Speaker 1: I'm Red Lewis, and this is NFL inside Report. Following
Speaker 1: a divisional round exit from the postseason, Tampa Bay Bucks
Speaker 1: quarterback in twenty two year NFL veteran Tom Brady at
Speaker 1: least contemplating retirements at this point, after pretty interesting forty
Speaker 1: eight hours with news floating around about his retirement, and
Speaker 1: now we're trying to make sense of it all, and
Speaker 1: thankful for our colleagues Mike Giardi and Sarah Walsh of
Speaker 1: certainly covered Tom Brady extensively during his career. Mike course
Speaker 1: in New England, Sarah, these last couple of years here
Speaker 1: in Tampa. And let's start right there, Sarah, with that
Speaker 1: last game, Tom Brady walks off the field with virtually
Speaker 1: no pomp and circumstance after losing to the Rams. Bucks
Speaker 1: eliminated from the postseason, Matt gayan to win it for
Speaker 1: the Rams. Snap, ball down, the kick is up, and
Speaker 1: a kick. Here's good. If the Rams are going to
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship game. And have we seen the last
Speaker 1: the most decorated quarterback in NFL history, Tom Brady? Is
Speaker 1: he done? And we're all left to wonder is this
Speaker 1: the last we've seen of Tom Brady, How did you
Speaker 1: assess his mentality is demeanor that whole day following that game.
Speaker 1: If you watched him walk off the field in that game,
Speaker 1: you never got this sense that that was it. And
Speaker 1: I say that only because I remember I specifically watched
Speaker 1: Byron left, which because it's like this moment that, um,
Speaker 1: you know the season has just ended. You know, Byron
Speaker 1: is out there for head job. Like Byron could not
Speaker 1: be back. There was a laundry list of people that
Speaker 1: could not be back, right, Tom would be back at
Speaker 1: the bucks if he's coming back. And so I watched
Speaker 1: Byron walk off the field. Then Tom comes after I
Speaker 1: watch Tom off off the field, and there was not
Speaker 1: a moment of a pause to either look around to
Speaker 1: take in this idea of like, this is the last
Speaker 1: time I'm ever going to be in an NFL uniform
Speaker 1: and and that's what I was looking for. And I
Speaker 1: just go back to a year before, and I think
Speaker 1: about Drew Brees, and I know Drew Brees was on
Speaker 1: that farewell tour, right, but yeah, we had a moment
Speaker 1: going out the tunnel and and and looking up and
Speaker 1: waving to fans, and he went out and it was
Speaker 1: a heartbreaking loss right in the playoffs, and and the
Speaker 1: other thing if you think about is is the way
Speaker 1: that the Bucks went out. I mean it was really,
Speaker 1: aside from the Super Bowl, it would have been the
Speaker 1: most remarkable comeback when in Tom's career, right aside from
Speaker 1: what he did against the Falcons of the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: It was an insane game. The last couple of minutes
Speaker 1: of that game were completely wild. When Leonard four scored
Speaker 1: the Touchdow, I just remember thinking, Oh my god, they
Speaker 1: are now going to win this game. And so it
Speaker 1: just all happened very quickly, right, It was like a
Speaker 1: dagger to the heart really quickly. But I just remember
Speaker 1: watching him walk off and thinking, in the back of
Speaker 1: my mind, if this was a guy that was done,
Speaker 1: wouldn't you have that moment of reflection. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying a big one, but just even the tiniest like
Speaker 1: look up, look around, And there wasn't. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was just very business like jogs straight off, didn't really
Speaker 1: look up at all, didn't really acknowledge anyone, just ran
Speaker 1: through that tunnel and right off the field. So again,
Speaker 1: if you're strictly speaking about that moment, I didn't see it.
Speaker 1: I didn't see a guy that, after twenty two years,
Speaker 1: in that moment was going to allow himself, whether he's
Speaker 1: retiring or not, he in that moment certainly didn't allow
Speaker 1: himself to have that moment of reflection. He didn't show
Speaker 1: it to us. Yeah, you know, I go back to
Speaker 1: and it was late in that season, his last season
Speaker 1: with New England. They're gearing up for the playoff game
Speaker 1: against Tennessee. As we know, his last game as a Patriotist.
Speaker 1: Titans beat New England at Gillette And I had asked
Speaker 1: him a question because the teammates have talked about a
Speaker 1: speech you'd give him. You know, some of your teammates
Speaker 1: were talking about you've given a speech before the game,
Speaker 1: and how he was reminding them to be laser focused,
Speaker 1: that you never know when these opportunities are gonna come
Speaker 1: because the urgency and now we're talking about these are
Speaker 1: playoff games essentially, and now it's really the time to
Speaker 1: sort of buckle down and really put all the distractions aside.
Speaker 1: You can get to that later. And when I asked
Speaker 1: him about it, he went in this long answer, I
Speaker 1: try to pick the right time to express the things
Speaker 1: that are important that I feel are important and He
Speaker 1: talked about the idea that when you're a younger player,
Speaker 1: it's so easy to um just concentrate on football generally.
Speaker 1: You don't have a family, you don't have these business opportunities.
Speaker 1: You're not You're just worried about being a football player,
Speaker 1: making your money, getting your next contract. And then you know,
Speaker 1: your life starts to mature a little bit more. You know,
Speaker 1: I think everybody puts a lot aside. You know, I
Speaker 1: think we all do. We all have jobs, and you
Speaker 1: know I don't have you know, I'm gonna you know,
Speaker 1: I have a lot of grown up issues. You know,
Speaker 1: you deal with kids and family and you know, life things,
Speaker 1: and you know, a lot of younger guys don't. That's
Speaker 1: just a reality. And here he is at that point whatever,
Speaker 1: forty one years old, forty two years old. He was like,
Speaker 1: as an older Claire, you start to realize all the
Speaker 1: things that you've left behind and you've sacrificed, and the
Speaker 1: things that you've missed that you'll never get back. And
Speaker 1: the longer you do it, you know, you try to
Speaker 1: express to them that you know, these are these are
Speaker 1: important things and if it's important for me to sacrifice
Speaker 1: for them, they gotta do the the saying. And that's the
Speaker 1: reality of football is it takes on part of your
Speaker 1: life because this is you know, you played for a
Speaker 1: long period of time during the season. It's not you know,
Speaker 1: their games are scared with every Sunday, so they take
Speaker 1: precedent over basically everything else. And you know, it's just
Speaker 1: it's a lot of important things we're doing and trying
Speaker 1: to do the right thing. And he's got three kids, obviously,
Speaker 1: two different women. One lives in New York Gazelles with him.
Speaker 1: Doesn't see the kid you're you're not You're not getting
Speaker 1: to the plays, You're not getting to the basketball games.
Speaker 1: There are certain things he's so regimented. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: going to bed at eight thirty at night, Like there
Speaker 1: are certain things that he's just not wasn't able to
Speaker 1: do as a father because he was so single minded
Speaker 1: in this approach to win football games and be the
Speaker 1: best that he could possibly be, that he missed all
Speaker 1: these things. So then when I heard him talk about
Speaker 1: it in the aftermath of the loss to that in
Speaker 1: that last game, and I was like, I really hammered
Speaker 1: at home, Like this is something that he's been wrestling
Speaker 1: with for a long long time, and I know he
Speaker 1: said I'm gonna play until I suck. I said a
Speaker 1: long time ago, when I suck, I'll retire. But what
Speaker 1: I really meant was, when you know I'm not capable
Speaker 1: leading the team to victory, then someone else has to
Speaker 1: do the job. But I always found that interesting because
Speaker 1: Tom Brady will never let himself suck. He would never
Speaker 1: get to that point. He would never be the guy
Speaker 1: on the field who the other guys on the team
Speaker 1: look at and go this guy, like, we can't win
Speaker 1: with this guy. He was never gonna let it get there.
Speaker 1: So it's odd you maybe you want to walk off
Speaker 1: with the super Bowl championship and all that, but to
Speaker 1: play as well as he did in the second half
Speaker 1: and to push that team to where he pushed them,
Speaker 1: and to finish with the numbers that he finished at
Speaker 1: the age of forty four, maybe it does make some
Speaker 1: sense that he had all this stuff that he had
Speaker 1: compartmental eyes and had been dealing with. He just finally realized, like,
Speaker 1: it's good. I'm good. I'm in a good place now.
Speaker 1: Like I went out, I'm still playing great football. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be someone that people are gonna talk about in
Speaker 1: the upcoming season if someone has a quarterback injury, well,
Speaker 1: Tom come back, You're gonna get all these things. And
Speaker 1: like he's got all the things in his life now
Speaker 1: and he can spend more time doing the things that
Speaker 1: he's missed over the last however many years. I want
Speaker 1: to go back to that twenty four hour period where
Speaker 1: on a Saturday afternoon in the midst of what some
Speaker 1: was it a record Mike, did we get record snow
Speaker 1: in New England's let's just let's just say my back
Speaker 1: is completely jacked right now and it's gonna be for
Speaker 1: god knows how long. There was a lot of snow
Speaker 1: removal that happened over the course of the last thirty
Speaker 1: six hours, and I think Sarah even got some cold.
Speaker 1: I think Sarah even had to put like a hoodie
Speaker 1: on down in Florida because of New Engloaders don't want
Speaker 1: to hear that. They don't like, Okay, I know you
Speaker 1: guys want to hear this. It's actually been cold in Florida.
Speaker 1: Not not today if you see to worry, but the
Speaker 1: that divisional game was called the wild Group for Floridians, Like,
Speaker 1: let's take this all with like you have to have
Speaker 1: a barometer of where you measure things. For Floridians. It
Speaker 1: was cold. I woke up on Sunday Conference Championship Sunday
Speaker 1: because their Tampa would have had a game here it
Speaker 1: was thirty six. Because in my mind I was thinking
Speaker 1: I would have been on I would have been on
Speaker 1: Sunday morning if the Bucks were here hosting, and it
Speaker 1: would have been thirty six degrees out and you know
Speaker 1: what would have happened here, Mike, people would have literally
Speaker 1: lost their minds. I would have gotten calls from my
Speaker 1: mom being like, I don't think you're safe out there.
Speaker 1: I mean, but you have to understand, like that's where
Speaker 1: week down here. Yeah, I was walking the dog yesterday
Speaker 1: I think was minus seven after the river, hanging out.
Speaker 1: So I mentioned all that because, like I thought, you know, Mike,
Speaker 1: Mike and I, for those who don't know, work together
Speaker 1: for five years in Boston, kind of not together. We
Speaker 1: were more adversaries than anything. Um, but I worked. I
Speaker 1: worked for a somewhat competing local sports station in the
Speaker 1: NBC in Boston, and um and I you know, storm
Speaker 1: coverage is like a you know, it's a thing. It's
Speaker 1: like hurricane coverage. Yeah, it's Hurricane Florida in Florida, it's
Speaker 1: it's you know, blizzard, nor Eastern coverage um in Boston
Speaker 1: is like an all day around the clock thing. And
Speaker 1: so then this news comes out about Tom Brady is retiring,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh my god, I feel for those
Speaker 1: poor souls on Boston television right now who now have
Speaker 1: to deal with blizzard and Brady coverage, which you know
Speaker 1: would be an all day thing there, nor easter that's
Speaker 1: gonna like ruin question now. I mean, the blizzard is
Speaker 1: still dominated. But I will tell you this, I know
Speaker 1: of at least one station that when the news first
Speaker 1: crossed about Brady broke in. But Mike, you did a
Speaker 1: phenomenal job. You know, during that coverage, you jumped on
Speaker 1: NFL network and you were part of our you know,
Speaker 1: our breaking news coverage as this was all unfolding and
Speaker 1: are all trying to make sense of it all and
Speaker 1: kind of giving some perspective to what you know, Brady
Speaker 1: meant to New England in his career. And then you
Speaker 1: also started getting some additional reporting in that you know,
Speaker 1: kind of made us all go all right, is you know,
Speaker 1: is this happening? What's what's going to take us kind
Speaker 1: of behind the curtain as to what those that twenty
Speaker 1: four hours was like. As you heard the initial report
Speaker 1: and then you start to hear some of the other stuff. Well,
Speaker 1: let me give you a little behind the scenes of
Speaker 1: just TV one on one. Right. So I'm out there shoveling.
Speaker 1: So I shoveled six or eight inches, and like I
Speaker 1: had just come in, so I'm like, I got I
Speaker 1: got snots because let's face it, it's cold. You're freezing
Speaker 1: my hands, like everything's you know, my hair is disheveled
Speaker 1: because I got the hat on, I got gloves. And
Speaker 1: then my phone goes off. One of our producers, Matt Hill,
Speaker 1: we need you. We gotta, like you gotta get out there.
Speaker 1: And I was like, dude, you gotta, you gotta give
Speaker 1: me like ten minutes, and like I gotta. I'm not dressed,
Speaker 1: you know, like I haven't all shaved, I've had nothing.
Speaker 1: I'm a mess, you know. Um. But so then you
Speaker 1: know we're and I'm like texting to people right away
Speaker 1: and people are like, oh, I'm not surprised. You know,
Speaker 1: we heard rumblings of it. And we're doing the report.
Speaker 1: And as we're doing the report. Immediately you start to
Speaker 1: get the well, wait a minute, Doan Yee, his longtime agent, says,
Speaker 1: you know, no, one's no no decisions been made. You're
Speaker 1: gonna hear that from Tommy when when when the time comes? Um?
Speaker 1: And then I reached out to his dad, who as,
Speaker 1: if you're in Boston, you well know his father likes
Speaker 1: to talk and has at times been told by his
Speaker 1: son to shut up pretty please. I guess it's the
Speaker 1: nicest way you can put that. Um. But I was like, look,
Speaker 1: this is one of those cases where I will reach
Speaker 1: out to him just to see if he can shed
Speaker 1: any light on what's going on. And he said basically
Speaker 1: like this is all. I got the text right here.
Speaker 1: I should just read it. Um. But I guess I
Speaker 1: wasn't surprised because the long story is there's no way
Speaker 1: they were going to do this on a Saturday before
Speaker 1: conference championship. But what he wrote back to me was like,
Speaker 1: the story, Mike is total conjecture. Tommy has not made
Speaker 1: a final decision one way or the other, and anybody
Speaker 1: else that says that he has is absolutely wrong. So
Speaker 1: then you're like, well, wait a minute, now, hold on, yeah,
Speaker 1: what are we you know, so I you know, I
Speaker 1: talked to Ian, Um, we're obviously talking with our producers,
Speaker 1: and we still felt good enough about the information. Not
Speaker 1: good enough. He felt very solid and the information that
Speaker 1: we had that he was in fact on a step
Speaker 1: away just a matter of you know, timing, I guess this,
Speaker 1: but it's certainly just raised even more uh swirling rumors
Speaker 1: and what's going on and like what are we what
Speaker 1: are we doing here? And how do we get that
Speaker 1: to the to the end result here with with with
Speaker 1: what Tom's gonna do. And then this last part, Sarah,
Speaker 1: you know, for you is that we talked a lot
Speaker 1: about the way the language has changed in the way
Speaker 1: and in the last few weeks, maybe in particular this year,
Speaker 1: and how Tom has talked a little bit differently about
Speaker 1: the end game. And you started to notice that in
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks as well, right, and Ian
Speaker 1: wrote a whole story on it. And obviously being down
Speaker 1: in there in Tampa and covering it most every day,
Speaker 1: how did you observe that demeanor change? Um, well, you know,
Speaker 1: it's two fold. It's weird because right he Mike just
Speaker 1: mentioned it. There was the day that he said, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to play until I suck and I can't win.
Speaker 1: And to Mike's point, like, he's just he's not gonna suck, right,
Speaker 1: He's not. There's no way he could. He's just that's
Speaker 1: not him, right, And um, but there was a there
Speaker 1: were points in this season and I would say even
Speaker 1: until like pretty late in the season, I mean, look,
Speaker 1: the guys leading the league in touchdowns, he's leading the
Speaker 1: league in passing, He's doing certain things that, um, he
Speaker 1: would do it at the prime of his career to
Speaker 1: ask some people are like, are you in the prime
Speaker 1: in some senses and in that way when you can
Speaker 1: do that and go out in this league and do that?
Speaker 1: And um, you know, I know there were a lot
Speaker 1: of questions of like, hey, we know you want to
Speaker 1: step away, but do the numbers you're putting up change things? Right?
Speaker 1: Even if you had that in your mind, Like I mean,
Speaker 1: he got those questions, um as well, because who walks
Speaker 1: away when they lead the league in touchdown? I mean
Speaker 1: you're not just talking about you're playing at a high level.
Speaker 1: You're playing at the highest level. Well, what is that number? Now?
Speaker 1: Touchdown passing the red hometown six six no interceptions. Those
Speaker 1: are special numbers from Tom Brady, Well, you're doing something
Speaker 1: better than anybody else is doing. Or I guess you
Speaker 1: should say you're throwing more touchdowns than anybody's throwing. You're
Speaker 1: throwing for more passing yard. Um, does that change your mind? Uh?
Speaker 1: You know Tom was never gonna. You know, he kind
Speaker 1: of gives the PC answer, right, he's gonna. He's thoughtful
Speaker 1: in what he says. I feel it's, you know, for me,
Speaker 1: always about the team's success. So you know, it's hard
Speaker 1: to compare one year to another. I feel like I've
Speaker 1: felt like I want to play as a championship level player.
Speaker 1: That's That's what I've said for a long time. And
Speaker 1: he says a lot without saying too much, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense, And Mike knows exactly what I'm talking about,
Speaker 1: Like he answers these questions. He will talk sometimes for
Speaker 1: five minutes and then you're like, we didn't really say
Speaker 1: anything right, like in terms of like he answers you,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't go deep on like I'm to do
Speaker 1: this idea that there were a lot of family comments.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's the first time we've heard him
Speaker 1: say that his family is important. I don't think It's
Speaker 1: also the first time that we've heard him say that
Speaker 1: he's going to weigh things, um after the season. But
Speaker 1: I think that there was more in previous seasons, and
Speaker 1: Mike can speak to this. It always felt more definitive, right. Um,
Speaker 1: you just started to not hear definitive answers, not hey,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be back, but just I guess
Speaker 1: not the exclamation point people would have wanted on these
Speaker 1: questions are asking to him like, you know, a hundred
Speaker 1: percent be back, right, He's not gonna say he didn't
Speaker 1: say that, um, And just you saw him be maybe
Speaker 1: more reflective in the family way in which Mike's talking about.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just with us in Tampa. It was
Speaker 1: on his national platforms. It was on if he goes
Speaker 1: on Howard Stern, Like you just you're hearing that more
Speaker 1: and more. But I think what's so hard for people
Speaker 1: to wrap their minds around myself included as you're seeing
Speaker 1: him like launched this comeback and you're seeing him do
Speaker 1: the things he did without his star players, Um, it
Speaker 1: always makes you think, well, gosh, what if he had
Speaker 1: this guy and this guy and this guy and this
Speaker 1: guy that didn't get hurt, and so I think that
Speaker 1: that's what's so hard, And it's also it's so great
Speaker 1: about Tom Brady is if he wants to walk away,
Speaker 1: he walks away doing it at the highest level. Um,
Speaker 1: you know. I I don't think anybody there's nobody that
Speaker 1: thinks that they didn't get to the next round because
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, right, Like, I mean, he was missing a
Speaker 1: million pieces, um. And so that's what makes it so
Speaker 1: hard to think about him walking away. And then there's
Speaker 1: people like, well, he could have walked away last year,
Speaker 1: right with the confetti fallen down, and he didn't want
Speaker 1: to walk away. Then I just think everyone gets to
Speaker 1: a point in their lives right where they feel to
Speaker 1: your point where a like satisfied, right, And maybe it
Speaker 1: took maybe it took another nineteen games of this season
Speaker 1: to be satisfied. Maybe it took ten games into this season,
Speaker 1: and he's like, I feel like it's enough. Like I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody knows when it's enough except him, right,
Speaker 1: But I totally agree with you. There's no scenario. I
Speaker 1: don't think that the way that things leaked out is
Speaker 1: how he would have wanted it, Like there would be
Speaker 1: some awesome video that's coming on his I mean, you
Speaker 1: see this stuff he posts all your I'm like, his
Speaker 1: hype videos are better than anybody's hype video. Think they're
Speaker 1: so good. And I have to imagine that there's some
Speaker 1: great like Mike Drop video that's coming and Tom should
Speaker 1: have the right to say when and how that's done. Um.
Speaker 1: So it's surprising that it's sort of kind of unraveled
Speaker 1: the way it has. Yeah, And I think the one
Speaker 1: thing that we can agree on is that that this
Speaker 1: wasn't the way it was going to happen. And when
Speaker 1: it does, you know, happen officially in a very well
Speaker 1: night here in the next few days and weeks, and
Speaker 1: it's going to be something that comes from him and uh,
Speaker 1: and we'll see that in one way, shape or form.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's another like silhouette leading or going into a stadium,
Speaker 1: which we're all left to a cipher and wonder what
Speaker 1: that was all about. Maybe there'll be some more cryptic
Speaker 1: tweets or instagrams or something. We'll we'll we'll find out.
Speaker 1: But the one thing we do know is he will
Speaker 1: leave the NFL at some point. Whenever he does, is
Speaker 1: the best player to ever play the game. Certainly the
Speaker 1: best quarterback, best overall player. I don't think there's any
Speaker 1: doubt at this point with his accomplishments. How did you
Speaker 1: get here? How did you go from the sixth round
Speaker 1: pick too? Seven Super Bowl rings? Dig into that here
Speaker 1: a little bit and the favorite memories from Mike and
Speaker 1: Sarah in their time covering Tom Brady right after this
Speaker 1: all right back here an NFL inside report, Mike Giardi
Speaker 1: and Sarah Walsh gracious enough to scoopy here with us
Speaker 1: as we talked Tom Brady in the well non retirement
Speaker 1: retirement situation that we've all kind of been sifting through
Speaker 1: over the course of the last few days and probably
Speaker 1: will um for as long as it takes for Tom
Speaker 1: to make some sort of official announcement of his own.
Speaker 1: But let's start here, um this part of this, Mike,
Speaker 1: with this is a player who's forty four years old,
Speaker 1: that has played twenty two years in the How did
Speaker 1: you see the evolution of him and in his work
Speaker 1: that he put into get his body right each and
Speaker 1: every year? Like where did you start to see the
Speaker 1: evolution of the whole TV twelve method and all that
Speaker 1: that that really gave us this longevity that he's had. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think to me, you started to see a difference
Speaker 1: in his body shape. I mean, he if you go
Speaker 1: back and we've seen the picture obviously in his underwear,
Speaker 1: from the from the from the combine where you know,
Speaker 1: I mean you'll you'll never forget that picture. But he
Speaker 1: always kind of had like a little bit of a
Speaker 1: chunky face and he had a smushy body like he
Speaker 1: wasn't this freak athlete, which you know, not all quarterbacks
Speaker 1: are built that way. I'm with Ben Roethlisberger obviously stands
Speaker 1: out right now. Um, but right around two thousand six,
Speaker 1: I think you started to see this more of a
Speaker 1: commitment to that. And then obviously, oh seven, they go
Speaker 1: sixteen and oh and come within a whisker of completing
Speaker 1: a perfect season, losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl. Um,
Speaker 1: I thought you saw a sort of a different approach there.
Speaker 1: And then the second part of that was when they
Speaker 1: drafted Garoppolo. And I always say that's one of Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick's greatest picks, aside from picking Tom Brady, is because
Speaker 1: they had seen decline in Tom. Now, we didn't see
Speaker 1: it too much. I mean, you look at some of
Speaker 1: the numbers and you say, this is down a little bit,
Speaker 1: this is down. But internally they were concerned and they
Speaker 1: thought it was a three year process of this where
Speaker 1: there had been declines and poor performances in big spots,
Speaker 1: and they go and pick Jimmy, and Belichick says, everybody
Speaker 1: locally remembers it. We all know Tom's age and contract situation. Well,
Speaker 1: Mr competitive Tom Brady, that absolutely lit another fuse. He
Speaker 1: went bananas. He hated that his family hated that it
Speaker 1: was disrespectful, and he cranked it up to a completely
Speaker 1: different place that I don't know that anybody could have
Speaker 1: predicted it would have gone there to win four more
Speaker 1: Super Bowls since that point, I mean, phenomenal. And I
Speaker 1: brought this worry up when we talked about it on
Speaker 1: Saturday on air. There was the third year of Garoppolo.
Speaker 1: There was an inter squad scrimmage and training camp, and
Speaker 1: Belichick had been and McDaniels had been pumping Jimmy's tires
Speaker 1: and Jimmy looked pretty good, and you're like, is there
Speaker 1: a real Like, is there a chance? Here? Is there
Speaker 1: a chance? And Brady through one incomplete past and I
Speaker 1: hate stats and in preseason stuff, I think it's ridiculous
Speaker 1: training camp practices, but that was like a real game
Speaker 1: type situation and he cut out Garoppolo's heart that day.
Speaker 1: Just it was it was like one of those things
Speaker 1: that I always remember about him. And it was an
Speaker 1: August day in Foxboro on a backfield. Well and thankfully
Speaker 1: for you, Sarah, you never had to ask Bruce arians
Speaker 1: if he was going to evaluate the quarterback situation like
Speaker 1: Mike Giardi did. Uh there you go, Mike, way to work.
Speaker 1: You love you. Um yeah, So actually, do you guys,
Speaker 1: do you want to know the story? I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: between Blade and Tom, like what I mean, put every
Speaker 1: practice this year round? I mean, I don't know that's true.
Speaker 1: Thank you, all right, tell the story. But quickly they
Speaker 1: had lost the game in Kansas City. Uh, they locked badly.
Speaker 1: I think they were one in three at that point
Speaker 1: or one and two. I I forget the one in three.
Speaker 1: I think um Brady looked terrible. Is ducking where pass
Speaker 1: rushers weren't coming, seeing ghost the whole thing. Garoppolo gets
Speaker 1: inserted late in the game, takes him down the field,
Speaker 1: scores again garbage touchdown. But my colleague and I, Tom Kerrent,
Speaker 1: we were watching it, and we're like, we gotta ask
Speaker 1: him about the quarterback. And I'm like, well, you have
Speaker 1: a better relationship with Bill than I do, so I'll
Speaker 1: be the I'll put myself out there, wow on the
Speaker 1: sword the thing that, and Belichick didn't even give an answer.
Speaker 1: He snorted and like the shoulders people football as well.
Speaker 1: I think our team, you know, competed. I mean I
Speaker 1: thought it competed there at the end. That's what they
Speaker 1: should do. The thing that people forget about that is
Speaker 1: I was on the air like five minutes after that,
Speaker 1: and I was like, if Jimmy has to play this year,
Speaker 1: then something has gone horribly wrong, horribly right, Like that
Speaker 1: wasn't the plan. Then the team galvanized around Tom and
Speaker 1: they won a Super Bowl. So I don't know where
Speaker 1: my ring is, but I feel like I should have
Speaker 1: got at least something, definitely should have gotten some credit
Speaker 1: for that. So with that, then like what stood out
Speaker 1: to you, Sarah the most about covering Tom in these
Speaker 1: last two years in Tampa? And then Mike, you know,
Speaker 1: get you get your thoughts on that as well. I
Speaker 1: was just thinking, um about like if you were like,
Speaker 1: what's your favorite memory? Yeah, and well, first of all
Speaker 1: its stay out To me the most is he changed
Speaker 1: that franchise. Um, he changed the organization in terms of relevance.
Speaker 1: I mean that's a that's a pretty simple one, right.
Speaker 1: I mean the Bucks, as someone who grew up in Tampa, UM,
Speaker 1: they've never been nationally relevant. Even when they want a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, They're not like known as like a national
Speaker 1: We're not a huge market. Um. I remember being at
Speaker 1: ESPN and I would always be like, hey, let's just
Speaker 1: some of the Bucks, and there just was like, no,
Speaker 1: it's the Buck, It's Tampa. Nobody really cares, right while
Speaker 1: it takes is tom Brady. Tom Brady can go to
Speaker 1: you know, he could be playing in Sweden next year.
Speaker 1: Everyone's gonna care, right, Like. I mean, that's what he does.
Speaker 1: He would do that to any organization, and and so
Speaker 1: that's what he did to Tampa. UM. It's not that
Speaker 1: they had never won a Super Bowl here. They had,
Speaker 1: but it was just a changing of culture in terms
Speaker 1: of your relevance easily. And then just this competitive nature.
Speaker 1: And Mike talked about it in a training camp practice
Speaker 1: in August, and he brought that to this team. And
Speaker 1: then I think personally it's someone who didn't cover Tom
Speaker 1: Brady but only saw him in New England under you know,
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick, where you just didn't see these personalities. Um
Speaker 1: he loosened up or I mean he just showed a
Speaker 1: side that we've never seen before, right, Like did anybody
Speaker 1: think Tom Brady was really funny like before or these
Speaker 1: last two years, like he's if you didn't know him,
Speaker 1: like funny, Like he does these funny videos, he makes
Speaker 1: funny comments, and Um, my favorite Tom Brady memory would
Speaker 1: have to be the boat parade situation. Like, I mean,
Speaker 1: you he won a lot of Super Bowls before, right,
Speaker 1: did we ever see that in New England? And I
Speaker 1: remember being at the end of the parade and somebody
Speaker 1: was like helping him off the boat and they're like
Speaker 1: his Tom drugging. I'm like, well, no, it's Tom, of course.
Speaker 1: Like I'm just thinking that he's not. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: he must have stumbled because I just I wasn't on
Speaker 1: the part of the like cavalcade that went down the river.
Speaker 1: I was at the end where they had this very
Speaker 1: like this person is going to talk then this was
Speaker 1: that's not what happened, Like when they got to the end,
Speaker 1: did you staw happened but it made Tom Newman and
Speaker 1: the and the Lombardi launch from one boat to the other.
Speaker 1: Like I just saw this human side of a guy
Speaker 1: just really enjoying himself and being like every other dude
Speaker 1: out there. And Tom Brady is not like every other
Speaker 1: dude out there, right, Like he is on a different
Speaker 1: level um popularity wise, Like I mean, he's a different
Speaker 1: he's in a different category than every other athlete, right,
Speaker 1: And and to see that side of him and that
Speaker 1: was awesome. I thought it made him human. So my
Speaker 1: my favorite Tom Brady would be the Tom Brady at
Speaker 1: the boat parade over indulgent Tom Brady. Yeah, well, I
Speaker 1: mean maybe that tells you where my head is. It
Speaker 1: just like got her end of the season for me, No,
Speaker 1: but I enjoyed. I didn't have any beverages that day.
Speaker 1: I was live on the air, so maybe other people
Speaker 1: enjoyed themselves. I love what you said there, Sarah, because
Speaker 1: to me, that's the thing that I really enjoyed most
Speaker 1: about the last two years of Tom and Tampa. That
Speaker 1: the end in New England was it was drudgery at times, right,
Speaker 1: it was like this slog to get through it. And yeah,
Speaker 1: they won the Super Bowl and eighteen, and that was
Speaker 1: sort of improbable. And there were some great Brady moments
Speaker 1: late in the year, and certainly in Kansas City in
Speaker 1: the a C Championship game, but like that, that team
Speaker 1: wasn't having a ton of fun, or he didn't appear
Speaker 1: to be having a ton of fun. And what you saw,
Speaker 1: especially in that first year in Tampa was just this
Speaker 1: like I can be sort of free, and Bruce is
Speaker 1: gonna let me be who I want to be. And
Speaker 1: I think Bill gets a bad rap in that regard,
Speaker 1: because I think veteran players in New England can be
Speaker 1: who they want to be, but I think they just
Speaker 1: naturally sort of fall in line even when they've given
Speaker 1: more rope to do what they want. So I think
Speaker 1: it was just nice to see him just sort of
Speaker 1: relax a little bit and show that side that you
Speaker 1: didn't get to see a ton of. And I will
Speaker 1: say personally, I mean, there's a million football memories and
Speaker 1: practice memories, but I do have one memory that sticks
Speaker 1: out to me every year, for whatever the last four
Speaker 1: or five before COVID hit, I would take my son
Speaker 1: to one training camp practice and he would get a
Speaker 1: little past, you know, and even sit on the hill
Speaker 1: with us and no interviews, you're not getting an autographs.
Speaker 1: You would just sit there and watch the practice. Got
Speaker 1: me just be cool to walk through across the game
Speaker 1: field to get to the practice field, and just that
Speaker 1: little moment for him and he and my daughter came
Speaker 1: one year, I think it was, it might have been,
Speaker 1: but we we've come underneath the stadium and the players
Speaker 1: will walk out through the bottels of the stadium to
Speaker 1: get to the stairs to go to the upper field
Speaker 1: to practice, and we were kind of held in check. Well,
Speaker 1: the players went by and Brady was walking by, and
Speaker 1: it was just the three of us, my my son,
Speaker 1: daughter and myself and and their players are going by
Speaker 1: and Tom stopped and it was maybe fifteen yards away,
Speaker 1: twenty yards away, and he just gave them this huge
Speaker 1: smile and it was just one of those things. I
Speaker 1: talked about it now and it gives me a little
Speaker 1: bit of goose bumps because they felt it. They didn't
Speaker 1: know this guy a million times that they never talked
Speaker 1: to him. I didn't bring him to events where Tom
Speaker 1: Brady was at, Like, that's just not my deal, um,
Speaker 1: And they both like as he walked back up the tunnel,
Speaker 1: they were like, wow, that was cool, and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. But that was like a father and a
Speaker 1: father right, Like he just saw me with the kids
Speaker 1: and he just lit up because he was like, it's
Speaker 1: gotta be cool to take your kids to to practice
Speaker 1: one day. And it turns out his kids were on
Speaker 1: the hill that day too, which is hell so. But
Speaker 1: it was just one of those things that I'll I'll
Speaker 1: carry that with me for a long time. That's really cool.
Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing that, Mike. Um. And then look as
Speaker 1: we're as we're left to kind of like pick up
Speaker 1: the pieces if in fact Tom does retire. You know,
Speaker 1: we've seen the you know, the next phase in New
Speaker 1: England led by now pro bowler Mac Jones in his
Speaker 1: first year as you know as a rookie first year
Speaker 1: starter did very well this year. Only expect things to
Speaker 1: continue to build. But what about for Tampa, Sarah. I
Speaker 1: know Jason Light has talked about the fact that they
Speaker 1: really like Blaine Gabbert there. Um, you know, I'd still
Speaker 1: be mildly surprised if they choose to go forward with
Speaker 1: him as you know, their starter for an extended period
Speaker 1: of time on here. If that's if that's the way
Speaker 1: they go. Is this still a super Bowl caliber team
Speaker 1: considering the turnover that might happen this offseason. I think
Speaker 1: we're not sure the extent of the turnover right now.
Speaker 1: I think that you could see a Domino situation. Right Um,
Speaker 1: maybe there's certain free agents that like, hey, if they
Speaker 1: feel like this thing is gonna fall apart, they go
Speaker 1: one way or the other. Um. I think we don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on the coaching staff. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think there's so many questions, so it's really hard to
Speaker 1: know that. I do know that Bruce was recently asked
Speaker 1: like if you do feel comfortable with like who's on
Speaker 1: your roster now? And Blame is actually a free agent,
Speaker 1: and then there's Kyle Track and you know, Verus said like,
Speaker 1: I'm comfortable with everybody on our roster and eat but
Speaker 1: immediately goes. But we're always looking behind door number two.
Speaker 1: I do not play anymore. Do you think there's a
Speaker 1: better than average chance your next quarterbacks already on your roster?
Speaker 1: I'd be comfortable with Rick if it is, you know,
Speaker 1: I like what we have. Um, but again, you never
Speaker 1: know what's behind door number two. We we kind of
Speaker 1: went down that road two years ago and there we
Speaker 1: sound Brady, So we'll have to wait and see. I
Speaker 1: think that tells you everything you need to know, Like
Speaker 1: he's not going to slam his guys that are sitting
Speaker 1: there and waiting. But you know what's crazy is I
Speaker 1: was like, it's been a it's if this is it
Speaker 1: for Tom, it's been a crazy run. I just happened
Speaker 1: to be down here and COVID hit and Tom came here.
Speaker 1: And and it was never traditional because Tom didn't have
Speaker 1: an introductory press conference. Tom wasn't allowed in the building
Speaker 1: for an entire year. I was down here covering him.
Speaker 1: We weren't around Tom except for on Sundays. And you're
Speaker 1: not really because it was all on zoom. So here's
Speaker 1: this franchise quarterback that we were never in a room with,
Speaker 1: Like you weren't at practice with this that change this year? Um,
Speaker 1: And but I like, what if the Bucks pulled off
Speaker 1: something crazy again? I mean, what if Jason Light and
Speaker 1: these guys go out and get like one of the
Speaker 1: big names that ruder I've never gonna be leaving in
Speaker 1: the beach. Like I was like, this could be wrapping
Speaker 1: up my NFL network box. Run here here we go
Speaker 1: and then like there could be an Aaron If there's
Speaker 1: an Aaron Rodger siting in about three weeks, like I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna ever get off the beach, which is not
Speaker 1: a bad problem to have, right but no, But so
Speaker 1: I definitely think that, you know, kidding aside, I definitely
Speaker 1: think that they will look very hard at what is
Speaker 1: behind door number two. Um, Bruce Arians like skies that
Speaker 1: sling it. Uh, Bruce Arians wants that offense to go
Speaker 1: with Jamis. Um, there were obviously picks, but you know
Speaker 1: he threw for a million yards. I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's Bruce's thing, right, So those guys are definitely looking
Speaker 1: for the next best solution out there, and and I
Speaker 1: believe they think that it's out there and not inside
Speaker 1: right now. That would make a lot of sense. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean, even though they did draft Kyle Trask in
Speaker 1: the second round, was the sixth quarterback taken this last year. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, didn't seem really at all. That's outside of
Speaker 1: the preseason, so hard to really know how they feel
Speaker 1: about him, what they saw from him. I mean running
Speaker 1: scout team if anything. Um, you know, never getting first
Speaker 1: first team, second team reps. You know, at least traditionally
Speaker 1: that's not how it would work, but a lot of
Speaker 1: unknowns left with Tom Brady and of course with the
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Bucks. Thanks to Mike Giardi and Sarah Wallace
Speaker 1: for their insights today. Appreciate you guys. All right, that's
Speaker 1: gonna do it for this episode of NFL Inside Report.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for being with us today. As we
Speaker 1: are post championship games Sunday looking ahead to Super Bowl
Speaker 1: fifty six. We've got a great plan ahead for you
Speaker 1: for our Super Bowl coverage from Radio Row and all
Speaker 1: the fun events that are happening during Super Bowl. But
Speaker 1: this is also the midst of college All Star game
Speaker 1: season as the Draft is coming soon on the horizon. Here,
Speaker 1: I'm actually doing this podcast with you from Las Vegas,
Speaker 1: home of this year's East West Shrine Bowl, which you
Speaker 1: can catch live in prime time on NFL Network a
Speaker 1: p m. Eastern Time here from Allegiance Stadium as some
Speaker 1: of the best college players like to make a name
Speaker 1: for themselves, uh for themselves with NFL evaluators and scouts
Speaker 1: all around this week, and I look forward to kind
Speaker 1: of continuing some of our draft coverage and some of
Speaker 1: the things that we do evaluating prospects and going through
Speaker 1: that process with you on this podcast. Reminder to download, rate,
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Speaker 1: and we'll be back with you later this week. For
Speaker 1: producers Thomas Warren and Tim Paracca, I'm your host, Threat Lewis.
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