FOXBORO, Mass. — Tom Brady might not have been a very pleasant person to be around since finding out he was playing the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
The New England Patriots quarterback explained that he gets anxious after finding out a playoff opponent and before his team can work out the kinks in practice. His wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, even worries about him.
“It depends — yeah, that’s a good question,” Brady said when asked what his mood is like before a game. “My wife asks the same thing, ‘What’s your problem?’ I get pretty edgy. I just think there’s a high level of pressure every week. The pressure is on from the moment that — I would say it’s like watching the games on Sunday, you watch the first game, like the Cowboys-Packers game, and it’s kind of fun. You get to watch the game. Then all of a sudden, you watch the Denver (Broncos) game, and (the Indianapolis Colts) play, and as soon as that games ends, it’s like ‘Boom,’ the clock starts.
“It’s a race to see who can prepare the best over the course of the week. There’s not many opportunities you get during the season to have a time when you don’t know who your opponent is. Obviously, after we won on Saturday, you have that little moment of time when you’re not really preparing for anybody. Then as soon as you know the opponent, the anxiousness just starts building and building and building. You do everything you can through the preparation to get an understanding of what the team is doing and how we’re going to play and plays we’re going to install and how you’re gonna run the plays and how you’re going to execute the plays, and those things lessen the anxiety, because you can go out and perform and build confidence in what you’re doing.
“It’s kind of the ebbs and flows of the week. Sometimes I’m in a good mood, sometimes I’m in a (expletive) mood — bad mood, sorry. Sometimes it’s just the ebbs and flows — (laughs). Yeah. So, uh, yeah. Just a good mood.”
The Indianapolis Colts come to Gillette Stadium to play the Patriots on Sunday at 6:40 p.m. in the AFC Championship Game. The Patriots beat the Colts 42-20 in Week 11, so confidence should be high.
Thumbnail photo via Charles Krupa/Associated Press
