Tom Brady and his personality change
When he takes the field at Gillette Stadium next Sunday in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey, New England Patriots fans will not only see a Tom Brady in a different uniform, they will also see a quarterback with a personality that contrasts with the one he showed them in his first 20 years in the NFL.
Upon leaving the Patriots in 2020, Brady left behind the “Do Your Job” mantra that led him to six Super Bowls and adopted an unofficial “Enjoy Life,” which has allowed him to showcase his outgoing personality.
In the 20 years he played in New England, Brady worked in an environment where seriousness reigned and opinions were limited so as not to give an extra shred of information beyond what was to be offered to the NFL world.
Bill Belichick made short, parsimonious answers a way of life at the Patriots and his iron discipline was not limited to practice and on the field every Sunday, he instituted it in the lives of his players as well.
Under Belichick’s regime, it was, or is, very difficult for a player, even if he is considered the best in NFL history, to agree to participate in several television commercials each year, to have festive attitudes at the parade to celebrate a Super Bowl win, or to be frequently active on social media.
One of the characteristics Belichick has entrenched throughout his tenure as Patriots coach is to avoid, at all costs, distractions, no matter how minor, that jeopardize his team’s performance.
Brady has done just that since leaving the Patriots. The now Buccaneers quarterback seems determined to do all or much of what he couldn’t do while playing in New England.
Brady has shown an outgoing personality gradually, with more interaction on his social media, a more relaxed attitude at press conferences and public events, and then commercials in which he shows off his acting ability.
In the 2021 season, Brady has appeared in commercials for sandwiches, cryptocurrencies next to his wife Gisele Bündchen in which he even jokes that New England fans call him a “traitor” and a Jets fan identifies him as “the worst person in history”, cell phones with his tight end Rob Gronkowski, and maybe he will appear in another ad campaign.
Can you imagine Belichick’s reaction if at one of the Patriots’ Super Bowl parades Brady threw the Vince Lombardi Trophy from one car to another or was caught on camera with a few too many drinks at the end of the event? Can you imagine what the New England coach would have said if Brady (or any other player) had decided to spend time during the offseason shooting TV commercials?
It’s possible to imagine what Belichick would say. What’s harder to imagine is Brady doing something like that as a Patriots player and legend.
In some ways, Brady’s personal trainer Alex Guerrero might be right to point out that the relationship between Belichick and Brady didn’t evolve because the coach never stopped seeing the quarterback as the 20-year-old player he drafted in the 2000 draft.
Brady’s attitude while playing for the Patriots and what we see today reinforces the theory that Belichick treats his players like teenagers or young adults by limiting many activities that, for many other athletes and everyday people, are normal.
To Belichick’s credit, the way he has led the Patriots has produced nine trips to the Super Bowl, six championships and perhaps the most dominant and long-lived dynasty in NFL history. The formula may be worn out, but it may be the basis for some more success in the years to come.
For now, while Belichick maintains the same dark, conservative attitude and limited, politically correct comments, Brady has been less robotic than he was in New England.
That’s not to say Brady doesn’t still speak with political correctness, and perhaps more so because of his first visit to Foxborough as a rival, but the ease with which the widely regarded as the greatest quarterback in NFL history now lives is perhaps enough to enjoy the moment and leave New England as he did for 20 years: as a winner.
