While the New England Patriots seemed to be off to a rocky start this season, losing two of their first three home games, Tom Brady has helped lead the team to seven wins.
Last week, Brady earned American Football Conference (AFC) Offensive Player of the Week. He completed 25 of 34 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns, which led the Patriots to a 41-16 win over the Denver Broncos. In September, Brady led the Patriots in a comeback against the Texans by completing 25 of 35 passes for 378 yards and five touchdowns.
Following five Super Bowl wins, four of which Brady was awarded Super Bowl MVP, and two league MVP awards, Brady is a natural candidate to consider for this season’s MVP. Brady leads the league with 2807 passing yards followed by Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson and Washington Redskins’ quarterback Kirk Cousins.
The Patriots have confidence that Brady’s reign will continue. The Patriots have traded both of their backup quarterbacks this season. In September, Jacoby Brissett was traded to the Colts for receiver Phillip Dorsett. In October, the Patriots traded Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers.
Following their trade of Garoppolo, the Patriots signed Brian Hoyer as their new backup quarterback. Hoyer was recently released from the San Francisco 49ers. His deal with the Patriots is for three years, according to NFL Network.
Brady is driven not only by his athletic strength but largely by his love for the game. This drive motivates Brady, to continue playing football until his 40s. While some have questioned how Brady’s age will affect him, he does not see age as an inhibiting factor.
“I’d like to play until my mid-40s, then I’ll make a decision. If I’m still feeling like I’m feeling today, who knows?” Brady said.
The combination of Brady’s athleticism and love for football have made him both an exceptional athlete and an influential celebrity.
This year, Brady was named on Time Magazine’s list of influential people. The list included short essays on each person.
“Tom’s real achievement is that he willed himself to be,” said television host Conan O’Brien on Brady’s character.
“When Tom was drafted in the second-to-last round, he was slow and scrawny, and buried on the depth chart…With a monastic diet, intense training and a relentless, inspiring positivity, Tom built himself from the ground up.”
Brady has also showed tremendous discipline in his dieting. His book “The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance” has led the way to encourage other quarterbacks to adopt a similar diet. Russell Wilson and Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers have adopted diets similar to Brady’s.
“Other than playing football, the other thing I love to do is prepare to play football,” Brady said. “I’ve worked hard to get a system in place that really works for me and I know could work for everybody else if they just did it.”
Brady has used his love for health and football to drive him to become the athlete he is today. This has made him a comprehensive person who has been able to spread influence not only in the field of football, but in health and diet.
“Football is a job, but it’s never felt like a job for me,” Brady said.
Photo courtesy of the Trifecta Network.