While there were distractions galore leading up to Sunday night’s game in Foxboro, Tom Brady entered Gillette Stadium with one goal in mind.
And knowing how much hype surrounded the highly anticipated Week 4 matchup, Brady reportedly made sure his teammates’ eyes didn’t stray from the prize.
The Buccaneers got back in the win column with a triumph over Brady’s former teammates. Tampa Bay entered the contest banged up, and it didn’t play great on either side of the ball against the Patriots. Still, the reigning Super Bowl champs managed to sneak by a New England team that really, really could have used a victory of that magnitude.
Speaking with NBC’s Jack Collinsworth and Rodney Harrison after the game, Leonard Fournette was asked what about Brady keeps the Bucs’ confidence high even when the odds are stacked against them. The running back highlighted two traits and in the process revealed what Brady harped on in the lead-up to the game.
“His humbleness, especially approaching the game,” Fournette said. “He treats everything the same. He’s cool, calm, collected. When that head goes down, I don’t know what kind of beast he’s turning into, but it definitely works. And I’d say his competitiveness, you know? Us coming here, we knew he wanted to win. So it didn’t matter about him, (Bill) Belichick, none of that kind of thing. He just wanted to win. He made that message clear to us: It’s not about him, it’s not about the Patriots. It’s about us winning.”
Brady eventually allowed himself to tap into his wide range of feelings once the job in New England was completed. And while most figured Sunday marked Brady’s final game at Gillette Stadium, the future Hall of Fame quarterback himself isn’t so sure.
