Tom Brady Opens Up About Super Bowl Loss
Along with giving a deeper look at his family, Tom Brady is looking to answer one question with his new Facebook Watch docu-series: “What does it really take for a 40-year-old to play in the NFL?”
In a candid interview with ABC’s Michael Strahan, the New England Patriots quarterback opened up about the six-episode series, Tom vs Time, and continuing to play football at 40 years old.
“There’s a real love for the sport, a love for the game, and a love for the competition … it’s really something I really relish,” Brady said. “As long as I feel good, as long as I continue to work hard and make the commitment — it requires a lot of discipline, that’s one thing God had given me when I was young.”
He also opened up about his team’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in this year’s Super Bowl.
“I think you realize the sun comes up the next morning, your life goes on but, you know, those games live with you for the rest of your life,” Brady said. “That’s part of being an athlete. That’s part of being in a very competitive sport.”
“I’m proud of our efforts throughout the year,” he continued. “We overcame a lot of adversity, like you always do in order to get to that game. But we just came up a little bit short.”
In the docu-series, fans also get an intimate look at the athlete’s balancing act between football and family.
“I have a wife that is very, aspires to be a lot of things and she travels a lot. My oldest son lives here in New York,” he said. “Three kids and you’re just always trying to juggle and you want to be there for them and you want to be there for the hockey games and the soccer games, but you also realize the level of commitment it takes to give as much as you can to the team that needs you.”
“I think most professionals probably feel the same way,” he added. “Sometimes it gets out of balance, and you’ve got to figure out how to bring it back to a point where it feels great for everybody involved.”
Brady has five championships under his belt, making him the first quarterback in NFL history to boast the accomplishment. He told Strahan that he’s managed to last so long in the sport with hard work and determination.
“When your priorities are in order then you can make decisions based on what your priorities are,” he said. “I believe you can extend your career as a lot of athletes are trying to do now.”
However, Brady admitted he hasn’t always made the best choices in his athletic career.
“I would say I was a very late bloomer through high school and early into college … my routine and the things that I did weren’t very good. They weren’t very conducive to my goals,” Brady told Strahan.
“It got to a point early in my career where I didn’t envision myself being able to continue to play because my arm hurt so bad all the time.”
The athlete said he made several changes to his routine, tweaks that have landed him a lengthy career. And the pro footballer said he’s happy to let fans into his world.
“I felt like I really wanted to show people all the things I had learned over the years; all the things that were really important to me,” he said. “And show some of the fans — and a lot of the patriots fans — really what it takes to continue to try to achieve at a really high level.”