Tom Brady has been the face of the NFL for two decades, during which time he has achieved unparalleled success. Nine Super Bowl appearances, six Super Bowl titles, and four Super Bowl MVPs.
While Brady’s on-field accomplishments are beyond reproach, he’s made a few blunders along the way – especially this year – and hasn’t really been criticized for them.
New York Daily News NFL insider Pat Leonard believes there’s a reason for that.
“I think everybody is trying to get in line for their press pass to the Super Bowl to watch him win his seventh ring,” Leonard said on The DA Show. “Everybody’s kissing the rings. I understand why it’s a feel-good story if he wins. It’s a unique story. It’s one of the most interesting stories as far as Brady leaving New England, New England not wanting him back, him wanting a fresh start, Rob Gronkowski comes out of retirement – yeah, of course, it’s exciting. It’s interesting.”
Brady, however, has had a few missteps this season. He didn’t shake Nick Foles’ hand after the Buccaneers’ 20-19 loss to the Bears in Week 5. He also didn’t know what down it was on the game’s final sequence.
“If Aaron Rodgers or Odell Beckham or Lamar Jackson was refusing to shake people’s hands after a loss; was forgetting what down it was in a defeat in the fourth quarter, like Brady did against the Bears; if they were posting COVID untruths on Instagram and on Twitter; if they were housing Antonio Brown with their family in order to bring this clown back into the NFL, I would think everybody would have something to say about that, that the morning shows would be lined with people blasting these guys for putting themselves in front of the team, for being selfish, for not understanding what it means to be an NFL player and a good teammate in the locker room,” Leonard said. “But when Tom Brady does it, [it’s], ‘Hey, look how much he wants to win. Look how much passion he has.’”
We’ve seen this many times throughout Brady’s career.
“It goes back for years when he has these eruptions on the sideline – and Odell hits a kicking net and he’s a nut, but when Tom Brady screams at everybody and throws his helmet, he’s passionate,” Leonard said. “There’s different rules for different people, but this coverage of Brady – or lack of coverage, I should say – is so over the top. I mentioned it, but when he didn’t shake Foles’ hand and he forgot it was fourth down – and that story was out of the headlines by noon the next day on a nationally televised game – I was apoplectic. I couldn’t believe it. . . . Is this the softest coverage of someone in the NFL – and in pro sports – that I’ve seen in recent years?”
Why are so many media members reticent to critique Brady? Leonard has a theory.
“I think everyone is trying to get close to him so that when he wins – or if he wins – the Super Bowl this year, which he won’t, that they can get the book deal with him,” Leonard said. “You can’t even get the interview with him on the field probably after the Super Bowl. You’re going to have to Zoom with him from your couch. So what does it matter if you just call it like it is?”