Why Tom Brady Once Gave Danny Amendola "The Death Stare"

Danny Amendola learned quickly in 2013 how competitive Tom Brady actually was

Early in Danny Amendola's tenure with the New England Patriots, he learned just how competitive Tom Brady was. 

Back in 2013, Amendola signed a five-year contract for $28.5 million, with $10 million guaranteed to play for the Patriots.

In his latest The MMQB column, Albert Breer shares an interesting story about the legendary competitiveness of future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady.

At the time, Brady perceived that he was pretty good at ping-pong. 

So when a new teammate arrived claiming to be better, Brady viewed it as an opportunity to compete. 

Breer tells the story of what occurred when Brady and Amendola squared off in a game of ping-pong: 

"So after Amendola signed with the Patriots in 2013, the two talked trash with each other over it, and then wound up playing. Amendola wound up winning, and winning pretty handily. As the story goes, Amendola hammered home the last point, and barely could turn around before he heard this whistling go by his ear. Brady’s paddle had come in hot and just missed him. Amendola, I’d heard, looked up expecting to see Brady laughing. Instead, he was getting the death stare. And Amendola—who’d become a trusted target of Brady’s, and Super Bowl hero in his own right—learned a good lesson about Brady that day."

The competitiveness between the two has been well-documented. 

In 2019, Brady and Amendola made a $100,000 bet on Amendola being able to hit a far-off target with a small football, while the pair enjoyed the festivities at the Kentucky Derby.

Brady came away victorious, even though Amendola was not that far off from winning the bet.

To read Breer's entire column, click here.

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