All gasoline, no brake. Jets head coach Robert Saleh used that catchphrase to signify how onerous his workforce would work this yr.
Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady shares that sentiment. He has made a reputation for himself as one of many hardest-working gamers within the NFL — he even acquired kicked out of a park figuring out throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s the reason it was stunning when Brady instructed gamers that that they need to spend much less time figuring out throughout the offseason.
“We shouldn’t have overly aggressive drills in Might and June,” Brady instructed the Boston Globe. “There’s no (bleeping) professional baseball participant that’s throwing 95 mph in the midst of December.”
However Corridor of Famer Troy Aikman, who was initially “shocked” by the feedback, ultimately realized Brady was pulling a trick.
“I spotted, that’s the greatness of Tom Brady, as a result of I can guarantee you, he’s not taking these days off and that workforce will not be taking these days off. And so he views it as a complete aggressive benefit,” Aikman mentioned on The Ringer’s “Flying Coach” podcast. “If groups are training much less and he’s training extra, that’s going to offer him a leg up on the competitors, and I believe that was actually the entire motivation in his feedback.”
It wouldn’t be stunning. Brady is a seven-time Tremendous Bowl champion who has taken no shortcuts in his profession. He not often takes a time without work — this offseason, he’s again earlier than anticipated following knee surgical procedure — so if his opponents are, Brady is gaining floor as he goes for his eighth title.
“I’m all for getting rested,” Aikman mentioned. “I’m all for all these issues, however sooner or later it’s important to pose the query: Do you wish to be nice or do you not? Do you wish to be a terrific workforce? Do you wish to be a terrific participant? And when you do, which means it’s important to put within the time.”
Brady, to his credit score, could have supplied a touch that he was blowing smoke on a current look on HBO’s “The Store.”
“What I say and what I believe are two various things,” Brady mentioned. “I’d say 90 p.c of what I say will not be what I’m pondering, which is difficult. I actually admire individuals that really can try this and say what they suppose as a result of they invite plenty of different issues. I believe there’s a part of me that doesn’t like battle. So in the long run, I at all times attempt to play it tremendous flat.”
