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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/04/60minutes/main1014961.shtml
(CBS) In June 2005, 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft sat down for an interview with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The interview took place at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Here is a transcript of that conversation.
STEVE KROFT: You were talking about a conversation you had with your father saying, "You know, I don't know if I'm ever going to get to play here." What changed that?
TOM BRADY: Well, that was my second year. And that's when I kind of really had to evaluate if I wanted to be at Michigan at not, and if I wanted to go play somewhere else, I sure could have. I mean, I think I could have gone to another place and done well. But I had decided for myself that I chose Michigan for a reason, and athletically I thought it was a great place. And academically it was a great place. And I could reach my goals if I figured out how to play football. And that's what I needed to do. I needed to go in and figure out how to play.
KROFT: And you ended up starting your junior year?
BRADY: My fourth year I ended up starting. Brian Griese started our third year, and we went undefeated. I got the opportunity my fourth year. It was tough that fourth year too. I was from California, long ways from Michigan. I had never been heard of. You know, my first year I didn't play. My second year I threw an interception returned for a touchdown. My third year I hardly played because we won a national championship. So, now we're going into my fourth year. And nobody knows who I am. Nobody knows what I'm capable of. It's not like I was highly recruited out of high school. So, all these other kids that had come in and there was one that came in my fourth year who was one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
KROFT: Drew Henson?
BRADY: Drew Henson, had signed with the team, and people knew him. And they wanted him to play.
KROFT: So, you shared the quarterback job?
BRADY: In my fourth year, played pretty much the entire season. He played a few times early on. I think as the year kind of went on I played most of the games. And it was a challenging year, because every time something didn't go right, you know, I was a big part of the problem. And sometimes I was a big part of the problem. Not that you always like to hear that. It was those growing pains. And that same lesson that I said about worrying about things that you can't control. You can't control what other people think. You just can control how I do. As hard as it was to put some things out of my mind I had to do it, or else it would just destroy you unless it'd take you to a point where you didn't have any fun. And it was supposed to be fun.
KROFT: So, you made it all the way up to the starting job?
BRADY: Yeah.
KROFT: You started your senior year at Michigan playing in front of the 100,000 plus people, but still you're coming to the NFL. I mean, you really weren't even a starting quarterback all of your senior year.
BRADY: Right.
KROFT: Did you expect to get drafted?
BRADY: I thought I would get drafted, and I thought I did a pretty good job at some of the all star games and then some of the scouting combines and the workouts. I felt there was some team that was going to be interested. Of course, you always hold out hope that your hometown team would be interested or that you would be selected high. But I think sitting there in front of the TV screen and watching name after name go by I began to think, "Oh man, maybe I didn't impress them as much as I thought I would." And it was tough.
KROFT: So, you weren't not a high draft pick?
BRADY: No, 199th in the end of the sixth round. It was tough. I remember I had a baseball bat in my hand. I so frustrated because as you're watching all these names go by, you know who's going to be picking throughout the round. And I had thought I had an idea maybe the Commanders would take me. You know, maybe the Patriots would take me. And there was a few other teams. And it's like when one of those teams picked, I mean, you were crossing your fingers. And then they didn't pick you. And then you'd look another seven picks and realize that you have no chance of being drafted, so.
KROFT: You went through the whole first day of the draft without hearing your name called?
BRADY: Oh yeah. I guess I didn't expect that a whole lot. I mean, I didn't expect to be picked in the first three rounds. I thought maybe late third round but definitely like fourth or fifth round.
KROFT: And it turned out to be sixth?
BRADY: Yeah, late sixth.
KROFT: Were you depressed?
BRADY: I was. I was. I had my sisters there at the house, and my mom and dad. And as soon as the Patriots had called, everybody was so excited. My dad ran in, and he popped the champagne open and we kind of celebrated. And I was disappointed. But at the same time it was a chance and I knew where I was going to be in. Now, that's where my energy and attention would go to. It would go to this team.
KROFT: The Boston Globe wrote that you would compete for a job on the practice squad (LAUGHTER) not even on the regular team.
BRADY: Not even on the regular team. I had heard that before. I mean, I wasn't supposed to play at Michigan. I wasn't supposed to play in high school. So, those were some of the sentiments.
KROFT: This is the scouting report that was written before the draft. It said, "Poor build, very skinny and narrow, will get pushed down more easily than you'd like. Lacks mobility and the ability to avoid the rush, lacks a really strong arm." It's lucky that you got drafted at all (LAUGHTER) with this report right?
BRADY: Yeah, it kind of all says the same thing doesn't it? I mean, lacks, you know, poor build, it's the same thing. So, basically they're saying that I don't look like an NFL quarterback. So, if they want someone that looks like an NFL quarterback they're going to have to go somewhere else. And, I mean, do I still look an NFL quarterback? I think I've grown into that a little bit more. But at the same time, I haven't changed that much.
KROFT: So, what do you think it was that all these guys missed?
BRADY: I think they underestimated my competitiveness. I think they underestimated how much I really enjoyed playing football. When it's like your priority, when it's something that's very important in your life, when you love to play the game, I mean, that says a lot. And that says that you'll do just about anything to get where you want to go. And that's kind of what I did. I tried as hard as I can. I mean, my off season my first year wasn't spent going on vacation. It was here, working out and watching film and trying to get better. Because these were goals.
KROFT: So, you spent the first year on the practice squad?
BRADY: My first year I was on active roster. [Bill] Belichick kept four quarterbacks. And nobody keeps four quarterbacks. I don't think there's any team in the league since I've been in the league has kept four quarterbacks. But that first year, I was the fourth quarterback. I think there were some things that happened in training camp that he said, "Hey, you know, this guy might be able to play."
KROFT: You said you walked into the coach's office. And you accidentally saw an evaluation report of you?
BRADY: Right.
KROFT: What did it say?
TOM BRADY: It was all the evaluations after my rookie mini-camp. So, you get drafted in April. And the season doesn't start until September. And throughout there's workouts and there are practices. It was in June, late June that we had our mini-camp. I remember they do evaluations after the mini-camp, because there's a lot of new players and they're trying to get a handle on the kind of team they're going to have.
My coach -- unfortunately he passed away the next year, his name was Dick Rehbein -- had a notebook that he left out. I shouldn't be saying this, (LAUGHTER) but you know, I was curious. And I was sitting in their meeting room, and I was watching film, and here's his notebook. And so I kind of opened it up, skimmed through it, and it was all the evaluations. And his said a lot of things. The thing that I remember it says, "Everything he does is slow. He needs to do everything quicker, you know, whether it run, decisions." And it's like I'd heard that my whole life, you know.
I had heard that freshman year when the guy screams from across the field that, you know, I look like I'm in slow motion, you know. At Michigan, you know, that's how I was. And now it's like, "God the same thing, you know. Can I ever get past this?"
KROFT: Well, there's not much you can do about it right? I mean, if you're slow, you're slow.
BRADY: You can improve it, and I have improved it. There's a lot of ways that you can improve it. I'm never going to be fast, and nobody will ever mistake me for being fast. But instead of it being a real liability, you can just kind of neutralize it with some other qualities.
KROFT: By the start of your second year, you'd worked yourself up to number two?
BRADY: By the time the season started, I was the second quarterback, ahead of a guy we had brought in, one of my good friends, Damon Huard, who we brought in to be the second quarterback.
KROFT: And you're backing up a franchise player, one of the best quarterbacks in the league, Drew Bledsoe and very durable?
BRADY: Yeah, I mean, I think he'd missed one game in his career, and he was the leader of this team and was the face of the franchise for great reason. He did a lot of great things for the New England Patriots, and I learned so much from him my first year.
KROFT: And you’re standing on the sideline. And there's a sweep to the right hand side of the field. And he gets nailed?
BRADY: Yeah. I was standing probably 10 or 15 years from him, and he took one of the most vicious hits I've ever seen. When I see it now I don't cringe like I did when I was on the field, but I remember the way that sounded, and it sounded like a car crashed. I mean, it was two bodies, huge bodies running full speed. He got massacred. He's laying on the ground, and I'm next in line. And he gets up. And he's as tough as they come. He's trying to step on his face mask to straighten the face mask out. And he can't remember. He came over and he said, "Hey, how do I call the two minute plays." And I was sitting there, "Oh my God, you know, something ain't right." That's when we went over and told the coach.
KROFT: This was third down? It was a third down play?
BRADY: That was a third down play, yeah.
KROFT: So, he was off the field then anyway?
BRADY: He was off the field. He was trying to get him back into it. But there was no way he was going to go back out there.
KROFT: You knew he was hurt?
BRADY: Oh yeah, he was out of it. I didn't know he was hurt as bad as he was hurt, but I knew he definitely couldn't continue that game.
KROFT: So, then you're out on the field?
BRADY: Yeah. Nobody would have thought that. Nobody would have thought that the second game of that 2001 season I would be out there leading our team. And we didn't win the game. We came in, I think, with a couple of minutes left, and we lost 10-3. But I remember everyone the next day, I remember the newspapers that said, "You know, we'll be lucky to win four games this year. If Brady's in there, they're not going to win anything with Brady. I mean, it's obvious, you know, the coach doesn't know what he's doing. And the other players stink too. So, there's not much to look forward to."
KROFT: And you win 10 out of the next 13?
BRADY: Sure did, finished 11 and 5. And it was a weird year. I mean, we had the September 11th and we had postponed one of the weeks of the season. We had played on the road in the final game to win the division. The team, when you overcome a lot of things, we went down after the second game of the year we beat the Colts, kicked the crap out of the Colts who were one of the best teams in the league. Then we went down to Miami. And I threw for like 72 passing yards, you know. We went to 1 and 3. And the coach came back, Belichick came back. We went out to the practice field. And he had a shovel. And he had a ball. And he said that was the worst game that we could possibly play, and he dug a hole. And he took the ball. And he buried the ball. And he said, "We're done with that game. And we're never thinking about that game again. And we're moving on from here." And sure enough, that team responded.
KROFT: As you're playing and taking the Patriots on this streak, are you thinking, as soon as Bledsoe comes back I'm back on the bench?
BRADY: I didn't. I didn't feel that way.
KROFT: You thought you had the job?
BRADY: I thought I could go in there and do pretty well. It was nothing about Drew. I just knew that when I was out there, I felt really good about being out there. I thought I could help the team win, and I had developed some confidence in the preseason game which is the reason why they elevated me to second quarterback. I mean, it wasn't like they said, "Oh screw it. We'll put Brady in." There was some things that I was doing well, and I had a good grasp of the offense. I had a good grasp of the team. I was in my second year, so, it wasn't like I was trying to do too much. I had a good team around me. All I had to do was to go out there and do my job.
KROFT: So, here you are playing in the NFL, in the playoffs, right?
BRADY: Yeah.
KROFT: And you keep winning. And you end up in the Super Bowl?
BRADY: Uh-huh.
KROFT: Second year in the league, back up quarterback at the start of the season. What was that like?
BRADY: What a crazy five months it was. After the Oakland Raider game, which was two games before the Super Bowl, I got done with the game. And we won. I had 32 voicemail messages on my phone. My life has changed. I mean, people calling me and ticket requests and hotel rooms and how they can come see me play and autographs. And I felt so grateful. I've been in that other position for so long. I was always like the unwanted stepchild. And now it was like, "Hey, you're the golden boy.” We just won a playoff game. So, in a lot of ways I felt like I had to give so much to everybody. And so much of my life from that point on has changed. And it started off that second game of the year.
Through the Super Bowl, I still didn't realize what I was in to. I mean, I was like, "Another game, huh? You know, we beat the Reds, all right. Let's go to Pittsburgh and play them too." And then we beat them. And it was like, "All right, New Orleans and the Super Bowl." I mean, it happened so fast. You can never catch your breath.
KROFT: And you win. Not only did you win, you're the most valuable player?
BRADY: Yeah. There's a picture of that I see all the time. Standing up on the podium, I was looking out at my sisters. And I knew where they were sitting. I saw them before the game, and I had my hands on my head like, "Can you believe what has happened?” I mean, it's so-- it's so surreal. I grew up on a great street in the Bay Area, and they had a block party, I mean, for the Super Bowl, put TVs outside. I mean, it was like what has happened? I mean, you go from the backup quarterback, 0 and 2 to winning the Super Bowl in five months. I mean, you can't write that. There's no script for that. It just doesn't happen.
KROFT: How did it change your life?
BRADY: Well, I had to grow up quick, and I'm still growing up. But there's a lot of hard lessons you learn. You have all these new things that come at you. You have new friends. You have new opportunities. You have the means to go out and do the things you want to do now, all these great things that you wanted, go to restaurants and buy certain things and hang out with certain people. That seems so intriguing. And you go and you try it, you know. And I don't think I was out there too much but definitely more than what my personality is. In a lot of ways you learn how to scale back.
KROFT: You scaled back?
BRADY: I think I've grown into this new life. I mean, there's some things that I'm more comfortable now doing, and there's still things that I'm very uncomfortable doing. I mean, going out to dinner sometimes is -- you know, you've just got to plan things. Going to the movies, going to the gas station. I had a guy who wanted to fight me two days before the Indianapolis game this last year at the gas station. I was trying to pump my gas, and I wouldn't leave the pump to go poke my head in his car. I said, "Guy, I'm just trying to pump gas. I'm not trying to get into a fight here on a Friday before a game."
KROFT: Why did you almost get into a fight?
BRADY: Because he wanted me to poke my head into his car door window and say hi to his kids in the back of his car. I wasn't rude. I don't think I'm a rude a person. I just said, "Hey, I'm pumping my gas. I'll do it when I'm done." And he didn't like that answer.
KROFT: You say it takes planning. What kind of planning? For what reason? Because you get mobbed?
BRADY: I think I have a certain respect for people, you know. And I guess a lot of times I expect that respect to go both ways. That, hey if I'm out to dinner with my sisters, which doesn't happen very often although I'd like it to happen more, how can you have a conversation when you can't ever get a word out with someone not allowing you to do that. And so, what do you do? You make other plans. And I'm not complaining about that. I mean, it's just something you deal with. And I'm dealing with it. And I'm still learning to deal with it.
KROFT: Can you walk around Boston without getting mobbed?
BRADY: I have to usually wear a hat, sunglasses. That helps. And I don't stick around in one place too long. You just kind of always maneuvering around. You know, in Boston, they love their sports celebrities. And it's great. And we do have great support. It's just there's some things in your life you sacrifice, and that's a lot of your personal space.
KROFT: Can you go out to restaurants?
BRADY: If I have the energy to deal with, you know, put a happy face on. Sometimes I don't feel like that.
KROFT: You seem a bit the reluctant star.
BRADY: Well, the problem is, you can't have one without the other. You can't have the football fame and not the other stuff. So, in a lot of ways, I've created this myself. (LAUGHTER)
KROFT: This is what you always wanted?
BRADY: You're right. You're right. And I didn't think it came with all the other baggage though. You know, it's just supposed to be football. When I leave the football field I'm, you know, Tommy Brady, the son of Gaylinn and Tom, and brother of Julie, Nancy and Maureen. And in a lot of ways that's the way I still feel. When I go home I feel that way. And it's great to go home and be yourself, whatever you want to do -- if you want to be angry or pissed off -- you can be that. But you can't be pissed off at a restaurant in Boston because, you know, you just don't want to let into that.
KROFT: You go into a restaurant in Boston. What happens? People come over to the table? People wait outside?
BRADY: Usually yeah, both, and now it's like I have like this vision. I mean, I see everything.
KROFT: Just like the playing field?
BRADY: Yeah, I mean, I walk in. And it's like, "Okay, oh, he didn't notice me. Oh, definitely noticed me, ****," you know. And then I'm looking around. I'm going, "Okay, like I'm going to pretend like I'm not looking now." You can see the people talking. And you can see them reaching into their pockets to get stuff.
KROFT: Reaching for the pen and the paper?
BRADY: Pen and paper and here they come. My sisters see it now too. I have some great friends from California that come out. And they go, "Man, things have changed." (LAUGHTER)
KROFT: This for somebody who barely started in college?
BRADY: That's right.
KROFT: Who barely got recruited?
BRADY: That's right.
KROFT: Have you always been this good and nobody recognized it or what happened? How'd it change?
BRADY: It's been a process. It's not like I can point to any one thing that says, "This is when it happened.” It's not like I was a bad football player in high school, and it wasn't like I was a bad football player in college. I think I came into a great situation here. I think there's been a great coach, a great owner and great teammates. What this team has needed, I feel like I can provide. They don't need me to go out there and play like Michael Vick or Peyton Manning. They need me to go out and bring what I have to the table. And that's how the team is formulated.
What they've asked of me, I can provide. I don't think I can go on every team and provide that. Some teams may not need that. They might need other things that maybe I can't provide. But this place is perfect for me.
KROFT: You've provided three Super Bowls?
BRADY: Yep.
KROFT: What do they need you to do?
BRADY: They need me to be the coach on the field. They need me to play like a coach. They need me to get everybody lined up, get everybody to do the right thing, and to go do my job. They don't ask me to go out and throw 400 yards a game, because that's not what we need to do to win.
KROFT: Have you ever done it?
BRADY: Yeah, I mean, there's times where we have needed it, and we've gone out and done it. And there's time where, you know, we need to go back and win with a couple of minutes left in the game. And we do that. It all depends on the situation. But I never feel going into the game that we'd better score every time we have the ball or else we're going to get beat 63 to 57. I don't think I ever feel like that. And I think that's just the way that knowing what I have on defense, knowing the coaching we have, knowing that everybody's going to be prepared, knowing the offensive skill guys that I have, I mean, that's all ask of me. It's a kind of team full of role players.
(CBS) In June 2005, 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft sat down for an interview with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The interview took place at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Here is a transcript of that conversation.
STEVE KROFT: You were talking about a conversation you had with your father saying, "You know, I don't know if I'm ever going to get to play here." What changed that?
TOM BRADY: Well, that was my second year. And that's when I kind of really had to evaluate if I wanted to be at Michigan at not, and if I wanted to go play somewhere else, I sure could have. I mean, I think I could have gone to another place and done well. But I had decided for myself that I chose Michigan for a reason, and athletically I thought it was a great place. And academically it was a great place. And I could reach my goals if I figured out how to play football. And that's what I needed to do. I needed to go in and figure out how to play.
KROFT: And you ended up starting your junior year?
BRADY: My fourth year I ended up starting. Brian Griese started our third year, and we went undefeated. I got the opportunity my fourth year. It was tough that fourth year too. I was from California, long ways from Michigan. I had never been heard of. You know, my first year I didn't play. My second year I threw an interception returned for a touchdown. My third year I hardly played because we won a national championship. So, now we're going into my fourth year. And nobody knows who I am. Nobody knows what I'm capable of. It's not like I was highly recruited out of high school. So, all these other kids that had come in and there was one that came in my fourth year who was one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
KROFT: Drew Henson?
BRADY: Drew Henson, had signed with the team, and people knew him. And they wanted him to play.
KROFT: So, you shared the quarterback job?
BRADY: In my fourth year, played pretty much the entire season. He played a few times early on. I think as the year kind of went on I played most of the games. And it was a challenging year, because every time something didn't go right, you know, I was a big part of the problem. And sometimes I was a big part of the problem. Not that you always like to hear that. It was those growing pains. And that same lesson that I said about worrying about things that you can't control. You can't control what other people think. You just can control how I do. As hard as it was to put some things out of my mind I had to do it, or else it would just destroy you unless it'd take you to a point where you didn't have any fun. And it was supposed to be fun.
KROFT: So, you made it all the way up to the starting job?
BRADY: Yeah.
KROFT: You started your senior year at Michigan playing in front of the 100,000 plus people, but still you're coming to the NFL. I mean, you really weren't even a starting quarterback all of your senior year.
BRADY: Right.
KROFT: Did you expect to get drafted?
BRADY: I thought I would get drafted, and I thought I did a pretty good job at some of the all star games and then some of the scouting combines and the workouts. I felt there was some team that was going to be interested. Of course, you always hold out hope that your hometown team would be interested or that you would be selected high. But I think sitting there in front of the TV screen and watching name after name go by I began to think, "Oh man, maybe I didn't impress them as much as I thought I would." And it was tough.
KROFT: So, you weren't not a high draft pick?
BRADY: No, 199th in the end of the sixth round. It was tough. I remember I had a baseball bat in my hand. I so frustrated because as you're watching all these names go by, you know who's going to be picking throughout the round. And I had thought I had an idea maybe the Commanders would take me. You know, maybe the Patriots would take me. And there was a few other teams. And it's like when one of those teams picked, I mean, you were crossing your fingers. And then they didn't pick you. And then you'd look another seven picks and realize that you have no chance of being drafted, so.
KROFT: You went through the whole first day of the draft without hearing your name called?
BRADY: Oh yeah. I guess I didn't expect that a whole lot. I mean, I didn't expect to be picked in the first three rounds. I thought maybe late third round but definitely like fourth or fifth round.
KROFT: And it turned out to be sixth?
BRADY: Yeah, late sixth.
KROFT: Were you depressed?
BRADY: I was. I was. I had my sisters there at the house, and my mom and dad. And as soon as the Patriots had called, everybody was so excited. My dad ran in, and he popped the champagne open and we kind of celebrated. And I was disappointed. But at the same time it was a chance and I knew where I was going to be in. Now, that's where my energy and attention would go to. It would go to this team.
KROFT: The Boston Globe wrote that you would compete for a job on the practice squad (LAUGHTER) not even on the regular team.
BRADY: Not even on the regular team. I had heard that before. I mean, I wasn't supposed to play at Michigan. I wasn't supposed to play in high school. So, those were some of the sentiments.
KROFT: This is the scouting report that was written before the draft. It said, "Poor build, very skinny and narrow, will get pushed down more easily than you'd like. Lacks mobility and the ability to avoid the rush, lacks a really strong arm." It's lucky that you got drafted at all (LAUGHTER) with this report right?
BRADY: Yeah, it kind of all says the same thing doesn't it? I mean, lacks, you know, poor build, it's the same thing. So, basically they're saying that I don't look like an NFL quarterback. So, if they want someone that looks like an NFL quarterback they're going to have to go somewhere else. And, I mean, do I still look an NFL quarterback? I think I've grown into that a little bit more. But at the same time, I haven't changed that much.
KROFT: So, what do you think it was that all these guys missed?
BRADY: I think they underestimated my competitiveness. I think they underestimated how much I really enjoyed playing football. When it's like your priority, when it's something that's very important in your life, when you love to play the game, I mean, that says a lot. And that says that you'll do just about anything to get where you want to go. And that's kind of what I did. I tried as hard as I can. I mean, my off season my first year wasn't spent going on vacation. It was here, working out and watching film and trying to get better. Because these were goals.
KROFT: So, you spent the first year on the practice squad?
BRADY: My first year I was on active roster. [Bill] Belichick kept four quarterbacks. And nobody keeps four quarterbacks. I don't think there's any team in the league since I've been in the league has kept four quarterbacks. But that first year, I was the fourth quarterback. I think there were some things that happened in training camp that he said, "Hey, you know, this guy might be able to play."
KROFT: You said you walked into the coach's office. And you accidentally saw an evaluation report of you?
BRADY: Right.
KROFT: What did it say?
TOM BRADY: It was all the evaluations after my rookie mini-camp. So, you get drafted in April. And the season doesn't start until September. And throughout there's workouts and there are practices. It was in June, late June that we had our mini-camp. I remember they do evaluations after the mini-camp, because there's a lot of new players and they're trying to get a handle on the kind of team they're going to have.
My coach -- unfortunately he passed away the next year, his name was Dick Rehbein -- had a notebook that he left out. I shouldn't be saying this, (LAUGHTER) but you know, I was curious. And I was sitting in their meeting room, and I was watching film, and here's his notebook. And so I kind of opened it up, skimmed through it, and it was all the evaluations. And his said a lot of things. The thing that I remember it says, "Everything he does is slow. He needs to do everything quicker, you know, whether it run, decisions." And it's like I'd heard that my whole life, you know.
I had heard that freshman year when the guy screams from across the field that, you know, I look like I'm in slow motion, you know. At Michigan, you know, that's how I was. And now it's like, "God the same thing, you know. Can I ever get past this?"
KROFT: Well, there's not much you can do about it right? I mean, if you're slow, you're slow.
BRADY: You can improve it, and I have improved it. There's a lot of ways that you can improve it. I'm never going to be fast, and nobody will ever mistake me for being fast. But instead of it being a real liability, you can just kind of neutralize it with some other qualities.
KROFT: By the start of your second year, you'd worked yourself up to number two?
BRADY: By the time the season started, I was the second quarterback, ahead of a guy we had brought in, one of my good friends, Damon Huard, who we brought in to be the second quarterback.
KROFT: And you're backing up a franchise player, one of the best quarterbacks in the league, Drew Bledsoe and very durable?
BRADY: Yeah, I mean, I think he'd missed one game in his career, and he was the leader of this team and was the face of the franchise for great reason. He did a lot of great things for the New England Patriots, and I learned so much from him my first year.
KROFT: And you’re standing on the sideline. And there's a sweep to the right hand side of the field. And he gets nailed?
BRADY: Yeah. I was standing probably 10 or 15 years from him, and he took one of the most vicious hits I've ever seen. When I see it now I don't cringe like I did when I was on the field, but I remember the way that sounded, and it sounded like a car crashed. I mean, it was two bodies, huge bodies running full speed. He got massacred. He's laying on the ground, and I'm next in line. And he gets up. And he's as tough as they come. He's trying to step on his face mask to straighten the face mask out. And he can't remember. He came over and he said, "Hey, how do I call the two minute plays." And I was sitting there, "Oh my God, you know, something ain't right." That's when we went over and told the coach.
KROFT: This was third down? It was a third down play?
BRADY: That was a third down play, yeah.
KROFT: So, he was off the field then anyway?
BRADY: He was off the field. He was trying to get him back into it. But there was no way he was going to go back out there.
KROFT: You knew he was hurt?
BRADY: Oh yeah, he was out of it. I didn't know he was hurt as bad as he was hurt, but I knew he definitely couldn't continue that game.
KROFT: So, then you're out on the field?
BRADY: Yeah. Nobody would have thought that. Nobody would have thought that the second game of that 2001 season I would be out there leading our team. And we didn't win the game. We came in, I think, with a couple of minutes left, and we lost 10-3. But I remember everyone the next day, I remember the newspapers that said, "You know, we'll be lucky to win four games this year. If Brady's in there, they're not going to win anything with Brady. I mean, it's obvious, you know, the coach doesn't know what he's doing. And the other players stink too. So, there's not much to look forward to."
KROFT: And you win 10 out of the next 13?
BRADY: Sure did, finished 11 and 5. And it was a weird year. I mean, we had the September 11th and we had postponed one of the weeks of the season. We had played on the road in the final game to win the division. The team, when you overcome a lot of things, we went down after the second game of the year we beat the Colts, kicked the crap out of the Colts who were one of the best teams in the league. Then we went down to Miami. And I threw for like 72 passing yards, you know. We went to 1 and 3. And the coach came back, Belichick came back. We went out to the practice field. And he had a shovel. And he had a ball. And he said that was the worst game that we could possibly play, and he dug a hole. And he took the ball. And he buried the ball. And he said, "We're done with that game. And we're never thinking about that game again. And we're moving on from here." And sure enough, that team responded.
KROFT: As you're playing and taking the Patriots on this streak, are you thinking, as soon as Bledsoe comes back I'm back on the bench?
BRADY: I didn't. I didn't feel that way.
KROFT: You thought you had the job?
BRADY: I thought I could go in there and do pretty well. It was nothing about Drew. I just knew that when I was out there, I felt really good about being out there. I thought I could help the team win, and I had developed some confidence in the preseason game which is the reason why they elevated me to second quarterback. I mean, it wasn't like they said, "Oh screw it. We'll put Brady in." There was some things that I was doing well, and I had a good grasp of the offense. I had a good grasp of the team. I was in my second year, so, it wasn't like I was trying to do too much. I had a good team around me. All I had to do was to go out there and do my job.
KROFT: So, here you are playing in the NFL, in the playoffs, right?
BRADY: Yeah.
KROFT: And you keep winning. And you end up in the Super Bowl?
BRADY: Uh-huh.
KROFT: Second year in the league, back up quarterback at the start of the season. What was that like?
BRADY: What a crazy five months it was. After the Oakland Raider game, which was two games before the Super Bowl, I got done with the game. And we won. I had 32 voicemail messages on my phone. My life has changed. I mean, people calling me and ticket requests and hotel rooms and how they can come see me play and autographs. And I felt so grateful. I've been in that other position for so long. I was always like the unwanted stepchild. And now it was like, "Hey, you're the golden boy.” We just won a playoff game. So, in a lot of ways I felt like I had to give so much to everybody. And so much of my life from that point on has changed. And it started off that second game of the year.
Through the Super Bowl, I still didn't realize what I was in to. I mean, I was like, "Another game, huh? You know, we beat the Reds, all right. Let's go to Pittsburgh and play them too." And then we beat them. And it was like, "All right, New Orleans and the Super Bowl." I mean, it happened so fast. You can never catch your breath.
KROFT: And you win. Not only did you win, you're the most valuable player?
BRADY: Yeah. There's a picture of that I see all the time. Standing up on the podium, I was looking out at my sisters. And I knew where they were sitting. I saw them before the game, and I had my hands on my head like, "Can you believe what has happened?” I mean, it's so-- it's so surreal. I grew up on a great street in the Bay Area, and they had a block party, I mean, for the Super Bowl, put TVs outside. I mean, it was like what has happened? I mean, you go from the backup quarterback, 0 and 2 to winning the Super Bowl in five months. I mean, you can't write that. There's no script for that. It just doesn't happen.
KROFT: How did it change your life?
BRADY: Well, I had to grow up quick, and I'm still growing up. But there's a lot of hard lessons you learn. You have all these new things that come at you. You have new friends. You have new opportunities. You have the means to go out and do the things you want to do now, all these great things that you wanted, go to restaurants and buy certain things and hang out with certain people. That seems so intriguing. And you go and you try it, you know. And I don't think I was out there too much but definitely more than what my personality is. In a lot of ways you learn how to scale back.
KROFT: You scaled back?
BRADY: I think I've grown into this new life. I mean, there's some things that I'm more comfortable now doing, and there's still things that I'm very uncomfortable doing. I mean, going out to dinner sometimes is -- you know, you've just got to plan things. Going to the movies, going to the gas station. I had a guy who wanted to fight me two days before the Indianapolis game this last year at the gas station. I was trying to pump my gas, and I wouldn't leave the pump to go poke my head in his car. I said, "Guy, I'm just trying to pump gas. I'm not trying to get into a fight here on a Friday before a game."
KROFT: Why did you almost get into a fight?
BRADY: Because he wanted me to poke my head into his car door window and say hi to his kids in the back of his car. I wasn't rude. I don't think I'm a rude a person. I just said, "Hey, I'm pumping my gas. I'll do it when I'm done." And he didn't like that answer.
KROFT: You say it takes planning. What kind of planning? For what reason? Because you get mobbed?
BRADY: I think I have a certain respect for people, you know. And I guess a lot of times I expect that respect to go both ways. That, hey if I'm out to dinner with my sisters, which doesn't happen very often although I'd like it to happen more, how can you have a conversation when you can't ever get a word out with someone not allowing you to do that. And so, what do you do? You make other plans. And I'm not complaining about that. I mean, it's just something you deal with. And I'm dealing with it. And I'm still learning to deal with it.
KROFT: Can you walk around Boston without getting mobbed?
BRADY: I have to usually wear a hat, sunglasses. That helps. And I don't stick around in one place too long. You just kind of always maneuvering around. You know, in Boston, they love their sports celebrities. And it's great. And we do have great support. It's just there's some things in your life you sacrifice, and that's a lot of your personal space.
KROFT: Can you go out to restaurants?
BRADY: If I have the energy to deal with, you know, put a happy face on. Sometimes I don't feel like that.
KROFT: You seem a bit the reluctant star.
BRADY: Well, the problem is, you can't have one without the other. You can't have the football fame and not the other stuff. So, in a lot of ways, I've created this myself. (LAUGHTER)
KROFT: This is what you always wanted?
BRADY: You're right. You're right. And I didn't think it came with all the other baggage though. You know, it's just supposed to be football. When I leave the football field I'm, you know, Tommy Brady, the son of Gaylinn and Tom, and brother of Julie, Nancy and Maureen. And in a lot of ways that's the way I still feel. When I go home I feel that way. And it's great to go home and be yourself, whatever you want to do -- if you want to be angry or pissed off -- you can be that. But you can't be pissed off at a restaurant in Boston because, you know, you just don't want to let into that.
KROFT: You go into a restaurant in Boston. What happens? People come over to the table? People wait outside?
BRADY: Usually yeah, both, and now it's like I have like this vision. I mean, I see everything.
KROFT: Just like the playing field?
BRADY: Yeah, I mean, I walk in. And it's like, "Okay, oh, he didn't notice me. Oh, definitely noticed me, ****," you know. And then I'm looking around. I'm going, "Okay, like I'm going to pretend like I'm not looking now." You can see the people talking. And you can see them reaching into their pockets to get stuff.
KROFT: Reaching for the pen and the paper?
BRADY: Pen and paper and here they come. My sisters see it now too. I have some great friends from California that come out. And they go, "Man, things have changed." (LAUGHTER)
KROFT: This for somebody who barely started in college?
BRADY: That's right.
KROFT: Who barely got recruited?
BRADY: That's right.
KROFT: Have you always been this good and nobody recognized it or what happened? How'd it change?
BRADY: It's been a process. It's not like I can point to any one thing that says, "This is when it happened.” It's not like I was a bad football player in high school, and it wasn't like I was a bad football player in college. I think I came into a great situation here. I think there's been a great coach, a great owner and great teammates. What this team has needed, I feel like I can provide. They don't need me to go out there and play like Michael Vick or Peyton Manning. They need me to go out and bring what I have to the table. And that's how the team is formulated.
What they've asked of me, I can provide. I don't think I can go on every team and provide that. Some teams may not need that. They might need other things that maybe I can't provide. But this place is perfect for me.
KROFT: You've provided three Super Bowls?
BRADY: Yep.
KROFT: What do they need you to do?
BRADY: They need me to be the coach on the field. They need me to play like a coach. They need me to get everybody lined up, get everybody to do the right thing, and to go do my job. They don't ask me to go out and throw 400 yards a game, because that's not what we need to do to win.
KROFT: Have you ever done it?
BRADY: Yeah, I mean, there's times where we have needed it, and we've gone out and done it. And there's time where, you know, we need to go back and win with a couple of minutes left in the game. And we do that. It all depends on the situation. But I never feel going into the game that we'd better score every time we have the ball or else we're going to get beat 63 to 57. I don't think I ever feel like that. And I think that's just the way that knowing what I have on defense, knowing the coaching we have, knowing that everybody's going to be prepared, knowing the offensive skill guys that I have, I mean, that's all ask of me. It's a kind of team full of role players.
