Two-decade QB Tom Brady already thinking about next Super Bowl
If Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is planning to ride off into the sunset Sunday night with a seventh Super Bowl ring, he continues to do a great job throwing media off the scent.
Brady said earlier this week he will “definitely consider” living up to previous statements that he would play until age 45. On Wednesday, he shed further light on his plans for the offseason.
To hear Brady tell it, don’t look for him to be doing the backstroke in postgame celebratory confetti unless he’s convinced it’ll benefit his arm strength.
“I’m going to train a lot better this year,” Brady said. “Physically I’ll be better next year. As soon as this game ends, we’re on to next year.”
Brady, 43, has 5,493 passing yards this season — including three playoff games — and 40 touchdowns. He led the Buccaneers to their first playoff appearance since 2007.
He starts his 10th Super Bowl on Sunday, but there are no indications he would retire on top this weekend. Win or lose, Brady is talking like a quarterback who has plans to be in focused meetings with offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich this spring.
“It’s a physical sport. Just the perspective I have on that is you never know when that moment is,” Brady said. “Just because it’s a contact sport. There’s a lot of training that goes into it. And it has to be 100 percent commitment from myself to keep doing it.”
Bucs head coach Bruce Arians, out of retirement and coaching in his first Super Bowl, said Brady’s focus and drive aren’t indicative of a player nearing the end of the line. Larry Foote, linebackers coach in Tampa and Brady’s former teammate at Michigan, said there’s not a lot of difference in second-decade Brady and Teenage Tom.
“Looking back, we’d get on (Wolverines head coach) Lloyd Carr like, ‘Man, why you ain’t just let Tom throw the ball left and right?’ Because we were a run-first team at Michigan. And you see him in the pros and you go spread and he just does his thing. He don’t lose. He was always the leader. We always knew we were in every game when he was under center. Nothing’s changed. He was humble then, and he’s still humble now. He’s just the ultimate competitor. That hasn’t changed.”
–Field Level Media
