Tom Brady Rings In New Year: 'We're On To 2015'
BOSTON (CBS) --Perhaps it was a new year's resolution for Tom Brady last year to be more active on social media, because the future Hall of Fame quarterback went from having zero presence on Facebook to being a regular source of funny, witty posts.
Fittingly, the quarterback closed out 2014 with one more posting on Facebook, and this one borrowed a phrase from his head coach.
"Hey guys… thank you for your support over the past year!," Brady wrote under a picture of him holding a sign that read "We're on to 2015!!!"
That's a phrase made popular by Bill Belichick earlier this year. With his team coming off an embarrassing loss in Kansas City to fall to 2-2 on the year, Belichick opted to not answer any questions about the past, instead insisting over and over again, "We're on to Cincinnati."
It's a saying that caught on. Rob Gronkowski didn't want to answer a question about the dreaded Justin Bieber curse later in the season, so he decided to just utter "We're on to San Diego." Even former Patriots got in on the fun. Ryan Mallett, who was traded by the Patriots to the Texans just prior to the start of the season, ended his own postgame press conference with, "We're on to Cincinnati."
Now, the Patriots will spend this weekend resting up, as they earned the No. 1 seed and a first-round playoff bye. Brady is clearly hoping to find more success in this postseason than he and the Patriots have found in recent years.
"2014 was a fun ride," he wrote, "but can't wait to see what 2015 will bring … especially over the next month!"
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Brady was clearly in a reflective mood on Wednesday. Earlier, when speaking to the media, he spoke in depth about his perspective as an NFL veteran, and how rare and difficult it is to win a championship.
"I think we always really do feel like it's our year," Brady said. "I think you work pretty hard in the offseason to get yourself to this point. It's tough to do. There's only one team out of 32 that gets to win it. Hopefully, you're the one that gets the chance to do it. I've been fortunate to be a part of teams that have done it. We've got a great football team, so we'll see. We've got to go out there and earn it. Nobody is going to give it to us. You've got to play your biggest at the biggest moments against the best teams in the toughest conditions. You've got to see what you're made of. That's what this tournament all shakes out. It shakes out which team has played the best over the course of this season and put themselves in the good position this season to play your best in the postseason.
"I think when you're young, you just don't -- there's no perspective. Now that I have a little perspective on it, yeah, it's hard to do," he continued. "To do what we accomplished in a short period of time was amazing. But we've had a pretty good run for a while now. We've won a lot of games. I know we've come up short a few times in some big ones, but we're lucky to be in those games, too. I think it's been a great accomplishment."
As for motivation, Brady is not short on that.
"I love the game. I love playing," he said. "To get a chance to come out and compete ... You know, I was a backup quarterback freshman high school. I didn't even get to play. We were 0-8. I went to college as the seventh quarterback, barely played my fourth and fifth year, got drafted in the sixth round, was the fourth quarterback here my first year. So you've got to learn to compete, and you've got to love to win. I think that's a great motivation is to get on the field and try to win. It's fun to do, so I don't think you really take those things for granted, and that's really the motivating factor. And certainly for me, I think the motivation is to never let my teammates down. I want to go out there and be the best I can be for them. Those guys work really hard, and I never want to be the reason why we lose the game. You've got to put a lot into it and try to go out there every day in practice to prove yourself. You earn the respect of your teammates by your work ethic and what you're able to accomplish on a daily basis. So that's what football is all about to me."
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