The Patriots lost center David Andrews prior to the regular season due to blood clots in what was a major loss for New England’s offensive line.
The connection Andrews had created with six-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady was phenomenal, making one of the most important transfers in football virtually seamless. But when it’s hot and humid, that transfer can quickly become rather difficult.
“I always tell them I don’t want to throw a wet ball on a perfectly sunny day,” Brady told The Athletic’s Nick Underhill.
A 300-pound center is guaranteed to sweat in the majority of games, and that’s sure to get much worse in the heat. So how does Brady avoid the sweatiness from impacting the football and his hands? His solution came about with former Patriots’ center Dan Koppen.
“So instead of just dealing with it, Brady innovated,” Underhill wrote. “That’s when he decided to shove a towel down the back of Koppen’s pants and see if it helped keep his hands and the ball dry.
“There was a ritual where he would put the towel in. It’s up to him,” Koppen told Underhill. “So, he put the towel in the centers before the game and made sure (it was in place). You know, I mean, I’m sure putting your hands back there, I don’t think you want to go into a sweaty vat.”
Brady confirmed this, amongst a host of other sweat-related topics to Underhill in a great look inside Brady’s routine with his centers.
There’s a lot of things that can go wrong at the line of scrimmage, but you never really think about the big role that sweat can play in the equation. Luckily for the Patriots, it sounds like Brady has found a solid solution.
