teammate along the way.
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"I think you evolve in a lot of ways, as a player, a person, a teammate, a friend. You learn from your experiences," said Brady. "I really love the guys I play with, and I think I can be really tough on them. I want what's best for us all the time, just like every player in here does. Sometimes I can get very emotional, because it's an emotional game."
While Brady said his teammates feed off his raw emotions, the same goes for him feeding off them.
"That's part of being a team. We rely on each other for support, execution," he said. "When you're not feeling so hot on a Wednesday, to come in here and have your teammates say 'come on let's go, this is what we want to accomplish, this is a big week' it just brings you up to where you need to be for practice."
"That's team sports, that's why I love playing team sports because you get to share it with so many of the guys," said Brady.
More From Tom Brady:
On Myra Kraft: "She was a great woman, and I was lucky enough to be around her for 12 years. We shared a lot of fun experiences, both down here at the football stadium, and I also went on a trip with Mr. Kraft to Israel and got to spend some real quality time with her and her family."
"Just knowing the relationship Mr. Kraft had with his wife, as a young married man, it something as a young married man you aspire to be with your life partner as long as he was with her. He always says he had something that couldn't be duplicated, and that's the truth. She was one of a kind."
On His QB Guru Tom Martinez: "He's been battling diabetes for a long time. He's as tough as anyone I've been around. He's been through a lot in his life. He never really puts it on anybody. He's very determined to overcome any obstacles put in front of him. That's the coach in him. I'm very fortunate to have known him and have used him as a resource as long as I have."
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"We talk football all the time. He loves football, he loves seeing me doing well and my technique… I try to talk to him as often as I can."
Most Embarrassing Moment: "I don't get embarrassed too often, because you realize there will be something else the next day to someone and something else the next day. It builds some character too. I think when I was younger, probably in high school, you get embarrassed by something a friend says or and insecurity or something like that. But I'm pretty lucky now, I've been through a lot of things and being a pro athlete you realize it's not always going to go great. But at the same time as long as you keep working hard, you're diligent and you put the team first, you'll overcome and come out the other side and it will make you that much stronger."
Tune in to Patriots Gameday every Sunday on WBZ-TV at 11:30 a.m.
