In the week after Antonio Brown joined the Patriots, was hit with a lawsuit and made his debut with New England, Jim Gray coincidentally didn’t want to talk about the present day with quarterback Tom Brady in their weekly interview on Westwood One.
Gray had New York Jets great Joe Namath join Brady for Monday night’s interview. Namath played in the first-ever Monday Night Football game against the Cleveland Browns in 1970. The Jets face the Browns in Monday night’s game this week, as well.
Gray asked Namath, an Alabama alum, to compare Crimson Tide legend Bear Bryant to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. Namath said Bryant, like Belichick, was a winner who had a passion for football. Brady went out of his way to praise Belichick’s coaching style after Namath spoke.
“You know, it’s amazing when I think about — and I’ve seen some Bear Bryant, I’ve seen some Paul Brown, I’ve seen a lot of Vince Lombardi, and I think Coach Belichick, I think that way of coaching, it really as a disciplinarian is going out of style in the NFL unfortunately,” Brady said. And that’s the only coach that I’ve ever known. And I think it’s an amazing way. It’s an amazing style is to — you coach the players, and you coach them, you give them the truth. And you motivate them to be the best they can be. And without Coach Belichick coaching me the way that he has, there’s no way that I would become the player I am today. So, even though I didn’t play for Coach Bryant, I definitely can understand what his MO would be as a coach, and I really respect that.”
Two seasons ago, there was a report that Brady was growing tired of Belichick’s “bracing coaching style.” So, it’s certainly notable to hear Brady say that same disciplinarian method is what groomed him as a player.
