Patriots quarterback Brady boasts a ferocious competitiveness
Comments (...)INDIANAPOLIS (MCT) — A fascinating moment took place in the third quarter of the AFC Championship Game. It underscored anew the type of football player Tom Brady is.
On second and 1, the New England quarterback delayed for a count after taking the snap from under center and kept just outside left tackle.
Brady’s ungainly slide produced a gain of 4 yards. With Brady lying face down, Baltimore’s Ray Lewis ended up on the back of Brady’s legs. It wasn’t close to being a roughing penalty.
For reasons known only to Brady, he jumped quickly to his feet. Palming the ball in his right hand, he turned and positioned his facemask in direct contact with Lewis’ facemask.
With a 5-inch height advantage, the 34-year-old quarterback towered over the 36-year-old linebacker. It’s anyone’s guess what was said between the two National Football League immortals, but Brady’s head was bobbing as he delivered his message inches from Lewis’ face.
As Brady kept woofing even as Ravens came to outnumber him, 4-0, something astonishing happened. Ray Lewis turned away first.
Another Ravens all-pro linebacker, Terrell Suggs, tried to save face for his team by sauntering over and brushing his grill into Brady’s as Lewis walked off. Then tight end Aaron Hernandez gave Brady an admiring tap on the helmet as they re-entered the huddle.
It’s really not important that the relationship between Brady and Lewis has appeared to be one of genuine respect over the years.
What is important was the fact that Brady, in the midst of a performance far below his own superlative standards, reacted to the situation in a way he knew full well would rally his team.
“Their defense tries to intimidate,” said starting defensive end Brandon Deaderick, one of those impressionable young players on the New England roster. “To see Tom not back down, it kind of gave me goose bumps. It got the whole defense fired up. He was putting the game on his shoulders. He wouldn’t let us down.”
It all seemed so incongruous for Brady to be getting down and dirty talking trash. Most quarterbacks are above the NFL rabble that often engages in that sort of activity.
But Brady, possibly the greatest quarterback of all time, loves stirring things up. Despite the fact that he blew out a knee in 2008 and had foot surgery in the off-season, Brady likes to get physical and mess with people.
One year, middle linebacker Brian Urlacher of the Bears tried and failed tackling Brady on a scramble. Brady made sure that he got into Urlacher’s face and let him know about it.
Pittsburgh safety Anthony Smith and Detroit cornerback Alphonso Smith boasted about what they would do to Brady. Not only did Brady victimize the two players with long passes over their heads, he rubbed it in with well-placed gestures.
When the Tim Tebow talk was getting out of hand in December, Brady obviously took delight spiking the ball on the Broncos’ end-zone logo after scoring on a sneak.
We all remember Brett Favre head-butting and chatting up opposing players. Favre was being more playful than anything else.
I’ve always maintained that an overlooked factor in Favre’s consecutive game streak was the split-second decision by foes not to crush him as hard as they could. Minnesota’s John Randle was the only player who seemed eager to hurt Favre. Everyone else liked him too much.
Brady is different. Humble almost to a fault in his news conferences and public appearances, Brady can be a little bit of a punk on the field. Think Jim McMahon five times more restrained.
The Giants’ Eli Manning is like the majority of quarterbacks and never enters the emotional fray. San Diego’s Philip Rivers does, but by and large quarterbacks seek to avoid turbulence that might knock them off their game.
“Most quarterbacks don’t say nothing,” Giants safety Derrick Martin said. “But if (Brady) makes a play, he let you know that.”
After his touchdown sneak early in the fourth quarter provided the Patriots with their eventual 23-20 victory over the Ravens, Brady unleashed another ferocious spike. Halting as he jogged off the field, he let loose with a primal scream for thousands of the fans at Gillette Stadium to see and hear.
Somehow, I can’t see Aaron Rodgers ever coming out of himself quite like that.
According to more than a dozen Patriots players and coaches, Brady simply can’t help himself. That fire burning within him must be released.
“I was there his whole time at Michigan,” said Giants linebacker coach Jim Herrmann, a Wolverines assistant for 20 years. “He was a competitor when he came to Michigan; I think that’s his greatest asset. Now I know some quarterbacks don’t do some of the things he does, but Tom does what he needs to do to win.”
Handsome, highly intelligent and the father to two sons, Brady pretty much has it all.
He and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bñ/4ndchen, have been named the world’s highest-paid celebrity couple. They live in a $25 million Mediterranean-style mansion in California. In the off-season, they are often seen in the fashion capitals of Europe.
At base, however, Brady is the gangly sixth-round draft choice whose only chance to succeed was his ability to build his body and strengthen his arm. He wasn’t even good enough to take a snap on his high-school freshman team. Lloyd Carr, his coach at Michigan, was torn whether to play him or Drew Henson.
The Patriots say no one among them puts in more time and is more about winning.
Defensive end Justin Tuck set the tone for Super Sunday last week when he said, “The way to kill the snake is to take off his head.”
Advice for the Giants: if Brady goes helmet to helmet, make sure he backs away first.
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