Are Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers regretting coming back this season?
The NFL Up Vote crew debates if Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers have any regrets coming back this season.
USA TODAY
Tom Brady joined the “Let’s Go” podcast with Jim Gray to discuss the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ 3-3 start, his sideline yelling during Sunday’s 20-18 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers and moving forward as the team takes on a road game at Carolina this week.
“Even in the three games we’ve won we haven’t played the way we are capable of, certainly offensively,” Brady told Gray.
“We’re all licking our wounds, looking at the last six weeks, trying to do a lot better, having more communication about things that we think we need to be doing moving forward and its going to be a big challenge.”
With more than half of the season left, Brady is hopeful the team can make improvement.
“There’s a lot of football left to be played. 11 games,” said the quarterback. “We’re certainly nowhere close to where the team we want to be is.
“I believe we have a lot of smart people, I believe we have a lot of good processes in place to identify the problems we’re facing and how we get through it.”
When asked about his verbal frustrations on the sideline during Sunday’s loss in Pittsburgh, Brady shared it was simply to motivation the offensive lineman.
“It’s motivation,” Brady said. “But I do think its a bad day when there are more F-bombs than touchdowns. That was not one of my better days.”
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During the podcast, Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant also joined the conversation and spoke about dealing with the expectation to be the best – an expectation that Brady, with more than 20 seasons in the league is familiar to.
“I tend to hold myself to a standard everyday and I know that it’s been working for me for this long,” the two-time NBA champion said. “I’ve been successful on every team I’ve been on because I have a routine and I try to stick to that. It produces results. I try to stay locked in with my teammates and with my coaches, but at the same time, I realize that I’m an individual bringing my talent to the group so I have to stay on top of my game everyday.”
Continuing to improve is sometimes a “mental battle” for Durant, 34.
“There’s just a little paranoia in there. I don’t even know how to explain it,” Durant said. “I just feel like if I’m not in the gym working on something, then I am just getting worse.”
Brady offered praise to Durant’s talent over the years: “When you look at players like him, that I’ve been watching for a long time, it’s the consistency that really sets him apart. Obviously, its the elite performance, but its a the consistency of it that is really challenging.”
Brady and Durant shared their thoughts on how to balance work and life outside of their sport. While Durant calls the basketball season a hibernation period, Brady, at 45, compares it to a military deployment.
“I almost look at a football season like I am going away on deployment. And it’s like ‘man, here I go again.’ And there is only one way to do it,” said Brady. “Jim, we’ve talked time to time about enjoying certain moments of it. The reality is that you can only be authentic to yourself …
“When it comes down to it, your competitiveness takes over. And as much as you want to have this playful balance with a work balance, you’re going to end up doing exactly what you’ve always done, which is why you are who you are.”
Contact Analis Bailey at aabailey@usatoday.com or on Twitter @analisbailey.
