Since Tampa Bay won Super Bowl LV, numerous Bucs players have raved about the impact Tom Brady had on their team.
Veteran running back LeSean McCoy hopped aboard that train Wednesday, lauding the 43-year-old quarterback during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“He’s the only player that I’ve ever been around that, when he speaks, when he talks, I believe him,” McCoy said. “He could tell me, ‘Shady, go walk on that water. You won’t drown.’ I’m going to be like, ‘OK.’ He has that type of thing about him. And the way he works. When I was younger, I wish I worked as hard as he does. We just won a Super Bowl and he’s back training, doing little things.”
Other Bucs players have detailed the motivational tactics Brady employed during the lead-up to the Super Bowl, from texting teammates “We WILL win” each night to delivering what was described as an “epic” pregame speech.
According to McCoy, who sees no end to Brady’s remarkable NFL career, the QB also conducted intricate strategy sessions in a group chat with Tampa Bay’s offensive weapons.
“We have about eight, nine, maybe 10 players in a group chat. All the skill guys,” McCoy explained. “All the guys that were active to play. And he’s going into details about every player we’re going against. He’s like, a voiceover. It’s a video playing and it’s only him. He’s got the candles lit. He’s like, ‘This DB, he likes to press. He likes to hold. He doesn’t have good speed.’ With everybody.
“I’m like, this guy is so dialed in. He’s 43! He’s dialed in. He can play another five years. Just because, not only just the talent or the big arm and all that. It’s just like, he gets it. He gets it.”
Brady, the oldest player ever to play in a Super Bowl, said he would “definitely” consider playing beyond age 45.
McCoy faced Brady’s former team, the New England Patriots, twice a year during his four seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He wasn’t surprised to see Bill Belichick’s club slump to a 7-9 finish in the year after Brady’s departure.
“Real talk, I played in Buffalo and I would play this dude every year, twice a year,” McCoy told McAfee. “I’d say, ‘When Brady leaves, the Patriots, they will not be as good.’ Everybody talks about this Belichick — and I respect Belichick, he’s a great coach — but c’mon, let’s stop that. When (Brady) leaves that team, they will not be the same. The guy is different. You feed off of him, his energy.”
McCoy said Brady was “like the Terminator” during the Bucs’ playoff run, which included three road victories and wins over Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes.
“Like, even the coaches have to be on their A-game because the dude demands so much respect,” the running back said. “When he’s there, it’s like the championship habits pick up. The championship DNA picks up. And I think when you have a guy like that, you have a chance to win. And I love Belichick, but they’re not the same team without (No.) 12 over there.”
