Tom Brady: 'Anger was a great way for me to approach the playing field'

There are plenty of things that make Tom Brady the greatest quarterback in NFL history, including his intangibles and how he was able to motivate himself. That included motivating himself through his anger.

While making an appearance on The Pivot Podcast, Ryan Clark remembered how fiery Brady could be during his playing career. In particular, he remembered a game from the 2007 season when he was injured and his replacement Anthony Smith guaranteed a win over New England. In response, the Patriots won 34-13 and Tom Brady made sure to find him and get in his face during the game.

As Brady explained, he liked to play angry. That became his motivation and a way for him to focus himself during games.

“To me, anger was a great way for me to approach the field,” Tom Brady said. “I could not look at you on the field and — Ryan when you take your stuff off [and we’re] off the field, great — Ryan the Steeler, you wanted to kill me and I wanted to kill you. That’s just the way it was. Not literally, but I just wanted to make sure that we did our job and I think when you’re out there on the field that was a gladiator persona for all of us. When I walked off the field, I didn’t have to be that person anymore, which was good because I didn’t want to be that person in my everyday life.”

Clearly, Brady’s approach worked for him. He won seven Super Bowls in 10 appearances over the course of a 22-year career.

“So, I just think that anger was the one thing I could always tap into that would get me way more focused. Even when I would get mad at my teammates or myself, it was always about how do I get my focus and concentration better to make a faster read, a better throw, more locked in on a coverage. Man, if I could get myself all riled up? I’m gonna be focused. Because the last thing I want to do is go out there and bullsh*t around and then throw the ball and get one of my receivers blown up. So, I had to do that, and if I got mad at Freddy [Taylor].”

At that point, Fred Taylor jumped in to remind Tom Brady of how aggressive he could be to his own teammates, remembering a story from 2010 when Brady ripped into him for a preseason mistake. Still, he said that’s what made Brady a great teammate.

“I think for me football was super serious. Like I didn’t want to just run around and f*** around because then I just didn’t think we were giving ourselves the best chance to win too. Like why are working so hard if we just want to come out, run around, goof off, and lose games,” Brady said. “I learned that through college. I learned it through the early part of my pro career, through Willie McGinest, through Tedy Bruschi, through [Mike Vrabel], through [Richard] Seymour, you know through Troy Brown, David Patten, Antowain Smith. Like, man, we can’t mess around. The margin of error is too thin.”