Man in the Arena (2021) s01e09 Episode Script
Maybe
1
♪♪
I think it looks good with the jacket.
And so what we're gonna do is, like,
you know, since we'll have nine of these,
so starting with you're young and, like
- Impressionable?
- Description yet to be written
Not fucking
Just fucking jaded by everything now.
20 years of
That's And, yes, by the end it,
it'll be completely black behind you.
Oh, my God.
Do you want me to tell the story?
- Only if you
- Do we need it?
- That'll be good.
- Okay.
So the story of the Chinese farmer is
there's a man in a village
and he had a horse
and the horse ran away.
And all the people
of the village came to him
and said, "We're so sorry.
We can't believe your horse ran away."
And his comment back was, "Well, maybe."
And the next day,
the horse that had run away had returned,
and along with that horse that returned,
he brought ten other horses with him.
And all the people of the village
came to the Chinese farmer
and said,
"Oh, my God, this is unbelievable.
You should be so happy," you know.
Now you lost you thought you lost one.
Now you have a lot of horses.
And he said, "Well, maybe."
And he had a son,
and when they were taming
these wild horses,
his son was riding one of these
new wild horses they got,
and he gets bucked off the horse,
and he breaks his leg.
And all the people of the village,
you know, come to him and say,
"Oh, I'm so sorry your son broke his leg."
And he said, "Well, maybe."
The next day, you know, there was a war,
and they were coming
to draft the young men,
and they come to his house with his son,
and his son can't go to battle in the war
'cause he's got an injury.
And all the people of the village said,
"Oh, what a blessing," you know.
"He doesn't have to go off to war."
And the father said, "Maybe."
And the point was
we don't have the perspective
of what's gonna happen in the future.
And when we don't have the perspective,
we don't understand
whether what happens
in our life is good or bad.
We just have to understand
there's a lot of things at work,
and what we may think
is good may not be good,
and what we may think
is bad may not be bad.
Because the future will tell
whether or not the history of the past,
whether it was good or was bad.
And I think when I reflect back
on things that had
happened in previous years,
maybe I would not have
appreciated where we were at
had I not been through what
I had been at the previous year.
As difficult as it was
to go to the Super Bowl,
have a challenging year, and to lose,
that experience gave me more perspective
on the moment that I was in,
and I enjoyed that year
and I enjoyed those relationships
and I enjoyed the opportunity
to compete again in the Super Bowl.
Which, of course,
maybe it's not the best thing
in the world that happened,
and that's just the way life is.
♪♪
Couple more days here
on this third down
of just leaving our points on.
Next week, we'll get into the re-points
and lock in and that stuff.
But let's just put 'em on, leave 'em on.
We were basically the same on offense.
We lost Brandin Cooks in the offseason.
I mean, other guys
need to step up, you know.
Phillip Dorsett had to step in
and play a big role.
Chris Hogan needed to step up
into a much bigger role.
You know, Julian stepped up his game
just to a ridiculous level.
You know, he became
a driving force for our team
in a different era
than earlier in my career.
Julian kind of became the real, you know,
type of Patriot that a lot
of the guys before him were.
Totally selfless
at times.
I'm an intense guy
when it comes to football,
but I'm also a jokester.
You know, Jules is a receiver, so
You know, a ball buster.
Is that you can say that? Ball buster?
Oh, you can say that for sure.
All right. So I like to bust balls.
♪♪
I didn't know much about Julian,
except I knew we were going to
scout this kid from Kent State,
who I think was ultimately
a better football player
than he was a wide receiver.
He was, you know, obviously
a quarterback at Kent State.
He was someone that was really dynamic
when the ball was in his hands.
I was drafted in New England in 2009.
Bill comes on the phone, he goes,
"Yeah, we don't know
what you're gonna play,
but you can play football,
so see you in camp."
Julian Edelman,
the Patriots' 7th round rookie draft pick.
This is Wes Welker in progress.
Didn't play a lot his first year.
There was no real specific role for Julian
when he first got to the team.
He had to carve it out for himself.
Brady.
Caught! Touchdown!
My dad always used to tell me
when I was a young boy,
when you got 'em down,
you break their neck.
Shotgun snap to Brady.
Stands and throws
down the middle for Edelman.
Ball's tipped.
- Did he make the catch?
- I caught it.
Crazy. I swear to God.
- No way. Look at that.
- Watch.
- Damn.
- No.
He did!
That's why I am the way I am, though.
Julian's dad was pretty tough on Julian.
Julian has a story about
his dad was throwing him batting practice,
and his dad brushed him off the plate.
Julian charged the mound on his dad,
and I think that's, like,
that's what you need to know about Jules.
I would never doubt Julian.
He doesn't doubt himself,
and I think he loves playing
with that chip on his shoulder.
Were you in
the end zone after the punt return?
Yeah.
Go see my guy.
I mean, I could remember early on
when I was watching him
battle Peyton Manning
and the Patriots versus the Colts
back before I was even in the league,
I mean, I was always the Tom guy.
That underdog mentality
that he still keeps to this day
with all the championships, all the wins.
He was a Bay Area guy.
He always went the long road,
always went the hard road,
always outworked people.
Hey, one play at a time!
They haven't stopped us yet.
Anywhere he went
or anything he wanted to do
for the first few years of my career,
I was right behind him.
You gotta believe.
As the years went on
Okay, hump.
I got a little more comfortable.
You do a lot of talking, bro.
Hey, they know we're running it.
We know we're running it.
Who's gonna get it?
That's what I'm talking about!
Way to go, Brady.
Kind of like when brother
grows up a little
and he's almost like the same height
and you get kind of the balls
where you wanna
jab your brother a couple times.
I became that little brother.
- Are you happy? I'm not happy.
- I'm happy.
I'll be happy in a week.
Get another one, I'll be happy.
I know you're happy.
Brady, protected again.
Throws, caught on the run by Edelman.
I mean, he was spectacular.
That's all I would say
is he was the ultimate overachiever.
2017, we had played in Detroit
in week three of the preseason,
and we were, like, all right,
let's see what we're made of.
Brady stands tall.
Edelman beat Davis across the middle,
and sneaks inside the 15.
Third catch on the drive for the
Yeah, I got outside my base.
Tried to cut at high velocity.
Terrible technique.
And let's hope that's not serious.
Probably getting
a little too cocky out there,
and I blew out my knee.
He's laying on the table
in a meaningless preseason game,
and we realize, "Aw, shit,
you know, Jules is out for the year."
Julian Edelman
suffered a complete ACL tear
in his right knee last night.
The results did come in.
It is a torn ACL.
You spend a lot of time
away from the game,
and you watch your team
go out and succeed.
Super Bowl LII
in Minneapolis against the Eagles,
You start thinking and you start
getting hungry
and you start getting crazy.
Start trying to compete
every day with yourself.
Injuries in professional football
or any kind of professional sport
is so psychologically demanding.
Because you want to see your team do well,
but you don't want to see 'em do too well,
because then
Hey, it's a business.
Stands in.
He loads up. He's hit!
The ball's out. The ball is out!
Philadelphia has it.
Tom Brady was hit.
And tonight, instead of
a red and blue confetti rain,
it's green and silver.
There will be a lot of questions
asked about the future
for a number of the Patriots coaches,
players.
After that Super Bowl,
I had the resolve
that I had kind of, you know,
that time was gonna run its course,
and just the way it was gonna be.
The Patriots are one of the 25 teams
beginning their offseason
workout programs today
with a few notable exceptions.
Tom Brady not present today.
I think that offseason
was a big turning point for me,
where I recognize,
like okay, I was now 41.
I knew what to do
and how to prepare myself.
I knew how much I needed to throw,
how much I needed to run,
how much I needed to lift,
how much I needed to, you know,
really commit and train and so forth.
But also, you know, I needed
to take the kids to school.
Help them, you know, in ways
that I really can't help
during the season.
And just see my son Jack,
who lives in a different city
than I've lived in.
So, you know, it had been
all about me for a long time.
You know, I had to really make
a different type of
commitment to my family.
Tom Brady is kind of
throwing 'em a curveball a little bit.
Tom, he has been in line the whole time,
and all of a sudden,
this thing has come to a division.
Everyone's got a choice
to choose, like, hey,
this is where my priorities are gonna be,
and this is where I'm gonna
spend my time and energy
so that when I did get
to the football season,
that tank was full.
Breaking at 5:00 tonight,
Patriots star Julian Edelman
may miss the start of the season
after being suspended for four games.
The NFL announced today
that Edelman violated the league's policy
on performance enhancing drugs.
Julian Edelman
is Tom Brady's favorite target.
We wanna act like it's Rob Gronkowski.
He is not their number one target.
It is Julian Edelman.
He would happen to be out
the first four games
because of his suspension.
I'm all about one year.
Suspend him forever.
Like, you are taking
from the guy who is behind you
The guy who's not willing to cheat
and is putting everything in there.
You are cheating.
You know, Jules
is a pretty mentally tough guy.
He ignores the noise, you know.
He is always out to prove it, you know.
He would always say, you know,
prove 'em wrong or prove 'em right.
And Jules always wanted
to prove 'em wrong.
Edelman got busted, you know.
People are gonna care about that
just because he's a Patriot.
If Julian Edelman
is playing for the Dolphins,
I don't think people care.
A lot changed.
You get to a point
you wanna go out and show, "Hey,
I belong to be out there as well."
That was a very, you know,
tough year for me
strictly for the fact, you know,
I'm not playing the game I love.
You're sitting
and you're reflecting every day
about yourself, your game, your life,
this, that, what's gonna happen?
'Cause the one thing that's probably
the most scary thing for an athlete
is the unknown.
Part of the advice
I gave to him was, you know,
do things you wouldn't normally do.
Like, really take advantage of this time,
because you don't know when
you're going to have another
time like this in your life.
You know, when I was out those four games,
I thought those were probably
four of the best weeks of my life.
2018, we were a good offense.
We didn't play as well as some
of the offenses in the past,
but our defense was really talented.
And we knew
that if we didn't score
a lot of points offensively,
the defense was gonna figure out a way
to help us win the game.
Brady takes the snap.
He throws it left for Gronk.
He makes the catch over two
We won in week one.
Steps across the pylon.
But we went on the road,
lost to Jacksonville.
That was tough.
Went to Detroit,
got, you know, beat pretty bad.
We knew that after Jules was back,
we'd be a much better offense, you know,
just 'cause he was kind of the
I guess we'd call him our Joker, you know.
He kinda We could put him
wherever we wanted
Oh, what a play to trip him up.
So when he's not there,
you got to adjust,
and we didn't adjust as well.
We had some young players
that were rookies
and expecting them to contribute a lot.
This is all personnel-based.
He's got no one to go to.
Nobody. This is a microcosm
of what they are right now offensively.
Everyone thought, you know,
everything was falling apart.
You know, we were learning
as we went, too,
to see what you got.
We need one more.
Great job. Great job.
One more. Let's go.
The team, like always,
has to figure out as it goes,
and I think the NFL season
is very much like that.
You know, you work hard
through training camp
so you can be prepared
for the start of the season.
But in the end, you really
don't know what you have.
Things really start to unveil themselves
as you go through the season.
So when you start 2-2 after four games,
like, you're not out of it.
Now, you better start playing
a lot better and learn from it.
If you're 2-2 and you
haven't learned anything,
I think you got a problem.
We learned from those mistakes.
Like, okay, four games in.
What are we good at?
What are we not good at?
We gotta work on our pass rush games.
We gotta work on our tackling.
You know, we gotta work on
our red zone defense.
We gotta work on scrambling quarterbacks.
We gotta work on option
quarterbacks, you know?
You don't know those things in August.
You just know 'em once you've
actually had the real game
with the real tackling
and a real scoreboard
and real situations.
So, you know, we were learning as we went.
Brady. Look out.
Sacked at the ten-yard line by Eli Harold.
You know, we didn't feel great
about where we were at,
but we certainly weren't out of it.
You know, the ability to compartmentalize
is something that I learned
a lot from being around Tom.
I asked him a lot of questions,
because I didn't play the first four games
and he didn't play the first four games
the year prior to the last year.
He would always say, like,
you gotta just keep it in your routine
and zone everything in your life out
and focus on what you're
trying to improve that day.
And there's things you can take away
from bad things in your life
that you can learn from.
In hindsight, it was almost
a blessing in disguise.
But not great. Not great.
Not a great thing. Not a great thing.
How about this? The cavalry is here.
It's called Julian Edelman.
He's back from his four-game suspension.
They got Julian Edelman back.
You know they're going to get flowing.
That was a huge game for me
because that was the beginning
of the next chapter.
After surgery, when your knee's
throbbing at night,
you can't sleep for two weeks,
till the time you first do your first cut,
and you're, like, this is dog shit.
I hate this cut. I'm never gonna
To the day you're trying to get
another mile per hour
and you're getting this route
and you remember all that stuff
for that one play.
And there he is.
Welcome back.
The very first play of that game,
and went out and got a catch
on a little juke route.
I knew TB was gonna throw me the rock.
Needed to warm me up.
Needed to warm me up.
I thought I was just gonna go right in
and then keep it rolling
like it was before.
And it wasn't necessarily that easy,
and it was a lot harder.
Yeah, I hadn't played football
in probably I think it was like 405 days
or something like that,
so it was just great to be back.
You know, I've been playing
with Jules for a long time,
and really happy, you know,
to have him out there healthy
and having fun.
Now here come the Chiefs.
You could tell the Kansas City Chiefs
were starting to pick up a little steam.
Patrick was coming on,
the Chiefs were coming on,
and he started to do some incredibly
dynamic things as quarterback.
So Patrick Mahomes has been
an absolute freak of nature.
Patrick Mahomes
has been absolutely perfect
so far this season.
I think he's been lights out.
Mahomes steps up.
Down the middle of the field,
caught by Kelsey!
The sky's the limit for this team.
I think if Mahomes stays hot,
the Chiefs win.
Teams would often
measure themselves against us,
and we measured
ourselves against them, too.
And our defense going up
against that offense
was a very, uh, challenging experience.
You don't really know
until you get on the field
and see what the speed really is like
and see what that offense is like.
And Patrick has great vision
as a quarterback.
Down the sideline.
Getting free is Kareem Hunt!
You can practice and you can do
your little drills
and your little rehab,
but until you got live bullets
coming at you
and then you got a guy
sideswiping your leg
and you got another guy hitting you,
you can't train for that.
That's football.
Brady fires over the middle.
That's Edelman wide open.
We made some plays in the fourth quarter
that were pretty solid, unique plays.
But they kept it very close.
Deep down the sideline.
He goes for Gronkowski.
He has it.
48-yard attempt for the win.
The snap in place,
swing the right leg kick,
Kick lifted to the uprights.
Right down the middle!
I mean, we won, but it was tight,
and if we play 'em again
and they're an ascending team,
we're gonna have to play better.
You know, when I first got in the league,
you had guys like Tedy Bruschi,
How we feel about playoffs? Yes, sirree.
Oh, yeah!
Kevin Faulks.
The Vrabels.
These guys that work their tail off
always trying to catch an edge,
competing at everything.
You know, holding everyone
accountable, you know.
And that generation disappeared,
and then there was a new generation.
I was part of that new generation.
That's the Patriot way.
Hold guys accountable.
Let's start fast now.
Do what we do now.
No one's off limits.
Have faith in each other
our adversity hit.
You know, we're here to bust balls.
If you're dogging it,
I'm gonna let you know you're dogging it
In practice, we're gonna fight.
Julian Edelman told to leave practice
as he started a scuffle
with top cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
Because practice is where, you know,
you gain your confidence,
Practice execution becomes game reality.
I don't know how many times
everyone's heard that.
The New England Patriots
travel to Tennessee
to play former player Mike Vrabel,
who's very familiar with everything
about the New England Patriots.
Against Mike, I remember
talking shit to him the day before.
You know, I called him up on his phone
and been a friend of mine for a long time.
Gimme that damn hat, boys.
I'd have bet more on his team.
Retreats three steps.
He's in the pocket.
He launches a long ball.
A high lob to Davis
left side in the end zone.
Caught for a Tennessee touchdown.
Yeah, so we got our ass kicked.
You know, they put it on us pretty good.
They probably played one of the best games
they had played all season,
and, um, really embarrassed us.
The Patriots have been
thoroughly dominated today in every phase.
It just showed that if we played poor
and another team played really well,
they could beat us by 25 points.
So it just heightens
your sense of practice,
focus, determination,
you know, planning, strategy,
all those things have to go way up,
because you can't lose by 25.
The Patriots today with a win
will earn their tenth consecutive
AFC East Division championship.
Played really well in Miami
for the first time, you know,
And the Dolphins,
down by a single score, 33-28.
Tannehill will throw it.
And this will end it after the shovel.
Or will it?
Miami running around, circling.
Oh, look out.
Gronkowski didn't have the angle.
Touchdown!
Oh-ho! Kenyan Drake!
A miracle!
And then had
just one of the toughest losses
we've ever had when they pull off
that miracle hook and lateral
and then lateral and lateral and run.
That was a very tough, difficult loss.
That would have won us our division.
Now we gotta go to Pittsburgh
to win our division.
It's, like,
"Oh, this is gonna be way harder."
We always battle Pittsburgh.
But we usually always get Pittsburgh.
Fourth and 15 for the Patriots.
Shotgun snap to Brady.
Throw into the end zone for Edelman.
The ball's tipped,
and it lands incomplete.
Patriots fall to 9-5.
To lose to them
in the later part of the season,
that definitely was,
like, a little red flaggy.
Two gross losses
in the month of December,
as you're closing out a year.
Where you're, like, holy moly,
I don't know about this.
We gotta tighten this thing up.
And we go out and win the next two,
and I don't think we won 'em
the way we wanted to win them.
We're not quite where we're usually at.
Well, it's been
an interesting regular season.
Some ups and downs,
some difficulty on the road.
Let's see what happens.
You got one game to get back
in the AFC title game.
And I hate to say this,
and Patriots fans, don't get mad at me.
I'm not worried
about the Patriots this year.
It isn't your season.
You guys are not going to the Super Bowl.
Coming into playoffs, like,
what's your confidence level?
Because again, sometimes
you haven't been the best team,
but you've won the Super Bowl, so
- Definitely.
- Yeah.
2001, you know,
we had a similar experience
where we were up and down
and found a way to play
our best in the playoffs.
You know, one of
the great advantages again
that I thought our teams always had
was we took advantage
of the extra time to not rest,
but to get better and improve.
Take a look at Tom Brady.
He won't play as well
as he has in the past.
Everyone is living off the past,
and sometimes, you know what?
The past strikes out.
There's a lot of humility
in that, you know.
It's like you have to be able
to address the things
that we're not good at.
And we go to that postseason,
and it was like,
yeah, we're not probably
on paper the strongest team.
That's the crazy thing.
We're talking about,
oh, this season's kind of
This is this is rough.
Oh, we have a first game bye,
and that's the crazy expectation factor
that we see with New England.
Greatest run in NFL history,
Greater than what
the Steelers did in the seventies.
The Niners in the eighties.
Greater than what
the Cowboys did in the nineties.
This is the weekend it ends.
But I was confident
'cause I started feeling better.
I'm not gonna lie.
Like, it was starting to line up for me.
I mean, when you tear your ACL,
you're learning how to walk again.
To get your endurance, strength,
and be able to do that
and go out and play week one,
I don't know.
I didn't get to play week one,
but I felt pretty sluggish in week four,
so it allowed me to build up
and get ready for December and January,
and that's when I started peaking.
It was a kind of a cold,
nasty day in Foxborough.
You know, the Chargers being San Diego,
we thought, okay, that's just a little bit
of a strategic advantage.
- It is cold, man.
- Yeah, it's cold.
Let's go.
- Another day, huh?
- The best day of the year.
You know, they came in,
and right from the first snap,
we were playing with an energy
that we hadn't had all year.
Brady play fakes to White.
Stands in the pocket,
and then dumps it off
right flat for James White.
A good pickup for the Patriots.
Who gives a shit what happened
during the regular season?
Up, down. Miracle play against Miami.
Opening drive, pssh, touchdown.
Next drive, pssh, touchdown.
We started putting it on 'em
a little bit, and
confidence started rolling and
Defense was playing lights out.
Leaping. Gilmore intercepting
in front of Keenan Allen.
You know, and it was just
one of those days.
They can't stop us.
I mean, you know Gronk lights up
when there's a crowd.
He lights up when
it's his opportunity to shine,
and Sony was now no longer that rookie
who was earlier in the season,
we're trying to figure out
what he could do.
He was really, like, "Oh, shit,
you're gonna have to deal with Sony.
Go, Sony!
Let's go!
James White was balling
like he always does.
Rex Burkhead was
Fought through a couple of injuries
So we had a stable of backs.
The line was coming together.
Whoo!
Big run! Way to go, sweet feet.
We got a good win under our belt.
We're nowhere where we need to be
because there was still a handful of plays
where we felt like
we could have done way better.
Well, you mentioned it.
Your eighth straight
AFC championship game,
and it's a rematch against Kansas City,
this time though, in Arrowhead.
What can we expect from that one?
It'll be a good game. They're a good team.
And we played 'em
earlier this year, you know.
I know, you know, everyone thinks we suck
and, you know, can't win any games.
So we'll see. It'll be fun.
It's all that I ever hear
is, you know, "Oh, they suck."
You know, "You guys are done."
Another year, another failure.
Blah, blah, blah, you know? And just
It's nice every once in a while
to get a subtle shot
just to make sure people know
that, yeah, I may hear you,
but in the end, it's not gonna affect me
and in the end, you're wrong again.
Once again,
talking heads in the media
talking about how this
is the end of the dynasty.
You know, I'm sure winning is sweet,
but is it that little bit sweeter
when you're constantly proving
people wrong all the time?
I just like winning.
I only see one team
being able to go into
Kansas City and beat them,
and that's the New England Patriots,
who I don't have much faith in,
will be able to do it on the road.
I don't think there
was a lot of people thinking
that, you know, we were gonna win,
although there was a little bit
of prognostication
because there was
this blood red moon in the sky
that particular night.
For a Leo, that was good luck.
We had a chip on our shoulder
going into that game
because our generation of Patriots
never won on the road.
We hadn't played well on
the road all season, you know.
Basically all five
of our losses were on the road,
so we're 3-5 on the road.
We're going up against
the number one team
who doesn't lose at home.
You have the GOAT,
and then you have the guy
that people are saying
is the heir apparent
in Patrick Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes
is certainly going to be the MVP.
We knew it was gonna be a dogfight.
We knew it was gonna be tough.
That place gets rocking.
You know, it's deafening.
You literally can't hear anything,
and you're trying to communicate,
but it's incredibly loud,
incredibly difficult,
and, um, you know, they
challenge you on every play.
We were there in 2014,
and we didn't play great
and they had destroyed us.
It was the loudest I could ever
remember a football stadium.
And I'm happy
I went through that experience
because when we went there
for the playoffs,
the AFC Championship,
I knew how loud the game
was gonna be at the start,
so there was no intimidation.
Many believe that this Chiefs team
is ready to take the baton
from the Patriots.
Got off to an incredible start,
running the football,
we were converting third downs,
converting in the red area.
Give to Michel.
Runs it left into the end zone.
Touchdown, Patriots!
Yeah! Touchdown! Yeah!
And let's bring out Patrick Mahomes.
Let's be physical,
and we're gonna go ahead.
Like that right there was physical.
And they've got him back inside the 10.
We played the half
of our lives the first half.
The defense played spectacular.
And he makes the catch
in the end zone. Touchdown!
And, you know, at halftime,
we had built a pretty good lead.
And at that point you go into halftime,
you know, we've been down
in halftimes before, you know.
Look at the Atlanta Super Bowl.
We didn't by any means think,
hey, this game's over.
We thought we better go out there
and play another great half of football.
The start of the third quarter comes,
and it's like four plays,
boom, they're in the end zone.
Touchdown, Kansas City!
And now the crowd's on fire.
Once they got the crowd back into it,
it was very tough for our offense.
Third and six, and it's knocked down.
Watkins in motion.
Mahomes rolling out.
Throws it. Caught for the touchdown!
They're gonna run a screen near side.
Damien Williams set up.
20, 15, 10, five, touchdown!
Aah!
And we got behind.
It was, like, fuck, we better, you know
Here we go. We gotta go down
and we gotta execute.
We gotta score and be clutch,
And now the Chiefs
have fought back from a 14-0 deficit
to take the lead
with a half quarter to go.
Oh, Hogan.
To Burkhead. Big lane for him.
And a fourth and inches on the way.
Here's the handoff, and to the end zone
is Sony Michel,
and the Patriots are back in front.
Yes, sir!
Then they go right back down and score.
Handoff.
Damien Williams into the end zone!
And the Chiefs regain the lead.
Brady fires. Complete.
Edelman. What a catch.
You know, I was never scared
that game until
Tom Brady.
Fires it near side.
The pass deflected and intercepted!
Then I'm, like,
sitting there thinking, like,
we really lost this fucking game?
Good game, bro.
Hey, I respect you, bro.
Damn,
this offseason's gonna suck.
A penalty marker
on the other side of the field.
- What happened?
- Offsides.
And then I saw the flag.
Oh, we're back. Let's go.
Brady is gonna turn
and give it to Burkhead.
He runs left behind Develin.
He blows his way to the end zone!
And they've regained the lead
with 39 seconds on the clock.
They have basically
no time left on the clock.
Now flings it on the run.
Diving catch made.
Pass down the field.
Caught at the 21!
They drive down the field
and kick the field goal.
11 seconds remaining.
It just all just happened so quick.
You ready to go a little longer?
Why not?
Get your mind ready for overtime.
You know, this is Tom Brady
with five Super Bowls.
You got guys that are two years old
when he first got in the league,
so people would be intimidated
to talk to him
or treat him like one of the boys.
And I was always one of the guys
that would always go at him.
You're too old!
You're too old.
You're too old!
Get him all get him all hairy.
Well, that game is over.
This is a whole new game right now.
I'd be aggressive right from the word go.
Hey, this is to go to the Super Bowl now.
♪♪
Second and goal, to Burkhead.
Burkhead to the end zone,
Hello Super Bowl, New England!
I don't think
I've ever flipped my helmet off
and jumped up and down like that.
And we were the underdogs.
We did something
that most people didn't think we could do.
What a game.
Would we have that any other way?
- Nope.
- Hell, no. On the road.
You know, players have worked so hard, um,
throughout the course of the season.
I thought they certainly showed
a lot of mental
and physical toughness tonight.
Coach Belichick and I
had for so many years
a really great relationship,
but it was always player/coach.
He was there to coach football,
I was there to play football.
You know, he had always said, you know,
there's nobody I'd, you know, rather have
play quarterback for our team than you,
and I felt that same way
about him as a coach.
I loved the way that he had us
focus in the biggest moments,
and here we were again
in the biggest moments.
I mean, Bill
is a very hard guy to play for.
It seemed like the more popular you were,
the better you were doing,
the more he would like to slam you down
a little bit.
That whole culture,
I mean, it is relentless in how the
The demand day after day after day.
And I always told people
when I played with the Patriots,
it was like being in a dark tunnel,
like, the whole year.
You couldn't see anything
until the confetti fell on top of you.
- Then it's, like
- Was it worth it?
Oh, to win a championship? Absolutely.
But the process was it's a grind.
He demands a lot out of you,
and you hate him sometimes,
but then, I mean, you love him a little.
He's like a Jedi. He's like a Sith.
He's like the Sith, bro.
Plays these mind tricks and stuff.
It's crazy, but he gets
the best out of his players.
Did I know it was coming to an end?
That success wasn't sustainable
for ever.
But I honestly tried to keep
my focus on the present
and what was on my plate at that time.
And, yes, you'd hear Tom
say certain things,
this, that, and the other.
Nothing is surprising
when you play for the Patriots.
You know, that's just how it goes.
Is it possible, too, Damien,
that it's not for everybody forever?
That perhaps it can work for a while,
and then as you become a veteran player,
you become more successful,
then it grows, you know, it grows tired.
You know, I always look
for different sources of information
thinking about the physical,
mental, emotional
and had enough life experience
where a lot of things go right
and some things go wrong.
And, um, I came across
that Chinese farmer
story/parable at one point.
I just loved it. It made so much sense.
You know, we're such
emotional beings, you know.
We live in the moment,
and we're attached to outcomes,
and they don't go great,
we often think what happened?
Who's to blame?
Even when good things happen,
I think, maybe.
Maybe.
'Cause you just don't know.
Let's go, baby.
It's why we play, baby.
And here we go against the Rams,
who had a great defense.
Marcus Peters on defense.
Aqib Talib's on defense.
Ndamukong Suh, obviously Aaron Donald.
- Baby, love you.
- Love you, bro.
Let's go, D.
The defense was what
that game was all about.
Turns and give to Michel.
Hit in the backfield,
and he's clotheslined.
It's truly a dogfight.
It was a stinky,
hard-nosed defensive game.
We moved the ball quite a few times
into good field position,
and we just could not score points.
Let's put the heat on 'em, huh?
Gets rid of it quickly.
It's tipped up in the air and intercepted!
Even when we moved the ball
into scoring territory,
we just couldn't get it over the hump
to get the ball into the
red area to score touchdowns.
So it was a very, very tough
game. Very frustrating.
And in the end, they didn't
have a lot of weaknesses.
The kick is lifted to the uprights,
and the kick is good.
So we have three points at half,
and then really again
another sluggish third quarter.
Goff in the pocket.
Throws down the middle,
and nearly intercepted
by Dont'a Hightower.
It should have been.
Our defense played the greatest game
in the history of, you know,
probably Super Bowls.
Their quarterback was being pressured.
He's wrapped up!
Their play actions were ineffective.
Their run game was ineffective.
Let's go now.
Edelman is killing whoever's on him.
I like those battles and those fights.
I'll go into those dogfights.
Brady stands and lobs
It was a stalemate type of game,
and we made more plays when we had to.
For some reason,
we always felt somewhat in control.
Even though we weren't playing great,
we kept getting field position.
We kept moving the ball.
We were just We were right on the brink.
And if you contrast to the previous year,
where we were constantly
moving down the field
and scoring points
and constantly getting
the ball in the end zone,
I still felt that game was
very much not in our control.
What our team did an amazing job of
was we found ways to adjust
in the fourth quarter of the game.
Big drive. Big drive.
Going back
to that compartmentalizing tool
that Tommy has, it's that battle.
Like, let's just worry
about what we got here.
Let's go. We gotta get this play.
We didn't score in the red area.
Let's try to dial something up
and get in there.
We need some points.
Lobs a throw for Gronkowski left side.
Makes the catch over two defenders!
Brady under center, gives to Michel.
Runs it left, a dive to the end zone!
Touchdown, Patriots!
Very similar to 2001
against the Rams
with a very talented offense.
Greatest show on turf.
This particular year,
a new up and coming type of offense.
The difference was the Rams
couldn't really get it going
in the fourth quarter
like they did in the 2001 Super Bowl.
Intercept it.
Gilmore's there. Intercepted at the four!
Yes! That's it.
And in the end,
the defense saved the day.
And receives the snap.
Swing of the right leg.
Kick driven to the uprights.
And the kick is good!
You know, we go down,
we kick the field goal
with Steve Gostkowski,
and at that point, they're down more
than they can overcome
in that short period of time.
Even though the ending of
the Super Bowl wasn't dramatic,
it was a very difficult game.
It was very Patriot-like game.
You guys are awesome.
That was one of
the hardest years of my life,
you know, on a lot of levels.
And after that game, I just kinda
I really wanted to just see my family,
who had my back
through everything
that I was going through.
- I love you.
- I love you, baby.
Celebrate with my teammates.
- Guess what? He's the MVP.
- He deserves it.
That was one of
the best games he ever played.
It felt right because it was right,
and there was this relatively
mediocre season by our standards
that turned into the ultimate Patriot
team winning formula for success.
- Are you happy?
- I'm happy.
And I wasn't thinking
about can we go back?
Can we do that? Can we do this?
Is he gonna be here?
Are they gonna be there?
This person?
I wasn't thinking about that.
I was thinking about, damn
I really saw this in my mind,
and we really went out and did it.
Congrats, baby. MVP for the Bay Area.
Julian, watching him
grow up from this young man
to now Super Bowl MVP,
he's immortalized in the history books.
And not only that,
he did it with his little girl
in the stands.
He did it under the most
challenging circumstances
of his career, coming off an ACL injury,
missing the first
four games of the season.
He showed what his character
was all about.
He showed what he was all about
as a competitor, as a teammate.
You don't always need to be the biggest.
You don't need to be the fastest.
You just have to have the will,
and you have to have the determination.
You know, unfortunately, that was
the last ride of that team and
Can't win 'em all, I guess.
Can't win 'em all.
I said I wanted
to get this Super Bowl for you.
We made a story.
What'd I say at halftime?
It's gonna be a hell of a story.
- I know.
- I love you, bro,
But you sure want to.
Obviously I had one year
left on my contract.
I probably knew that was
gonna be my last year.
I was again maybe hoping
things were changing and
but at the same time recognizing
that if they didn't, then it might be,
and that was
you know, that was okay, you know.
I think there was a lot
of perspective gained
on a lot of years
of how difficult it was to win.
And, you know, that perspective was all
Helped me in the aftermath of that game
to, you know, see how much joy
football brought to my life.
Well, I had 20
of the most incredible years
of my life in one place.
With one team, one owner,
Mr. Kraft, who I love so much,
who allowed me to grow into the man I am.
I had a great relationship
with Coach Belichick.
I think he wanted a quarterback
to show up every day
and put the team first,
and I wanted a coach
that showed up every day
and put the team first.
And we found an amazing
working relationship together,
and I think he was the best
coach I could ever ask for.
We had our challenges
at different moments,
but they were just moments.
They don't define
what the relationship was.
And in the end, we accomplished things
that no one had ever
accomplished in NFL history.
The organization was incredible,
from the people that I met, training room,
to the equipment room,
and to the video room,
to everything that makes up
a championship organization.
I think for me, again,
it all comes back to people.
I've only been able to accomplish
what I have professionally and personally
because of the people
that have come into my life.
And so many people came into
my life at these moments
that were the most important moments
at that time for what I needed.
You know, obviously there's that line,
"When the student's ready,
the teacher appears,"
but that's really been my life,
and I think I've been really
open and curious, but
Raising a family
and having a career in football,
it all comes down
to people and relationships.
So that's what I value the most.
That's the best part, is the people.
It's not a Super Bowl ring.
It's, man, we did this together,
and I think that's what
I share with everybody.
That's what I share
with my family when we win.
Who am I looking for right away
when the game's over?
My family, you know,
and my teammates so I can hug them.
It's not, like, going,
man, I can't wait to get up on the stage
so I can glorify myself.
It's, like, these moments
of life are no one's gonna
I mean, I believe no one cares
at the end of the day.
50 years from now, no one's
gonna give a flying fuck.
Like, just do something joyful
with your life,
and I found people that
I can really be joyful with.
Oh, yeah!
I don't know what he learned from me,
but I definitely learned a lot from him.
And well,
on the football field, the preparation.
Going out with a purpose every time.
I learned that from him.
I learned just how to be a professional.
That was some of the most valuable time
for me in my career
were the offseasons
of getting to be around him,
getting to see, you know,
his regimen and his routine.
I mean, this guy,
he thinks nothing else other
than football and his family.
Like, his family comes first.
But, like, you know, football is right
right there, you know.
It's crazy to say, but it's true.
And he became He's almost obsessive,
and I learned that from him. Obsessed.
He probably learned from me, you know
I don't know.
I think I taught him a fishing knot once.
When you think about
the Chinese farmer,
it's really the important
lesson I take from it is
anything that's bad
usually turns out pretty good in the end,
'cause you learn the most.
You know, I'm always trying to
find the learning in the losing
and finding the good in the bad,
and it's served me really well.
And I think as I've gotten older,
I've tried to, you know,
help younger players with that,
help family members with that,
and still learn from
all the experiences of my life
in the same ways.
You never know what life's
gonna put at your plate,
and the toughest things
I've been through in my life
have always been the best things,
and there's been a lot of personal things,
been a lot of professional things
that have really challenged me,
but it's really a shift in the mind.
It's really You go from being a victim
to being empowered by the fact
that you went through something difficult
and you learned from it.
And I wouldn't change anything.
I wouldn't change the good.
I wouldn't change the bad.
I take with me the memories
and I take the relationships.
And there was no better place
I could ever be
than in New England
playing for the Patriots.
It's been incredible for me
to love what I'm doing
and to chase something for so long.
And I'm still fucking doing it.
♪♪
I think it looks good with the jacket.
And so what we're gonna do is, like,
you know, since we'll have nine of these,
so starting with you're young and, like
- Impressionable?
- Description yet to be written
Not fucking
Just fucking jaded by everything now.
20 years of
That's And, yes, by the end it,
it'll be completely black behind you.
Oh, my God.
Do you want me to tell the story?
- Only if you
- Do we need it?
- That'll be good.
- Okay.
So the story of the Chinese farmer is
there's a man in a village
and he had a horse
and the horse ran away.
And all the people
of the village came to him
and said, "We're so sorry.
We can't believe your horse ran away."
And his comment back was, "Well, maybe."
And the next day,
the horse that had run away had returned,
and along with that horse that returned,
he brought ten other horses with him.
And all the people of the village
came to the Chinese farmer
and said,
"Oh, my God, this is unbelievable.
You should be so happy," you know.
Now you lost you thought you lost one.
Now you have a lot of horses.
And he said, "Well, maybe."
And he had a son,
and when they were taming
these wild horses,
his son was riding one of these
new wild horses they got,
and he gets bucked off the horse,
and he breaks his leg.
And all the people of the village,
you know, come to him and say,
"Oh, I'm so sorry your son broke his leg."
And he said, "Well, maybe."
The next day, you know, there was a war,
and they were coming
to draft the young men,
and they come to his house with his son,
and his son can't go to battle in the war
'cause he's got an injury.
And all the people of the village said,
"Oh, what a blessing," you know.
"He doesn't have to go off to war."
And the father said, "Maybe."
And the point was
we don't have the perspective
of what's gonna happen in the future.
And when we don't have the perspective,
we don't understand
whether what happens
in our life is good or bad.
We just have to understand
there's a lot of things at work,
and what we may think
is good may not be good,
and what we may think
is bad may not be bad.
Because the future will tell
whether or not the history of the past,
whether it was good or was bad.
And I think when I reflect back
on things that had
happened in previous years,
maybe I would not have
appreciated where we were at
had I not been through what
I had been at the previous year.
As difficult as it was
to go to the Super Bowl,
have a challenging year, and to lose,
that experience gave me more perspective
on the moment that I was in,
and I enjoyed that year
and I enjoyed those relationships
and I enjoyed the opportunity
to compete again in the Super Bowl.
Which, of course,
maybe it's not the best thing
in the world that happened,
and that's just the way life is.
♪♪
Couple more days here
on this third down
of just leaving our points on.
Next week, we'll get into the re-points
and lock in and that stuff.
But let's just put 'em on, leave 'em on.
We were basically the same on offense.
We lost Brandin Cooks in the offseason.
I mean, other guys
need to step up, you know.
Phillip Dorsett had to step in
and play a big role.
Chris Hogan needed to step up
into a much bigger role.
You know, Julian stepped up his game
just to a ridiculous level.
You know, he became
a driving force for our team
in a different era
than earlier in my career.
Julian kind of became the real, you know,
type of Patriot that a lot
of the guys before him were.
Totally selfless
at times.
I'm an intense guy
when it comes to football,
but I'm also a jokester.
You know, Jules is a receiver, so
You know, a ball buster.
Is that you can say that? Ball buster?
Oh, you can say that for sure.
All right. So I like to bust balls.
♪♪
I didn't know much about Julian,
except I knew we were going to
scout this kid from Kent State,
who I think was ultimately
a better football player
than he was a wide receiver.
He was, you know, obviously
a quarterback at Kent State.
He was someone that was really dynamic
when the ball was in his hands.
I was drafted in New England in 2009.
Bill comes on the phone, he goes,
"Yeah, we don't know
what you're gonna play,
but you can play football,
so see you in camp."
Julian Edelman,
the Patriots' 7th round rookie draft pick.
This is Wes Welker in progress.
Didn't play a lot his first year.
There was no real specific role for Julian
when he first got to the team.
He had to carve it out for himself.
Brady.
Caught! Touchdown!
My dad always used to tell me
when I was a young boy,
when you got 'em down,
you break their neck.
Shotgun snap to Brady.
Stands and throws
down the middle for Edelman.
Ball's tipped.
- Did he make the catch?
- I caught it.
Crazy. I swear to God.
- No way. Look at that.
- Watch.
- Damn.
- No.
He did!
That's why I am the way I am, though.
Julian's dad was pretty tough on Julian.
Julian has a story about
his dad was throwing him batting practice,
and his dad brushed him off the plate.
Julian charged the mound on his dad,
and I think that's, like,
that's what you need to know about Jules.
I would never doubt Julian.
He doesn't doubt himself,
and I think he loves playing
with that chip on his shoulder.
Were you in
the end zone after the punt return?
Yeah.
Go see my guy.
I mean, I could remember early on
when I was watching him
battle Peyton Manning
and the Patriots versus the Colts
back before I was even in the league,
I mean, I was always the Tom guy.
That underdog mentality
that he still keeps to this day
with all the championships, all the wins.
He was a Bay Area guy.
He always went the long road,
always went the hard road,
always outworked people.
Hey, one play at a time!
They haven't stopped us yet.
Anywhere he went
or anything he wanted to do
for the first few years of my career,
I was right behind him.
You gotta believe.
As the years went on
Okay, hump.
I got a little more comfortable.
You do a lot of talking, bro.
Hey, they know we're running it.
We know we're running it.
Who's gonna get it?
That's what I'm talking about!
Way to go, Brady.
Kind of like when brother
grows up a little
and he's almost like the same height
and you get kind of the balls
where you wanna
jab your brother a couple times.
I became that little brother.
- Are you happy? I'm not happy.
- I'm happy.
I'll be happy in a week.
Get another one, I'll be happy.
I know you're happy.
Brady, protected again.
Throws, caught on the run by Edelman.
I mean, he was spectacular.
That's all I would say
is he was the ultimate overachiever.
2017, we had played in Detroit
in week three of the preseason,
and we were, like, all right,
let's see what we're made of.
Brady stands tall.
Edelman beat Davis across the middle,
and sneaks inside the 15.
Third catch on the drive for the
Yeah, I got outside my base.
Tried to cut at high velocity.
Terrible technique.
And let's hope that's not serious.
Probably getting
a little too cocky out there,
and I blew out my knee.
He's laying on the table
in a meaningless preseason game,
and we realize, "Aw, shit,
you know, Jules is out for the year."
Julian Edelman
suffered a complete ACL tear
in his right knee last night.
The results did come in.
It is a torn ACL.
You spend a lot of time
away from the game,
and you watch your team
go out and succeed.
Super Bowl LII
in Minneapolis against the Eagles,
You start thinking and you start
getting hungry
and you start getting crazy.
Start trying to compete
every day with yourself.
Injuries in professional football
or any kind of professional sport
is so psychologically demanding.
Because you want to see your team do well,
but you don't want to see 'em do too well,
because then
Hey, it's a business.
Stands in.
He loads up. He's hit!
The ball's out. The ball is out!
Philadelphia has it.
Tom Brady was hit.
And tonight, instead of
a red and blue confetti rain,
it's green and silver.
There will be a lot of questions
asked about the future
for a number of the Patriots coaches,
players.
After that Super Bowl,
I had the resolve
that I had kind of, you know,
that time was gonna run its course,
and just the way it was gonna be.
The Patriots are one of the 25 teams
beginning their offseason
workout programs today
with a few notable exceptions.
Tom Brady not present today.
I think that offseason
was a big turning point for me,
where I recognize,
like okay, I was now 41.
I knew what to do
and how to prepare myself.
I knew how much I needed to throw,
how much I needed to run,
how much I needed to lift,
how much I needed to, you know,
really commit and train and so forth.
But also, you know, I needed
to take the kids to school.
Help them, you know, in ways
that I really can't help
during the season.
And just see my son Jack,
who lives in a different city
than I've lived in.
So, you know, it had been
all about me for a long time.
You know, I had to really make
a different type of
commitment to my family.
Tom Brady is kind of
throwing 'em a curveball a little bit.
Tom, he has been in line the whole time,
and all of a sudden,
this thing has come to a division.
Everyone's got a choice
to choose, like, hey,
this is where my priorities are gonna be,
and this is where I'm gonna
spend my time and energy
so that when I did get
to the football season,
that tank was full.
Breaking at 5:00 tonight,
Patriots star Julian Edelman
may miss the start of the season
after being suspended for four games.
The NFL announced today
that Edelman violated the league's policy
on performance enhancing drugs.
Julian Edelman
is Tom Brady's favorite target.
We wanna act like it's Rob Gronkowski.
He is not their number one target.
It is Julian Edelman.
He would happen to be out
the first four games
because of his suspension.
I'm all about one year.
Suspend him forever.
Like, you are taking
from the guy who is behind you
The guy who's not willing to cheat
and is putting everything in there.
You are cheating.
You know, Jules
is a pretty mentally tough guy.
He ignores the noise, you know.
He is always out to prove it, you know.
He would always say, you know,
prove 'em wrong or prove 'em right.
And Jules always wanted
to prove 'em wrong.
Edelman got busted, you know.
People are gonna care about that
just because he's a Patriot.
If Julian Edelman
is playing for the Dolphins,
I don't think people care.
A lot changed.
You get to a point
you wanna go out and show, "Hey,
I belong to be out there as well."
That was a very, you know,
tough year for me
strictly for the fact, you know,
I'm not playing the game I love.
You're sitting
and you're reflecting every day
about yourself, your game, your life,
this, that, what's gonna happen?
'Cause the one thing that's probably
the most scary thing for an athlete
is the unknown.
Part of the advice
I gave to him was, you know,
do things you wouldn't normally do.
Like, really take advantage of this time,
because you don't know when
you're going to have another
time like this in your life.
You know, when I was out those four games,
I thought those were probably
four of the best weeks of my life.
2018, we were a good offense.
We didn't play as well as some
of the offenses in the past,
but our defense was really talented.
And we knew
that if we didn't score
a lot of points offensively,
the defense was gonna figure out a way
to help us win the game.
Brady takes the snap.
He throws it left for Gronk.
He makes the catch over two
We won in week one.
Steps across the pylon.
But we went on the road,
lost to Jacksonville.
That was tough.
Went to Detroit,
got, you know, beat pretty bad.
We knew that after Jules was back,
we'd be a much better offense, you know,
just 'cause he was kind of the
I guess we'd call him our Joker, you know.
He kinda We could put him
wherever we wanted
Oh, what a play to trip him up.
So when he's not there,
you got to adjust,
and we didn't adjust as well.
We had some young players
that were rookies
and expecting them to contribute a lot.
This is all personnel-based.
He's got no one to go to.
Nobody. This is a microcosm
of what they are right now offensively.
Everyone thought, you know,
everything was falling apart.
You know, we were learning
as we went, too,
to see what you got.
We need one more.
Great job. Great job.
One more. Let's go.
The team, like always,
has to figure out as it goes,
and I think the NFL season
is very much like that.
You know, you work hard
through training camp
so you can be prepared
for the start of the season.
But in the end, you really
don't know what you have.
Things really start to unveil themselves
as you go through the season.
So when you start 2-2 after four games,
like, you're not out of it.
Now, you better start playing
a lot better and learn from it.
If you're 2-2 and you
haven't learned anything,
I think you got a problem.
We learned from those mistakes.
Like, okay, four games in.
What are we good at?
What are we not good at?
We gotta work on our pass rush games.
We gotta work on our tackling.
You know, we gotta work on
our red zone defense.
We gotta work on scrambling quarterbacks.
We gotta work on option
quarterbacks, you know?
You don't know those things in August.
You just know 'em once you've
actually had the real game
with the real tackling
and a real scoreboard
and real situations.
So, you know, we were learning as we went.
Brady. Look out.
Sacked at the ten-yard line by Eli Harold.
You know, we didn't feel great
about where we were at,
but we certainly weren't out of it.
You know, the ability to compartmentalize
is something that I learned
a lot from being around Tom.
I asked him a lot of questions,
because I didn't play the first four games
and he didn't play the first four games
the year prior to the last year.
He would always say, like,
you gotta just keep it in your routine
and zone everything in your life out
and focus on what you're
trying to improve that day.
And there's things you can take away
from bad things in your life
that you can learn from.
In hindsight, it was almost
a blessing in disguise.
But not great. Not great.
Not a great thing. Not a great thing.
How about this? The cavalry is here.
It's called Julian Edelman.
He's back from his four-game suspension.
They got Julian Edelman back.
You know they're going to get flowing.
That was a huge game for me
because that was the beginning
of the next chapter.
After surgery, when your knee's
throbbing at night,
you can't sleep for two weeks,
till the time you first do your first cut,
and you're, like, this is dog shit.
I hate this cut. I'm never gonna
To the day you're trying to get
another mile per hour
and you're getting this route
and you remember all that stuff
for that one play.
And there he is.
Welcome back.
The very first play of that game,
and went out and got a catch
on a little juke route.
I knew TB was gonna throw me the rock.
Needed to warm me up.
Needed to warm me up.
I thought I was just gonna go right in
and then keep it rolling
like it was before.
And it wasn't necessarily that easy,
and it was a lot harder.
Yeah, I hadn't played football
in probably I think it was like 405 days
or something like that,
so it was just great to be back.
You know, I've been playing
with Jules for a long time,
and really happy, you know,
to have him out there healthy
and having fun.
Now here come the Chiefs.
You could tell the Kansas City Chiefs
were starting to pick up a little steam.
Patrick was coming on,
the Chiefs were coming on,
and he started to do some incredibly
dynamic things as quarterback.
So Patrick Mahomes has been
an absolute freak of nature.
Patrick Mahomes
has been absolutely perfect
so far this season.
I think he's been lights out.
Mahomes steps up.
Down the middle of the field,
caught by Kelsey!
The sky's the limit for this team.
I think if Mahomes stays hot,
the Chiefs win.
Teams would often
measure themselves against us,
and we measured
ourselves against them, too.
And our defense going up
against that offense
was a very, uh, challenging experience.
You don't really know
until you get on the field
and see what the speed really is like
and see what that offense is like.
And Patrick has great vision
as a quarterback.
Down the sideline.
Getting free is Kareem Hunt!
You can practice and you can do
your little drills
and your little rehab,
but until you got live bullets
coming at you
and then you got a guy
sideswiping your leg
and you got another guy hitting you,
you can't train for that.
That's football.
Brady fires over the middle.
That's Edelman wide open.
We made some plays in the fourth quarter
that were pretty solid, unique plays.
But they kept it very close.
Deep down the sideline.
He goes for Gronkowski.
He has it.
48-yard attempt for the win.
The snap in place,
swing the right leg kick,
Kick lifted to the uprights.
Right down the middle!
I mean, we won, but it was tight,
and if we play 'em again
and they're an ascending team,
we're gonna have to play better.
You know, when I first got in the league,
you had guys like Tedy Bruschi,
How we feel about playoffs? Yes, sirree.
Oh, yeah!
Kevin Faulks.
The Vrabels.
These guys that work their tail off
always trying to catch an edge,
competing at everything.
You know, holding everyone
accountable, you know.
And that generation disappeared,
and then there was a new generation.
I was part of that new generation.
That's the Patriot way.
Hold guys accountable.
Let's start fast now.
Do what we do now.
No one's off limits.
Have faith in each other
our adversity hit.
You know, we're here to bust balls.
If you're dogging it,
I'm gonna let you know you're dogging it
In practice, we're gonna fight.
Julian Edelman told to leave practice
as he started a scuffle
with top cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
Because practice is where, you know,
you gain your confidence,
Practice execution becomes game reality.
I don't know how many times
everyone's heard that.
The New England Patriots
travel to Tennessee
to play former player Mike Vrabel,
who's very familiar with everything
about the New England Patriots.
Against Mike, I remember
talking shit to him the day before.
You know, I called him up on his phone
and been a friend of mine for a long time.
Gimme that damn hat, boys.
I'd have bet more on his team.
Retreats three steps.
He's in the pocket.
He launches a long ball.
A high lob to Davis
left side in the end zone.
Caught for a Tennessee touchdown.
Yeah, so we got our ass kicked.
You know, they put it on us pretty good.
They probably played one of the best games
they had played all season,
and, um, really embarrassed us.
The Patriots have been
thoroughly dominated today in every phase.
It just showed that if we played poor
and another team played really well,
they could beat us by 25 points.
So it just heightens
your sense of practice,
focus, determination,
you know, planning, strategy,
all those things have to go way up,
because you can't lose by 25.
The Patriots today with a win
will earn their tenth consecutive
AFC East Division championship.
Played really well in Miami
for the first time, you know,
And the Dolphins,
down by a single score, 33-28.
Tannehill will throw it.
And this will end it after the shovel.
Or will it?
Miami running around, circling.
Oh, look out.
Gronkowski didn't have the angle.
Touchdown!
Oh-ho! Kenyan Drake!
A miracle!
And then had
just one of the toughest losses
we've ever had when they pull off
that miracle hook and lateral
and then lateral and lateral and run.
That was a very tough, difficult loss.
That would have won us our division.
Now we gotta go to Pittsburgh
to win our division.
It's, like,
"Oh, this is gonna be way harder."
We always battle Pittsburgh.
But we usually always get Pittsburgh.
Fourth and 15 for the Patriots.
Shotgun snap to Brady.
Throw into the end zone for Edelman.
The ball's tipped,
and it lands incomplete.
Patriots fall to 9-5.
To lose to them
in the later part of the season,
that definitely was,
like, a little red flaggy.
Two gross losses
in the month of December,
as you're closing out a year.
Where you're, like, holy moly,
I don't know about this.
We gotta tighten this thing up.
And we go out and win the next two,
and I don't think we won 'em
the way we wanted to win them.
We're not quite where we're usually at.
Well, it's been
an interesting regular season.
Some ups and downs,
some difficulty on the road.
Let's see what happens.
You got one game to get back
in the AFC title game.
And I hate to say this,
and Patriots fans, don't get mad at me.
I'm not worried
about the Patriots this year.
It isn't your season.
You guys are not going to the Super Bowl.
Coming into playoffs, like,
what's your confidence level?
Because again, sometimes
you haven't been the best team,
but you've won the Super Bowl, so
- Definitely.
- Yeah.
2001, you know,
we had a similar experience
where we were up and down
and found a way to play
our best in the playoffs.
You know, one of
the great advantages again
that I thought our teams always had
was we took advantage
of the extra time to not rest,
but to get better and improve.
Take a look at Tom Brady.
He won't play as well
as he has in the past.
Everyone is living off the past,
and sometimes, you know what?
The past strikes out.
There's a lot of humility
in that, you know.
It's like you have to be able
to address the things
that we're not good at.
And we go to that postseason,
and it was like,
yeah, we're not probably
on paper the strongest team.
That's the crazy thing.
We're talking about,
oh, this season's kind of
This is this is rough.
Oh, we have a first game bye,
and that's the crazy expectation factor
that we see with New England.
Greatest run in NFL history,
Greater than what
the Steelers did in the seventies.
The Niners in the eighties.
Greater than what
the Cowboys did in the nineties.
This is the weekend it ends.
But I was confident
'cause I started feeling better.
I'm not gonna lie.
Like, it was starting to line up for me.
I mean, when you tear your ACL,
you're learning how to walk again.
To get your endurance, strength,
and be able to do that
and go out and play week one,
I don't know.
I didn't get to play week one,
but I felt pretty sluggish in week four,
so it allowed me to build up
and get ready for December and January,
and that's when I started peaking.
It was a kind of a cold,
nasty day in Foxborough.
You know, the Chargers being San Diego,
we thought, okay, that's just a little bit
of a strategic advantage.
- It is cold, man.
- Yeah, it's cold.
Let's go.
- Another day, huh?
- The best day of the year.
You know, they came in,
and right from the first snap,
we were playing with an energy
that we hadn't had all year.
Brady play fakes to White.
Stands in the pocket,
and then dumps it off
right flat for James White.
A good pickup for the Patriots.
Who gives a shit what happened
during the regular season?
Up, down. Miracle play against Miami.
Opening drive, pssh, touchdown.
Next drive, pssh, touchdown.
We started putting it on 'em
a little bit, and
confidence started rolling and
Defense was playing lights out.
Leaping. Gilmore intercepting
in front of Keenan Allen.
You know, and it was just
one of those days.
They can't stop us.
I mean, you know Gronk lights up
when there's a crowd.
He lights up when
it's his opportunity to shine,
and Sony was now no longer that rookie
who was earlier in the season,
we're trying to figure out
what he could do.
He was really, like, "Oh, shit,
you're gonna have to deal with Sony.
Go, Sony!
Let's go!
James White was balling
like he always does.
Rex Burkhead was
Fought through a couple of injuries
So we had a stable of backs.
The line was coming together.
Whoo!
Big run! Way to go, sweet feet.
We got a good win under our belt.
We're nowhere where we need to be
because there was still a handful of plays
where we felt like
we could have done way better.
Well, you mentioned it.
Your eighth straight
AFC championship game,
and it's a rematch against Kansas City,
this time though, in Arrowhead.
What can we expect from that one?
It'll be a good game. They're a good team.
And we played 'em
earlier this year, you know.
I know, you know, everyone thinks we suck
and, you know, can't win any games.
So we'll see. It'll be fun.
It's all that I ever hear
is, you know, "Oh, they suck."
You know, "You guys are done."
Another year, another failure.
Blah, blah, blah, you know? And just
It's nice every once in a while
to get a subtle shot
just to make sure people know
that, yeah, I may hear you,
but in the end, it's not gonna affect me
and in the end, you're wrong again.
Once again,
talking heads in the media
talking about how this
is the end of the dynasty.
You know, I'm sure winning is sweet,
but is it that little bit sweeter
when you're constantly proving
people wrong all the time?
I just like winning.
I only see one team
being able to go into
Kansas City and beat them,
and that's the New England Patriots,
who I don't have much faith in,
will be able to do it on the road.
I don't think there
was a lot of people thinking
that, you know, we were gonna win,
although there was a little bit
of prognostication
because there was
this blood red moon in the sky
that particular night.
For a Leo, that was good luck.
We had a chip on our shoulder
going into that game
because our generation of Patriots
never won on the road.
We hadn't played well on
the road all season, you know.
Basically all five
of our losses were on the road,
so we're 3-5 on the road.
We're going up against
the number one team
who doesn't lose at home.
You have the GOAT,
and then you have the guy
that people are saying
is the heir apparent
in Patrick Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes
is certainly going to be the MVP.
We knew it was gonna be a dogfight.
We knew it was gonna be tough.
That place gets rocking.
You know, it's deafening.
You literally can't hear anything,
and you're trying to communicate,
but it's incredibly loud,
incredibly difficult,
and, um, you know, they
challenge you on every play.
We were there in 2014,
and we didn't play great
and they had destroyed us.
It was the loudest I could ever
remember a football stadium.
And I'm happy
I went through that experience
because when we went there
for the playoffs,
the AFC Championship,
I knew how loud the game
was gonna be at the start,
so there was no intimidation.
Many believe that this Chiefs team
is ready to take the baton
from the Patriots.
Got off to an incredible start,
running the football,
we were converting third downs,
converting in the red area.
Give to Michel.
Runs it left into the end zone.
Touchdown, Patriots!
Yeah! Touchdown! Yeah!
And let's bring out Patrick Mahomes.
Let's be physical,
and we're gonna go ahead.
Like that right there was physical.
And they've got him back inside the 10.
We played the half
of our lives the first half.
The defense played spectacular.
And he makes the catch
in the end zone. Touchdown!
And, you know, at halftime,
we had built a pretty good lead.
And at that point you go into halftime,
you know, we've been down
in halftimes before, you know.
Look at the Atlanta Super Bowl.
We didn't by any means think,
hey, this game's over.
We thought we better go out there
and play another great half of football.
The start of the third quarter comes,
and it's like four plays,
boom, they're in the end zone.
Touchdown, Kansas City!
And now the crowd's on fire.
Once they got the crowd back into it,
it was very tough for our offense.
Third and six, and it's knocked down.
Watkins in motion.
Mahomes rolling out.
Throws it. Caught for the touchdown!
They're gonna run a screen near side.
Damien Williams set up.
20, 15, 10, five, touchdown!
Aah!
And we got behind.
It was, like, fuck, we better, you know
Here we go. We gotta go down
and we gotta execute.
We gotta score and be clutch,
And now the Chiefs
have fought back from a 14-0 deficit
to take the lead
with a half quarter to go.
Oh, Hogan.
To Burkhead. Big lane for him.
And a fourth and inches on the way.
Here's the handoff, and to the end zone
is Sony Michel,
and the Patriots are back in front.
Yes, sir!
Then they go right back down and score.
Handoff.
Damien Williams into the end zone!
And the Chiefs regain the lead.
Brady fires. Complete.
Edelman. What a catch.
You know, I was never scared
that game until
Tom Brady.
Fires it near side.
The pass deflected and intercepted!
Then I'm, like,
sitting there thinking, like,
we really lost this fucking game?
Good game, bro.
Hey, I respect you, bro.
Damn,
this offseason's gonna suck.
A penalty marker
on the other side of the field.
- What happened?
- Offsides.
And then I saw the flag.
Oh, we're back. Let's go.
Brady is gonna turn
and give it to Burkhead.
He runs left behind Develin.
He blows his way to the end zone!
And they've regained the lead
with 39 seconds on the clock.
They have basically
no time left on the clock.
Now flings it on the run.
Diving catch made.
Pass down the field.
Caught at the 21!
They drive down the field
and kick the field goal.
11 seconds remaining.
It just all just happened so quick.
You ready to go a little longer?
Why not?
Get your mind ready for overtime.
You know, this is Tom Brady
with five Super Bowls.
You got guys that are two years old
when he first got in the league,
so people would be intimidated
to talk to him
or treat him like one of the boys.
And I was always one of the guys
that would always go at him.
You're too old!
You're too old.
You're too old!
Get him all get him all hairy.
Well, that game is over.
This is a whole new game right now.
I'd be aggressive right from the word go.
Hey, this is to go to the Super Bowl now.
♪♪
Second and goal, to Burkhead.
Burkhead to the end zone,
Hello Super Bowl, New England!
I don't think
I've ever flipped my helmet off
and jumped up and down like that.
And we were the underdogs.
We did something
that most people didn't think we could do.
What a game.
Would we have that any other way?
- Nope.
- Hell, no. On the road.
You know, players have worked so hard, um,
throughout the course of the season.
I thought they certainly showed
a lot of mental
and physical toughness tonight.
Coach Belichick and I
had for so many years
a really great relationship,
but it was always player/coach.
He was there to coach football,
I was there to play football.
You know, he had always said, you know,
there's nobody I'd, you know, rather have
play quarterback for our team than you,
and I felt that same way
about him as a coach.
I loved the way that he had us
focus in the biggest moments,
and here we were again
in the biggest moments.
I mean, Bill
is a very hard guy to play for.
It seemed like the more popular you were,
the better you were doing,
the more he would like to slam you down
a little bit.
That whole culture,
I mean, it is relentless in how the
The demand day after day after day.
And I always told people
when I played with the Patriots,
it was like being in a dark tunnel,
like, the whole year.
You couldn't see anything
until the confetti fell on top of you.
- Then it's, like
- Was it worth it?
Oh, to win a championship? Absolutely.
But the process was it's a grind.
He demands a lot out of you,
and you hate him sometimes,
but then, I mean, you love him a little.
He's like a Jedi. He's like a Sith.
He's like the Sith, bro.
Plays these mind tricks and stuff.
It's crazy, but he gets
the best out of his players.
Did I know it was coming to an end?
That success wasn't sustainable
for ever.
But I honestly tried to keep
my focus on the present
and what was on my plate at that time.
And, yes, you'd hear Tom
say certain things,
this, that, and the other.
Nothing is surprising
when you play for the Patriots.
You know, that's just how it goes.
Is it possible, too, Damien,
that it's not for everybody forever?
That perhaps it can work for a while,
and then as you become a veteran player,
you become more successful,
then it grows, you know, it grows tired.
You know, I always look
for different sources of information
thinking about the physical,
mental, emotional
and had enough life experience
where a lot of things go right
and some things go wrong.
And, um, I came across
that Chinese farmer
story/parable at one point.
I just loved it. It made so much sense.
You know, we're such
emotional beings, you know.
We live in the moment,
and we're attached to outcomes,
and they don't go great,
we often think what happened?
Who's to blame?
Even when good things happen,
I think, maybe.
Maybe.
'Cause you just don't know.
Let's go, baby.
It's why we play, baby.
And here we go against the Rams,
who had a great defense.
Marcus Peters on defense.
Aqib Talib's on defense.
Ndamukong Suh, obviously Aaron Donald.
- Baby, love you.
- Love you, bro.
Let's go, D.
The defense was what
that game was all about.
Turns and give to Michel.
Hit in the backfield,
and he's clotheslined.
It's truly a dogfight.
It was a stinky,
hard-nosed defensive game.
We moved the ball quite a few times
into good field position,
and we just could not score points.
Let's put the heat on 'em, huh?
Gets rid of it quickly.
It's tipped up in the air and intercepted!
Even when we moved the ball
into scoring territory,
we just couldn't get it over the hump
to get the ball into the
red area to score touchdowns.
So it was a very, very tough
game. Very frustrating.
And in the end, they didn't
have a lot of weaknesses.
The kick is lifted to the uprights,
and the kick is good.
So we have three points at half,
and then really again
another sluggish third quarter.
Goff in the pocket.
Throws down the middle,
and nearly intercepted
by Dont'a Hightower.
It should have been.
Our defense played the greatest game
in the history of, you know,
probably Super Bowls.
Their quarterback was being pressured.
He's wrapped up!
Their play actions were ineffective.
Their run game was ineffective.
Let's go now.
Edelman is killing whoever's on him.
I like those battles and those fights.
I'll go into those dogfights.
Brady stands and lobs
It was a stalemate type of game,
and we made more plays when we had to.
For some reason,
we always felt somewhat in control.
Even though we weren't playing great,
we kept getting field position.
We kept moving the ball.
We were just We were right on the brink.
And if you contrast to the previous year,
where we were constantly
moving down the field
and scoring points
and constantly getting
the ball in the end zone,
I still felt that game was
very much not in our control.
What our team did an amazing job of
was we found ways to adjust
in the fourth quarter of the game.
Big drive. Big drive.
Going back
to that compartmentalizing tool
that Tommy has, it's that battle.
Like, let's just worry
about what we got here.
Let's go. We gotta get this play.
We didn't score in the red area.
Let's try to dial something up
and get in there.
We need some points.
Lobs a throw for Gronkowski left side.
Makes the catch over two defenders!
Brady under center, gives to Michel.
Runs it left, a dive to the end zone!
Touchdown, Patriots!
Very similar to 2001
against the Rams
with a very talented offense.
Greatest show on turf.
This particular year,
a new up and coming type of offense.
The difference was the Rams
couldn't really get it going
in the fourth quarter
like they did in the 2001 Super Bowl.
Intercept it.
Gilmore's there. Intercepted at the four!
Yes! That's it.
And in the end,
the defense saved the day.
And receives the snap.
Swing of the right leg.
Kick driven to the uprights.
And the kick is good!
You know, we go down,
we kick the field goal
with Steve Gostkowski,
and at that point, they're down more
than they can overcome
in that short period of time.
Even though the ending of
the Super Bowl wasn't dramatic,
it was a very difficult game.
It was very Patriot-like game.
You guys are awesome.
That was one of
the hardest years of my life,
you know, on a lot of levels.
And after that game, I just kinda
I really wanted to just see my family,
who had my back
through everything
that I was going through.
- I love you.
- I love you, baby.
Celebrate with my teammates.
- Guess what? He's the MVP.
- He deserves it.
That was one of
the best games he ever played.
It felt right because it was right,
and there was this relatively
mediocre season by our standards
that turned into the ultimate Patriot
team winning formula for success.
- Are you happy?
- I'm happy.
And I wasn't thinking
about can we go back?
Can we do that? Can we do this?
Is he gonna be here?
Are they gonna be there?
This person?
I wasn't thinking about that.
I was thinking about, damn
I really saw this in my mind,
and we really went out and did it.
Congrats, baby. MVP for the Bay Area.
Julian, watching him
grow up from this young man
to now Super Bowl MVP,
he's immortalized in the history books.
And not only that,
he did it with his little girl
in the stands.
He did it under the most
challenging circumstances
of his career, coming off an ACL injury,
missing the first
four games of the season.
He showed what his character
was all about.
He showed what he was all about
as a competitor, as a teammate.
You don't always need to be the biggest.
You don't need to be the fastest.
You just have to have the will,
and you have to have the determination.
You know, unfortunately, that was
the last ride of that team and
Can't win 'em all, I guess.
Can't win 'em all.
I said I wanted
to get this Super Bowl for you.
We made a story.
What'd I say at halftime?
It's gonna be a hell of a story.
- I know.
- I love you, bro,
But you sure want to.
Obviously I had one year
left on my contract.
I probably knew that was
gonna be my last year.
I was again maybe hoping
things were changing and
but at the same time recognizing
that if they didn't, then it might be,
and that was
you know, that was okay, you know.
I think there was a lot
of perspective gained
on a lot of years
of how difficult it was to win.
And, you know, that perspective was all
Helped me in the aftermath of that game
to, you know, see how much joy
football brought to my life.
Well, I had 20
of the most incredible years
of my life in one place.
With one team, one owner,
Mr. Kraft, who I love so much,
who allowed me to grow into the man I am.
I had a great relationship
with Coach Belichick.
I think he wanted a quarterback
to show up every day
and put the team first,
and I wanted a coach
that showed up every day
and put the team first.
And we found an amazing
working relationship together,
and I think he was the best
coach I could ever ask for.
We had our challenges
at different moments,
but they were just moments.
They don't define
what the relationship was.
And in the end, we accomplished things
that no one had ever
accomplished in NFL history.
The organization was incredible,
from the people that I met, training room,
to the equipment room,
and to the video room,
to everything that makes up
a championship organization.
I think for me, again,
it all comes back to people.
I've only been able to accomplish
what I have professionally and personally
because of the people
that have come into my life.
And so many people came into
my life at these moments
that were the most important moments
at that time for what I needed.
You know, obviously there's that line,
"When the student's ready,
the teacher appears,"
but that's really been my life,
and I think I've been really
open and curious, but
Raising a family
and having a career in football,
it all comes down
to people and relationships.
So that's what I value the most.
That's the best part, is the people.
It's not a Super Bowl ring.
It's, man, we did this together,
and I think that's what
I share with everybody.
That's what I share
with my family when we win.
Who am I looking for right away
when the game's over?
My family, you know,
and my teammates so I can hug them.
It's not, like, going,
man, I can't wait to get up on the stage
so I can glorify myself.
It's, like, these moments
of life are no one's gonna
I mean, I believe no one cares
at the end of the day.
50 years from now, no one's
gonna give a flying fuck.
Like, just do something joyful
with your life,
and I found people that
I can really be joyful with.
Oh, yeah!
I don't know what he learned from me,
but I definitely learned a lot from him.
And well,
on the football field, the preparation.
Going out with a purpose every time.
I learned that from him.
I learned just how to be a professional.
That was some of the most valuable time
for me in my career
were the offseasons
of getting to be around him,
getting to see, you know,
his regimen and his routine.
I mean, this guy,
he thinks nothing else other
than football and his family.
Like, his family comes first.
But, like, you know, football is right
right there, you know.
It's crazy to say, but it's true.
And he became He's almost obsessive,
and I learned that from him. Obsessed.
He probably learned from me, you know
I don't know.
I think I taught him a fishing knot once.
When you think about
the Chinese farmer,
it's really the important
lesson I take from it is
anything that's bad
usually turns out pretty good in the end,
'cause you learn the most.
You know, I'm always trying to
find the learning in the losing
and finding the good in the bad,
and it's served me really well.
And I think as I've gotten older,
I've tried to, you know,
help younger players with that,
help family members with that,
and still learn from
all the experiences of my life
in the same ways.
You never know what life's
gonna put at your plate,
and the toughest things
I've been through in my life
have always been the best things,
and there's been a lot of personal things,
been a lot of professional things
that have really challenged me,
but it's really a shift in the mind.
It's really You go from being a victim
to being empowered by the fact
that you went through something difficult
and you learned from it.
And I wouldn't change anything.
I wouldn't change the good.
I wouldn't change the bad.
I take with me the memories
and I take the relationships.
And there was no better place
I could ever be
than in New England
playing for the Patriots.
It's been incredible for me
to love what I'm doing
and to chase something for so long.
And I'm still fucking doing it.