Why Bill Belichick’s sons still root for Tom Brady

As he rose from unknown backup to living legend, Tom Brady touched a lot of lives over his 20 years in New England.

His success, forever intertwined with the Patriots’, most notably helped cement Bill Belichick as the greatest coach in NFL history. It also impacted Belichick’s sons, Steve and Brian, now assistants on the Patriots’ defensive staff. At the start of Brady’s career, they were just children lucky enough to live at the intersection of football greatness.

On Tuesday, both coaches explained how Brady impacted them, and why they still pull for No. 12.

“I learned a lot from him on and off the field that I really can’t thank him enough for,” Steve Belichick told reporters Tuesday. “I spent a lot of time with him in the building, outside of the building, on the plane, on the way home from games. He was such a good resource for me running the scout team against him. Just all the things that Tom does well — which is everything — I am very blessed to have been around him for as long as I was.”

Brian Belichick, several years younger than Steve and now in his second season as the Pats’ safeties coach, added: “Tom is always an amazing role model for me. As a person, seeing a guy like that, how hard he works, how committed he was to his craft and to the team, his leadership, all of it. It was a great example to be able to see as I was growing up and coming up in the organization.”

Brian Belichick also relayed a story about catching passes from Brady after a team practice when he was eight years old. Back in 2000, Brady was a fourth-string backup, and Bill Belichick asked him to stay late to help a young Brian learn the wide receiver route tree. So Brady called signals and threw passes to Brian, who ran every route and dove for deep balls onto a large mat.

On the ride home, Brian remembers thinking what the rest of the football-watching world knows now.

“Once that happened, I was like, ‘Oh man. This is the best quarterback to ever live,'” he said.

Last February, Brady won his seventh Super Bowl at the end of his first season with the Buccaneers. He became the first player in league history to win seven Super Bowls, and will now lead Tampa Bay into another historic matchup Sunday against the Patriots. Aside from Sunday, the younger Belichicks say they will always have Brady’s back.

“I’m a fan of a game, too, and in addition to being a fan, I like rooting for relationships and people I know. And Tom is as high on that list as anybody. I was very happy for him,” Steve Belichick said of Brady’s seventh ring. “It was well-deserved. I’ll never root against Tom.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3CSvnn1