As you’ve surely heard by now, Tom Brady delivered what’s been described as an “epic” speech before the Buccaneers took the Raymond James Stadium turf for Super Bowl LV.
But addressing the team wasn’t commonplace for Brady in his first campaign with Tampa Bay. In fact, the pregame speech on Super Sunday was the first time the future Hall of Fame quarterback did so all season.
As Bucs wideout Chris Godwin explained during a recent appearance on The Ringer’s “10 Questions with Kyle Brandt” podcast, Brady straying from the norm and taking center stage in Tampa Bay’s locker room added additional fuel to the team’s fire.
“So, BA (Bruce Arians) always gives a little speech. He’s not like a big rah-rah guy. He just kind of says his piece. Then typically it’s Devin (White) or Lavonte (David) that talks throughout the season,” Godwin said. “The Super Bowl, they both said their thing and then Tom is like, ‘Yo, I got the last word.’ He gives this epic speech and I think it hit a lot harder because he didn’t give any pregame speeches throughout the year. So that tells you how big the moment is, when Tom gets up there and gives a legendary speech. I was like, ‘Yo, that’s live.’ We were all ready to go.”
Godwin also shed light on the nature of the speech.
“It’s the rhetoric, it’s what he’s saying, how passionate he is, you know? You could really tell he means this,” Godwin said. “He was talking about the game and honor and what this game will mean to everybody’s legacy, going out and winning this and being that team. He was like, ‘This is something that your grandkids are gonna be able to remember and be taught.’ He’s just so passionate, man. It’s funny, too, because he’s been to 10 Super Bowls at this point and he’s still just as fired up. We were like, ‘We gotta roll. Our time is now.’ He really had us ready to go.”
Brady didn’t wait until gameday to fire up his teammates for Super Bowl LV, however. The seven-time champion also texted the Bucs a motivational message every night leading up to the battle against the Kansas City Chiefs.
