Tom Brady + Stephen A talk broadcasting, NFL’s top QBs, greatness, more live from Fanatics Fest

welcome to this special edition of the Stephen A Smith show although as always I'm coming at you at the very least three days a week over the digital Airways of YouTube and of course iHeart Radio I'm calling this a special edition because of who I'm going to spend the next hour talking to you know when you're in the presence of greatness it's not just about being in awe of someone and their accomplishments it's about figuring out what makes them tick it's about trying to decipher and comprehend what makes them so special why did they stand out above the crowd what was it about them that made them so special what can I peel from them in order to contaminate myself with and ultimately be the best that I can be anytime I'm in the presence of the one and only Tom Brady that seven time Super Bowl champion that three-time League MVP that guy that's exactly the kind of attitude that I have it's not just because he threw a football so exceptionally well it was because of his commitment to Excellence his attention to detail his Never Say Die attitude the commitment to to the process that's who Tom Brady is that's who he's always been that to one quarterback after another tries to emulate he's also the guy that will be talking about those quarterbacks in that fox booth for the first time this season jump starting a 10year contract with Fox he is special make no mistake about it very few know more football than he does so when he speaks it would be wise for all of us to listen that includes me Tom Brady with yours truly up next right here on the Stephen A Smith show I'm going to introduce love him or hate him you know his name one of the most if not the most iconic figures in sports media ladies and gentlemen put your hands together for Stephen A [Applause] Smith what's up everybody ah what's up everybody how y'all doing I appreciate the love and support I love y'all watching me on TV every day but damn it I'm not box office the person that I'm bringing up here next that's the man whose box office I'm going to waste very very little time a seven time Champion the greatest quarterback in the history of the National Football League soon to be one of the elite football analyst we've ever heard the one and only Tom Brady's in the house ladies and gentlemen what's [Applause] up what's [Music] up what's happening this is this is nice it's not bad this is a little surprising to me I wasn't quite expecting this I walked out I'm not where it show up [Music] Tom Brady the obvious question looking at a crowd like this out here obviously this ain't Gillette Stadium but it's still a large crowd how much did you miss it wow first of all thank you for being here with you who I love spending time with and whether we talk on the phone or on some of your shows always enjoy hearing your Insight we've known each other a long time and now we get to keep it going now that I'm in media and obviously great being with you guys who are the fans who keep all this going for us athletes and I think it's very cool what Fanatics has done as kind of a celebration of you guys to hopefully reward you guys and bring a lot of great athletes together with a lot of the hobbies that you guys are really involved in so I think for me love you man I got here I got here yesterday I was hitting hockey pucks swinging baseball bats throwing footballs throwing punches so I hope you guys get to experience a lot of that over the next few days but I think it's really cool what Fanatics has done and how they're pulling things together so and all the Patriot fans in here who drove down from New England well there's some Jets fans here too and hopefully a few Tampa fans in here but it's nice for everyone to turn up here we go right love that too what what is life like right now for a seven time Champion that's retired I mean I I I mean I'm not talking about work I'm just talking about when you talk about was it basketball your lifting weight I mean what your tb12 we'll get in all of that because you're in pretty damn good shape right now but I got to ask you what is life like in retirement I tell you I'm retired from football but I'm busier than ever in life all right and I just had a lot of great things going on still mostly involved in sports and I think that's where I've spent the last 33 years of my life from going back from high school sports all the way through now and I get a chance to Now cover it for Fox this year and still be involved in football in a real intimate way so I'm back to watching film I'm back to kind of doing things the way that I used to do them and the way that I was got really efficient and effective over a long period of time so I got a lot of things that keep me busy and still trying to be a great dad and be there for my kids so I think between everything it's a little busier and all the parents out there know what it's a challenge to be a good parent so we all appreciate and all the kids hope you appreciate your parents too because there's a lot of work they put in to make your life a little bit easier I got to ask you this question it's really on a personal level because for me I'm a dad I got two beautiful daughters and what I've learned is I have no rights whatsoever I mean they they just my daughters run my life they like you know Dad just stop arguing you know you're just going to do what we want you to do when all is said and done is that what life is like for you absolutely yes that is exactly wa they call me I know there's a request cuz when they don't call I don't hear from them and when I don't hear from them I know they don't want anything that's right so they just show up and they say Dad can I do this I want to go to here and can we do this so it's yeah providing them and I think as a parent naturally that's my dad man my dad every time I asked him Dad can we go to the batting cage Dad can we go up and throw the football around he was always there and available and I think one thing that I try to be as a parent is that for my kids when they really want you to do something go out there and do it with them you know this is an interesting part because every Hall of Famer that I've ever heard speak they always throw an apology out there to their family because they say all the dedication the commitment to Excellence trying to win we made so many sacrifices that you know what we missed out on so much but here's the thing with the kids they're fine with it but they make you feel guilty because they're working you to try to get everything they can out of you do you find that to be the case absolutely I think a lot of it is they're going to grow up one day they're going to have to have their own job they're going to have to dedicate their own time they get a sense of that with school and I think as my kids got a little older and maybe your daughter is the same I think my oldest at least when I say hey I got to do something he goes absolutely dad go for it so I think they begin to appreciate and hopefully as they get older and they start to have the responsibilities of an adult you know when you're working hard to to to be a dad and also to provide for the family that does come at being away a bit being really focused on my job and I think that the kids when they have to their responsibilities and they got homework and they got now they got choices well I understand that you can't do everything all the time and every request that's made is impossible so um I think during football season it's going to go now that football season's coming up I'll have a little less time on the weekend which I'm happy about I'm happy to really excited to cover football really excited to give insight to you guys who tune in to watch who have been great football fans and really anxious for you guys to see things through my eyes and I get to express it on TV for a lot of years going forward everybody knows it's not a secret you you signed a 10-year deal with fox or whatever what made you decide I know I want to do that I want to be calling football games I want to be giv coling commentary I want to be a commentator on football games when did you make the decision that that was something you wanted to do it wasn't really even on the radar when I retired and I didn't even think that when I would retire that's something I would go into but had saw teammates go into it with a great degree of success Teddy brusi is one that I really love on television great great that's my guy uh Willie mcginness is another one that on NFL Network I thought did a great job Rodney Harrison har great job on NBC so I kind of looked at them and realized they were great leaders of the team how can they get on there Express their views on television to really spread their positive outlook on what football has meant to them and as they look for forward what it can do for a lot of people and they were so successful at so when I retired it was just met with Fox and they said this is what we think we want you to do and didn't realize that type of opportunity was out there and then I couldn't turn it down when when I when they said hey you're going to be the the lead analyst and I thought okay you know what I still get to be a quarterback because in some ways now I'm just quarterbacking something a little bit different but in the end you're sitting in that hot seat you're in the the one calling the shots and that's where I like be that's where I'm most comfortable anybody in particular that you enjoyed watching and listening to that you kind of think you might potentially mirror yourself after because Tony Romo for example does a great great job on CBS there John Madden made the position famous for many years doing Monday Night Football doing Sunday football with Pat Summerall for years before he Monday night anybody that stood out in your mind that you said you know what that guy is great I wish I could be that good if I decide to do this so it's interesting because as a quarterback when I would watch football games when I was a an active player I would really only watch the quarterback and I'd watch how he was playing how he reacted the defense I really wasn't listening much to what was going on on the TV because whatever they said I only had my own View and judgment I would say in the last 18 months right it's totally transitioned to now I could care less what the quarterback's doing I'm still watching but I'm really listening to what's going on between the two people the analyst and the play-by-play uh play-by-play guys so for me it's probably taken a little bit of a lot of them and I don't think there's anyone in particular other than I've reached out to a lot of different people Troy Amman and Collinsworth and I talked to a lot of people Tony obviously and I think I like little bits and pieces of each of them um and they're all very talented and they're all very different so how my style ends up kind of being presented that would be to be determined but I think for me it's going to be unique to me and I think I do have I feel unique insights based on my experiences as a as a six round pick as someone who got injured who someone was a third string on the quarterback then a backup on the depth chart then went in because of injury then won Super Bowls lost Super Bowls didn't make the playoffs made the playoffs all these experiences that I had free agency being on a new team integrating yourself into a new environment playing in different weather conditions there's so many different things that I was able to be a part of that I can relate to kind of this current generation of athletes that are going out there trying to make their dream come true what type of analyst can we I mean I'm asking I mean as a personality what kind of a personality can we expect to see from Tom Brady I think it'll feel most probably very authentic to my natural self okay I would say my biggest challenge is that I'm very critical of the play in the NFL okay and I think because I was very critical about the way I played in the NFL and I was very critical about the way that our team played in the NFL and I I think the expectations for performance that I had were very very very high so the most challenging thing is when I see something when I think oh that was horrible right I just can't say that on TV why not well because there's parents and you know there's there's parents and there's family members and I don't want to always necessarily say it in that way okay but I think if okay if I was doing it myself and let's say I threw a really bad interception I would walk to the sidelines I said you are the worst quarterback in the world how could you possibly make that throw that was terrible right but I just don't want to be so critical because in some ways I don't necessarily know exactly what the problem was on that play if let's say Daniel Jones throws an interception I didn't mean to say it like that that's what I'm trying to say that's what I'm trying to say wait a minute that's what I'm trying to say t I wasn't even being critical of Daniel Jones right maybe I was a little bit there that's what I'm saying and and not only that because of your expertise we can guess and we can speculate on what we're seeing and ultimately lean on the result you'll know specifically what the hell somebody did wrong and why yeah and you going to dial it back or you going to bring it yeah I I don't think I'm going to dial it back to make something that was negative into a neutral or a positive I think if something's not good I'm going to point it out why it's not good and how it can be better right that's the important part is you know and I think a lot of it even the criticism of a player versus the criticism of a play is very different just because someone is attached to the negative aspect of a play doesn't mean mean you're being negative toward that player right look anyone who's playing in the NFL is a talented player anybody who is making a living playing professional sport Sports is at the 1% of the 1% of the 1% they're all great that doesn't mean what they do is great all the time right being a great player is about making great plays consistently over the course of a week of a game of a season of a career you if you tell me someone's a great player it doesn't mean he makes great plays all the time I could make bad plays I just make a lot more great plays and bad plays you know what even a even a very average player can make great plays the is they make a great play then they make a negative play great play negative play well in that case you are average cuz great an A and an F ends up being a c and I think for a great player you should aspire to mostly A's definitely some B's every once in a while some C's and very very rarely you know the D's and the fs so to speak why the Hiatus you you retired from football but you weren't calling games you weren't doing analytical work on the games last year you want did you want the year toep did you just want a year off why didn't we see you doing this last season so 23 years of playing was a grind that was a treadmill that that treadmill was moving very very fast for a long period of time and the reality is I was I was definitely tired from that physical exhaustion and the mental exhaustion I wanted to take a year if I was going to be I realized that if I want to be really great at this and I know you're someone I look up to the commitment you've made to be great there's a lot of energy there's there a lot of time there's a lot of emotion there's a lot of focus and I needed to divert a little bit of that attention and focus to the other things in my life that needed some attention so I wanted to commit as much as I could to reorganizing my life and again um coach belich always had a great line during the season right it was I know he's an amazing coach and he would always say just there's should be a drawer at your desk and everything that comes to that inbox every request you get just put it in the drawer for six months it can wait and when the season's over open up that drawer and handle the stuff that you need to handle now we couldn't do that all the time because we're all in life and things are happening but I had a 23y old 23-year old drawer and that thing was full and I needed I think 18 months to unpack that drawer see what the hell was in that drawer stuff I yeah there was a few trophies in there but I had to unpack that drawer and then figure out really what needed attention and really where I could reorganize some things to make sure the next 23 years of my life went the way that I wanted let me deviate off of you for a second and ask you a question about this individual you brought up Bill bich sir I looked at him and I said to somebody on one hand when he was out on the open market and you saw these networks talking about him or whatever I'm like why would somebody want to bring him on because he never wanted to talk before so why would he want to talk now but then I said to myself wait a minute because he never wanted to talk before now you might everybody might be interested in what he has to say when he does talk what mindset do you have when it comes to bill bich being in television well the difference is they paid him to coach they didn't pay him to talk now they're paying him to talk gotta so he's going to do what he's being paid for and he realized that every time he talked when a coach the only thing he could do is get you into problems right because the last thing we wanted to do as an athlete was go out there and tell all those players on the other team exactly what our plan was and if anything we wanted to we were going into that battle we wanted you know our game strategy we didn't want you to know anything and there's coaches like Andy Reid who are lot like that he won't tell you anything you talk to him he's not saying anything he's talking to you in circles so I think what I appreciated about Coach belich as a player was he really told us and gave us the opportunity to make sure that we could put things back on him to say hey this is just not what we do as a team we're not going to get up here talk about and try to prove to you guys how smart we are by talking about what our game plan is at the end of the day we wanted our Focus to be on the game we were going to let ultimately the result of the game speak for oursel rather than try to win the press conference all the time try to be liked ultimately we want to go out there and give ourselves the best chance to win because listen this is what I did when I was a player I would get all the clippings from every local report that we were going to play so if we were playing the Jets I had the all the New York papers sending at our football faod all the quotes from all the Jets players over the course of the whole week because well because they're going to tell you what they're going to do gotcha and I think for me okay the more information that they were going to give me I was going to take that information at least be able to anticipate go out there and play with confidence as a player that okay I got a good idea what their strategy is going to be to try to stop us and then you just that's the c i game of sports I you're going to tell me what I'm going to do great and I we'll those things out within the first quarter or so but at the same time if we can go in there with better preparation than them and part of the preparation was learning from the things that they were saying right well that was the best thing you could do and I look at bill bich and I and listen everybody knows I love trolling the Dallas Cowboy fans I just do I just love it it's just it just it just does something for me it's Christmas they give me Christmas early every year okay this is what they do but the thing about it is that genuinely speaking I honestly felt that was the one place that would have been perfect for Bill bich once you departed because my attitude is all Jerry Jones wants to do is talk to the media all Bill bellich wants to do is coach and not talk to the media it would have been a matchmade in heaven I thought they passed an opportunity when you look at bill bich and his greatness as a coach coaching you all of those years do you think the Cowboys missed out on him not being a coach for them do you think everybody that could have had an opportunity missed out what's your thought about teams passing up on hiring him I think without a doubt he's the greatest coach to ever coach in the history of the NFL and and sitting in a in a meeting room with him for 20 years there is no coach that I felt more prepared by than coach Bill bich and I think that's the only thing you can ask for as a player once that coach prepares you and they walk you out on the field that coin flip MH then the coach has very little to say in game day we then it's up to us and we have to take the things that we've studied that we practiced over the course of the week now we got to go out there and execute it but what you expect from a player is that when you tell me to do something when you tell me to count on something when we Design This play Then ultimately when I go out there on the field I can count on and I can Bank on that that is absolutely supposed to happen now sometimes if you're playing another coach that's equally a skilled they're going to have some counterattacks to your attacks and you got to be able to be prepared for those but I think he prepared us so well and if I would look at any of these organizations who have any head coaching vacancies bill bellich to me is a no-brainer now he's going to come and he's going to be authoritative and he's going to have his own way of doing things and you got to be okay with that but when I'm looking at a coach to prepare a team he's an incredible coach and and I think Mike McCarthy's an incredible coach too so coach to the cowboys he's at 12- win Seasons I know people talk about him all the time but he's a football guy too that's all he wants to talk his football and he's a good fit for that organization as well so I think that's ultimately what the role the coaches the coaches to me that are the ones that are giving all the information away spending more time giving information away to the public than they are to the players those are the ones that I have a problem with okay everybody you know what time it is it's time for Stephen A's weekly picks you see I've teamed up with priz picks to bring you my favorite picks for every big time game or sporting event prize picks is a skill-based real money daily fantasy sports game where you select two or more players and predict if they'll have more or less than their stat projections for the game it's not only super excited but incredibly easy to play and guess what it only takes only 60 seconds to make your picks okay pick the stats for Caitlyn Clark Dak Prescott Otani or even Tiger Woods and then sit back watch and chill sign up with code SAS and Prospects will give you $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup your lineup doesn't need to win or receive the $50 bonus it's guaranteed all you have to do is play a $5 lineup on prize picks and you'll get $50 instantly now let's look at today's winning picks okay let's go with Xander Bogarts more or less in one and a half hits runs RB San Diego floring doing their thing the brother can ball I'm going to give him love I'm going to go with more okay more show he Otani more less than two have hits runs plus rbi's as great as this dude is I never imagined in my wildest dreams we'd see somebody this good I'm watching him the other day smack a couple of home runs his bat speed is phenomenal and oh by the way he hasn't even pitched this season that's next season so just look at what the Dodgers got on their hands right now this brother is something special make no mistake about it we're going with more because it's sh Otani that's why JD Martinez more less than one and a half hits runs plus RBI I know you seeing with the Dodgers have but he's a member of the Mets right now okay with the New York Mets they're not the Yankees maybe that's the excuse I'm going with less but it's just that on this particular day I don't feel that more is the way to go with him so I'm going to go with less and by the way Ellie DEA Cruz more or less than one and a half hits runs RB's he's special special talent every time I see him I think about more more more cuz he's got that kind of skill set I'm going to go with more so let's go back and revisit this okay we got Bogarts more we've got Otani more we got De La Cruz more we got Martinez less every now and then some people register less than what you expected them to that's the way it goes that's the way it goes but it's still more for the most part that's what you get when you play ball with priz picks when I look at the National Football League obviously it's incredibly more complicated than other sports to play I'm not trying to say that a manager for Major League Baseball doesn't have responsibilities a head coach for the NBA doesn't have responsibilities but you can ultimately give them the ball and say take me there I can't swing the bat for you Aaron judge you got to do that I can't shoot a j for you Steph Curry you got to do that but in football it's so much more difficult so in regards to that I get it but I still lean on what Nick Sabin talked to me about because I've had the pleasure of having private conversations with Nick saen and he talked about leadership and being a leader of men how important is that in today's NFL compared to what it was back in the day your estimation yeah so I'm not going to give up on the fact of leadership and being leader of men is one of the critical components to being a great player quarterback coach owner we all need more leaders in this world we all need more people that are you know worried about Solutions than complaints we need more leaders that are willing to step up and do more than do less that are willing to push people to be more disciplined than less disciplined we need more people to be team focused than less self-focused if we want to be successful in anything it takes a team full of people and a team full of people can't always be worried about what's in it for them all the time right in all my experiences in in all my experiences in sports whether it was high school sports college sports Pro Sports the greatest team we had you woke up every day and you went in there saying what can I do to help the team win not what can the team do for me to promote myself as an individual and we played teams that were more interested in being Pro Bowl players than Super Bowl players and to me there was a big difference between being a star and being a champion and champions do what it takes to win every single day no matter what it is there's no job that's too big or too small for a champion so here's a question and this begs the question and and list we having we here Fanatics F we're having a good time I'm not going to mention any names but throughout history there has been D I say some Pradas some me me me kind of players that have shown up on football teams and we won't mention any names okay what would Tom Brady have done with a teammate like that well that's a great question and and typically it is the receiver position where that comes from and can I explain why those poor guys they stand out 23 yards from everyone else every single play and we break the Huddle and there's five linemen who are all in it together and the tight ends part of the o line and the quarterbacks part of that group and the running back's right behind us and then those receivers got to run 23 yards away and the only person they talk to all game is the corner and that corner's talking smack the whole game to them and believe me that corner is away from everybody else too so you got these two guys out there 25 yard from the center and the only thing they do is talk to each other man when are they going to throw you the ball I'm going to throw throw me the ball in this play and they just go back and forth all game so they get a little angry when the ball doesn't come their way so I think part of it is understanding that particular position in the NFL always has an inherent degree of selfishness because look they want and I would say that's not always a negative they want to help you win the game right they want you they want to tribute they don't want to go through a losing game and then look at their stat sheet and I was targeted two times you have Tyreek Hill you have Justin Jefferson you have Jamar chase you don't want to lose a game and look over and see those guys were targeted once or twice in the game you want to try to feed them the ball and believe me if I was a quarterback I'd be wanting to feed them the ball too good defenses that they try to take them away and I don't think the receivers always necessarily understand that that's right I try to tell them you don't understand when they have a certain defense called they're sometimes putting one and a half players on you and sometimes two players and at that case I got to throw to somebody else that has a better matchup now when you get a true one-on-one we're going to get you the ball just like every Bo just like basketball if they got two on LeBron there's one guy free right and I think being a good quarterback is kind of being that point guard and seeing okay where is there extra coverage and then where can I get the ball where it's the easiest opportunity for us to gain yards and the opportunity if they give LeBron a one-on-one then give him the ball right and that's the point that's how you play quarterback you're out there point guard you're just dishing the ball to people who can do something with it the eloquence of that delivery is just phenomenal that's why you're Tom Brady but but respectfully it didn't answer my question if you had a teammate yeah okay that that that was that kind of primadana yeah how I I'll put it you this way I once interviewed Joe Montana and I was bringing that very scenario up Joe Montana said i' lo I I'd look at him and whisper in his ear you want to see the ball for the next two weeks yeah you better chill out yeah I'm asking Tom Brady what would Tom Brady do so what Tom Brady would do and I've tried is I would try to connect with that player on a level that he C he's really interested in he can relate to I I want to find out about what's going on with him and his life and why he's feeling the way he's feeling and then try to rationalize things to a degree and say hey I understand what you're saying but from my standpoint this is how I see so it's really about creating that connection through that relationship that you're trying to build with those particular receivers the unfortunate thing about that is you're never going to get 100% of the way there you could spend all your time and energy trying to connect with someone who's more self-focused but in the end that's their character and that's who they are you may realize that maybe you could get 5% more out of them or 10% but you may not get 20 or 30% more out of them and I think that's anyone who's in here in a career who's working who's in charge of people and running a business you find people that may be a little self-focused you could put a lot of time and energy in them and that's important because by doing that you can actually minimize some of the distraction but at the same time you got to understand what the realistic expectations are for that as well and then the opportunity if they become too selfish then at some point they got to go play for the comp competition and that's just the reality of sports I think that's why it's very important to understand their emotional aspects to every athlete as well we often evaluate athletes only on their physical ability I watch the NFL drought oh he's going to be a great player oh watch him roll right and Escape here watch him make this throw he throws it hard watch him throw the downfield ball and I'm sitting here going okay well that's about onethird of what he needs to do to be successful what about the other 2/3 that nobody is thinking about how does he deal with failure how does he deal with success is he involved in game planning is he a good leader is he going to learn from year to year is it going to be better in the eighth game of year than he was in the first how does he take care of himself does he have good habits off the field what's his background like does he know how to deal with a degree of of adversity right so to me that's such a small part of it and I think we all have to understand that we're all emotional beings and if you want to really Act iiz your true potential you've got to become really in control of your emotions the best players I had and the best teammates I ever had they showed up to work every day I never had to worry about their effort or their attitude I knew that when I called a play West Welker he was going to run his ass off on every play whether he got it or whether he didn't go ahead I'm sorry and he was going to know what he had to do on every play in every play he was going to make the right decision so when I was in a huddle with West ER I never thought for one second whether he was going to do the right thing or not that is free my mind up to do what I need to do because my job's not easy right and if I got to worry about oh God I look out and I see a receiver I'm like oh God he doesn't even look like he knows he barely lined up right he's looking over at the sideline it looks like he's trying to tell ask the coach what do I got what and I'm like he's out right I'm throwing the ball somewhere else but would you it's one thing to say he's out you're gonna throw the football to somebody else are were you the type of player that was an extension of the coach from the standpoint you'd go to the coach and be like look he don't have it he he's not on his game he didn't do some coaches see that for themselves some coach looks for the leaders to see that for them as well which kind of player were you well no I would just tell him directly he's out put him out I'm not and I and I would tell the coach and I would tell the coach don't put him in cuz I'm not throwing him the ball right so you put him in just that we got 10 guys out there so good believe me as a quarterback that's the best thing you got you hold the ball so and I would tell receivers on certain rights side a lot of pet peeves as a quarterback and certain things they said for example if I was running an outside breaking route from the inside of the field to outside field and we went inside the defender I told the receivers I'm never throwing you the ball so do it I don't care whether you do it or not if you do it 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that easy I got a show on YouTube the Stephen A Smith show and you were kind enough to bless me with your presence and let me do an interview with you a few months ago I still thank you for that I got a quote that I want to read that you gave because I want everybody to hear this this is what you had to say about today's NFL right on that show I think there's a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL I don't see the Excellence that I saw in the past I don't think the coaching is as good as it was I don't think the development of young players is as good as it was the rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into the actual performance of the game I just think the product in my opinion is less than what it's been elaborate to the audience why you not just what you said but why you felt the need to articulate that point of view because it was clearly during the NFL season you were watching what you were watching and you were not happy talk about I I love football that's why and I love the sport and if a if if we had the iPhone 15 this year I don't want to watch the iphone9 be re-released and when I watch it sometimes I think wait a minute we're regret ing in the game a little bit because for a number of different reasons and I could site them all the way back for the last 15 years but it could go from ultimately the development of the players is what's the most important the NFL if you want football to be good you're going to want to develop these players to be better every single year and the reality is we don't have the processes in place for those players to be better year after year they may maintain they may be it slightly better but not at the Improvement levels that we were able to make when I was a younger player through our ability to practice more we had less distractions there was much more opportunity in the offseason to train there was more opportunity in training camp to train there was more opportunity than the regular season to train we had through and not only through Pro level but also in college sports because whatever gets adopted at the pro level ultimately gets adopted at the college level and from the college level it gets adopted to the high school level and now I look at what could be a little bit dangerous is now there are players transferring from schools when they're not playing and they're going to different programs and they're going to different techniques they're learning they're never advancing in an own individual system there used to be College Programs now there are college teams you're no longer learning a program you're learning A playbook and the program is ultimately like in Michigan for me that was a pro style program five years I got to learn how to drop back pass to read defenses to read coverages to be coached to deal with winning games to deal playing in in in Columbus Ohio in front of 110,000 people I had to learn from being seventh quarterback on the depth chart to moving up to third to ultimately being a starter I had to learn all those things in college that was development then I went to New England and I was developed by coach belich and the offensive staff there I didn't start my first year I think it's just a tragedy that we're forcing these rookies to play early but the reality is the only reason why they are is because we dumbed the game down which has allowed them to play it used to be thought of at a higher level we used to spend hours and hours in the offseason in training camp trying to be a little bit better than next year but I think what happens is discourages the coaches from going to deep levels because they realize the players don't have the opportunity to go to a deep level so they're just going to teach them where they're at how does that get rectified how does that rectified so the quality of the compet the quality of play can improve how do you Rectify that well it I would say as I as I speak to let's say a quarterback for example when I was a quarterback what I aspired to be was a a a a game General out there I wanted to be that field General I wanted to call the shots you could if you were my coach you would call a play that play would come into me I would say okay I think and we've communicated before the game this is the reason why he called the play we talked about this I'm walking the line of scrimmage I'm looking at the defense oh oh perfect I love the defense this is exactly why we call this play I snaap the ball well every defense is built a little differently and every defense takes away something a little different sometimes I walk to the line of scrimmage I knew exactly why we called the play and I goes oh God it's not going to work we have no chance this play working based on the defense that they called so I would change the play got and I'd get out of the play I'd turn it if let's say I had a deep pass and they were guarding you deep I would check to a run I'd check to a short throw I'd get out of that play to make sure that play was successful now the quarterbacks walk to the line of scrimmage coach calls a deep play defense calls a coverage that takes away a deep play and they snap the ball and that quarterback's holding the ball and he gets sacked and then I hear people go well the offensive Line's got to hold up for and I'm listening like there was no one going to be open on that play you could call it a hundred times the same result would happen when is a quarterback's responsibility to check to a play that's going to be successful that's what I did that's what pton Manning did that's what Ben rothberger did that's what Drew Brees did that's what Philip Rivers did those are the guys that's what Joe Montana did that's what Steve Young did that's what John Elway did so when I look at the great players I think okay let's try to be great and to be great you got to take control you don't go out there on the air and you have producer director that says Hey Stephen A this is what I want you to do and all of a sudden you get out there and you just regurgitate what they said you got to feel the moment it's up to you that's why they trust you we need quarterbacks like you Patrick Mahomes [Applause] Patrick Mahomes in six years six AFC championship games four Super Bowl appearances three Super Bowl titles three Super Bowl MVPs we look at him and we say he's great I don't know if I've heard anyone ask this question of a quarterback a lot of times when we look at greatness today We compare them to Generations what would they have been if they had played in a different generation when you look at somebody like a momes for example what would he have been in the era of football you just praised yeah I think he wouldd be better and and I'm saying he's already great I mean believe me he's in my opinion the best quarterback in the NFL and his why I could talk about his physical skills though you know why when I look at him and I see why he's great I see the way that he's endeared himself to his teammates I see the joy they have when they're out there playing together so I love when I see his rapport with his teammates with his coaches how he communicates after the game I'm listening to the press conferences as much as I'm watching him throw a tight spiral cuz that's ultimately what that position is about yeah it's about your ability to be physically gifted and run and throw on the move and drop his arm angle and Rec coverages and throw the ball deep it's also about how the message you're creating every day to your fans to your teammates to your coaches how you present yourself on the field off the field how you handle wins and losses that to me is just as important in the development of a player and I think the challenge I see with him as he gets older he's not as young as he was and can he relate to the young players I believe he will he's now had a degree of success as that continued to motivate him that's going to be up to him there's going to be a lot of things that now happen in his life with his children and as he grows that are probably external from football how does he deal with those I believe he's got a good foundation to deal with those I would never ask you this question as a player but damn it you're an analyst now so I can ask this question uh top five quarterbacks in the National Football League right now according to Tom Brady Patrick Mahomes being number one give me two three four and five um yeah so I just think I think consistently well the guys that I see um I see Josh Allen as someone who's always impresses me as a player I see Lamar Jackson who always impresses me as a player um yeah I think that some different guys probably have different moments right um Joe burrow is very impressive the way he throws the ball and leads the team again another guy who's got a great connection with his teammates um and then I think I'll leave it at those four like I'm going throw Aaron Rogers in there I'm just me it's just me it's just me one of the great pure passes the game has ever seen I'm going to throw him in there and the man knows the game inside out I got to ask you I'm very interested to see how Aaron comes back and performs this year and you know how dedicated and committed he is to to being a great quarterback again he had a year off I believe that it would be very motivating for him to do that but again that's what that's why they go play and again I think for all of us we can analyze before the point at the end of the day it's going to be up to them to go out there and prove to us right or wrong whether our decisions or judgments or hypothesis about them are right I look at somebody like the San Francisco 49ers for example and I say to myself they're knocking on the door Brock P's there KD is there Debo Samuel is there Christian mcaffrey is there I think they need to keep iuk but I'm a Steelers fan please go to the Steelers but here's the deal I look at San Francisco and there's two trains of thought on one hand you've been knocking on the door at some point you going to kick it in or you've been knocking on the door and you missed your opportunity what mode of thinking and I'm really not about San Francisco just about that kind of scenario when you've been knocking on the dooring you've gotten so close is it more of a missed opportunity or is it more of we're right there I think I think perspective will determine that ultimately when we look back so in any team in the moment that I would say loses a Super Bowl how many times have we lost Super Bowl and then the next year the team doesn't make the playoffs that happens quite a bit you know why cuz every year you start back at the bottom with everybody else whether you win the Super Bowl whether you finish in 32nd Place you start at the bottom of that mountain that you're trying to climb and I think someone like the 49ers for example they run a great program I think they have a very good ownership they have a very good general manager they have a good head coach they have a very good quarterback they have a very good defensive defensive coordinator who they've had and I think those are great fundamentals of what you're looking for to build an organization those positions I'm a huge Kyle Shanahan fan I think he's an exceptional coach an exceptional offensive mind but I've never gotten over the fact that he was the offensive coordinator that lost the 25-point lead against your Patriots well I'm like run the football keep the ball out of Tom Brady's hands and and and the clock will work for you that's just my thinking okay well I'm glad it worked out the way it did let me say that but at the same time the argument for that is Matt Ryan had a 158.3 quarterback rate into that point he was playing as well he won the MVP That season they had Julio Jones out there and had it not let's say he handed the ball off a couple times and didn't go well they'd be saying why didn't you put the ball in the hands of the MVP and throw it to your you know first Pall Hall of Fame receiver so the reality is he had the league MVP he had the one of the great receivers of the generation in Julio Jones that offense was prolific That season put it in their hands if you're going to go down in the Super Bowl you want to go down with your best guys and he was trying not that he was trying to go down but he was trying to put it in their hands do you ever find like when we watch other sports particularly with me and basketball you see guys and you're going like this they look a little nervous they don't look like they don't look like they ready to handle this moment have you f did you find yourself at times on the opposite side of a football field and you're looking at the team and you're like they ain't ready for this they they they they don't want this moment I'm telling you just put the ball back they not ready for this have you found yourself in those scenarios I definitely have seen that a few times I would say it's very rare to see that on an entire defense okay I'd say you can see it on certain players that just have checked out they're not really that interested in being out there that day uh sometimes it comes a little bit later in the season or late in games where you know they want to go out there and be a professional but at the same time they're playing very much within their comfort zone they're not playing the way Ray Lewis played they're not playing the way Ed Reed played those guys like that Jason Taylor they never checked out of a game Zack Thomas I had a chance to play against those guys a lot and they were in it every single game so I think for me that was the guys that I real Michael Strahan every game he was out there to try to you know beat the opposing tackle on every play and sack the quarterback those are the guys that I really admire because we've watched you particularly since you've retired you're talking you're vibing with a lot of people you're showing more of your personality Etc whose ass did you want to kick most when you were on the football field when I was on the football field when you was on the football field who did I mean you just wanted it it it brought you Joy to bring them misery who was that player on a football field that made you feel that way well I I would say I had to try to cre I you know a lot of ways I had to try to create that for everybody okay because it's and again it's never the person okay cuz the person is a a human being right it's the the belief of who that person repr they're standing in your way so like and I would say it's more team wide but let's say the Colts back when when I was at the Patriots every time they lost man I could have thrown a party at my house and it's and it's not because I didn't love pton Manning and I didn't respect him more than any other quarterback that ever played against I just knew that if we wanted to go where we wanted to get to he was standing in the way right and we had to move him out of the way and the fact that someone else could slightly budge him a little bit off track that helped our job a little bit but did that do it for you like you've got something you know the the the great players that have blessed me with their knowledge would say there's a difference between somebody being moved out of your way and you moving them out of we like that too that's what I'm saying I'm like I mean did you really get like all right somebody knocked off pton Manning so you didn't get the chance to knock I didn't think no I wanted them to get knocked off every week I would have taken them to knock them off then I have buried them deeper and then hopefully the next people bury him even deeper but right that that was just I wanted everybody to lose believe me I never had and and I think a big part of this generation too that I see is I didn't have friends on other teams when I was playing I didn't have social media accounts where I could direct message people H one another singing Kum by ya before you go up against them you didn't do that you I didn't go out there on the field to shake hands man I was trying to when I played against the Giants oh my God we almost got this is 2020 Co year you get there was no fans they didn't see us I went out on the field I was so fired up it was no one in the crowd and they were trying to kick field goals on our side of the field I was not happy I had going at it with the special teams coach and I probably apologized and the backup quarterback bla gabt was like what is wrong with you but I just had to create this anger cuz I had to go out there feeling like anger really motivated me right I think anger was a great emotion for me as an athlete that if if I could see that someone disrespected me and I could get angry man that created action within me and that action Within Me created energy and that energy created confidence and that confidence created emotion right and that emotion created a result that I wanted we got about three minute we got about 3 minutes left here with the great Tom Brady gotta ask you a few of these questions number one the number one threat to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC is home and I would say it's man all those teams are going to be tough I think it's still the Bills or the Bengals just cuz I think the quarterback play the bills and the Bengals more than the Ravens they're right up there okay but I would say you know and and they're they're exceptional I just the Ravens have to have to I think be more successful in the postseason for me to feel like okay you know they're right there the Bengals have made it the Super Bowl the the bills have been in Championship Games he's got a three in one record against Patrick Mahomes got to give him credit what credit is do the number one threat to the Chiefs in the entire NFL I think yeah I think it's it's probably still the 49ers and and the Packers I think are going to be a great team and you know what I think the Rams are going to be a good team team this year too very good offense receiving core they've lost Aaron Donald nobody can replace him that guy's first ballot Hall of Famer but they've drafted really well they got a really underrated defense that's going to be a team to watch too the Philadelphia Eagles having sequan Barkley the Philadelphia Eagles with sequan Barkley what is that going to do in a National Football League in your estimation again saquon's got to he's got to prove to everybody that he can go out there and and perform well over 17 games so it's a good offense if you're a running back to be in and believe me saquin I think so highum is a running back but you know his potential is still out there but he's got to find it himself I mean there were high expectations we came in based on what he did in college he had some great games for the Giants and obviously they decided to move on from him go to a division rival that should be very we talked about the emotional aspect right zaquin should be very angry and emotional about that which hopefully motivates to play his best but he's got to go out there and perform himself there is a team that's very popular are uh the sportical says they're worth over billion dollar now or uh they're America's team but they got they haven't won a Super Bowl in 28 plus years they're starting quarter back has won two playoff victories in eight years and the quarterback the wi receiver and the elite defensive player are in line to get paid what should we expect from the Dallas Cowboys this year so they've they've got a lot of Talent on both sides of the ball they have they have a lot of distractions as well right so I think can the Great players minimize the distractions and I think the challenging part about that environment is we're talking about him now they're talked about more than any other team in the NFL any given day when you turn the television on and can they handle all that comes with it and I would say in general the younger players because this is more normal for them growing up in college now you go to LSU you go to Georgia you go to Michigan you go toio State you go to USC you're dealing with the SAR types of distractions and they're probably learning to deal with them a little bit better but at the same time can they minimize the distractions so that believe me winning in the NFL is very hard the competition is very tough the margin of error is very slim so where can you gain margins of error you can gain them by eliminating distractions and that's what I think the Cowboys have to master from their their organization as well as their team leaders how can they go in there and minimize the distraction so that they can go out and focus on football against a very competitive NFL it's appoo it's a hold on hold on it's appr propo to ask this very last question about you as opposed to the National Football League I'm just making sure I've got all my numbers here 23 NFL seasons 15 Pro bowls 10 trips to the Super Bowl Seven Super Bowl championships five time Super Bowl MVP three time League MVP oh by the way now you're going to be an elite analyst you got the tb12 brand you look fantastic all right I know you've got ownership aspirations and the like what the hell is left for Tom Brady to accomplish so I think that I I want to just what would bring me the most Joy is being involved with people that help me grow so that I can continue to be the mentor for people that I've really become as I've gotten older as a player and I've have so many young players reach out to me so many people come up to me and they want to reach their potential and maybe they see me as someone who has done that in my career and I want to do that and be the mentor for other people and how can I help people be a little bit better in their life how can I help kids be a little bit better in their youth sports programs how can I help Elite athletes quarterbacks coaches they ask me all the time what was it like playing for Bill bich what was it like after your ACL injury what was it like going to Michigan and being a backup I've had a lot of unique experiences that have helped me grow and the only reason why I'm sitting here today with some unbelievable stats that you read that I always feel our very team focus is because the people that came into my life I put effort in but this this was about the right people being in my life to allow me to grow and succeed in the way that I wanted to and if I could be that person for other people I would love I would look forward to that waking up every day for the rest of my life I will say this to you I've been I've been in this business for 30 years and I sincerely mean this from the bottom of my heart one of the greatest honors of my career is being able to get to know you and be able to call you a friend I really really mean that you one of the best people that I know and it's an honor and a privilege thank you I'm going to ask for a bit of advice as my very last question did talk about roasting me putting me through a roast I allow to do it I I I I what what what's your advice about that allow that to happen measure n times and cut once so think really hard about it ladies and gentlemen Tom Brady damn that was good oh it was good but it's Tom Brady so I expected no less when you have a conversation like that what you peel from it is how committed he is to being exceptional at whatever he chooses to do he doesn't have to say it but you easily get the impression he's one of those guys that has the attitude why waste your time doing something if you're GNA be half ass about it be all you can be took a year off from football after retiring from playing the sport wanted to make sure he had all his ducks in order to sure he wanted to play with you know play with with his kids sure he wanted to spend time with his family sure he wanted to decompress after 23 years in the NFL all true but you know what else he wanted to do he wanted to be exceptional at what he's about to do to make sure that he put in all the preparation necessary remember he's succeeding Greg Olsen used to play for the Carolina Panthers who was an award winner as a color commentator those are big shoes to fill because Olsen is no joke he's a talented guy but Tom Brady is more than talented he's about greatness I'm looking forward to listening to him this year Watching him work and seeing what I predict will be a career nearly as illustrious as his playing career that's how good I think he's going to be and this business is something I know a thinging two about it congratulations to Tom Brady thank you so much for spending time talking to me for wanting me to be the one to sit there down and interview you it was an honor and a privilege just like I said in front of that audience and it's going to be an honor to watch you and to listen to Tom Brady in the future I hope y'all enjoyed this episode as much as I did Payton Manning is next coming Wednesday until then peace and love everybody Stephen a signing off until next time