FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Matthew Slater said there’s a very simple tenet if you want to play with Tom Brady:
“You better make sure when you step on the field you’re on your job, you know what you’re doing, you’re doing it at a high speed and with great execution.”
Divisional ROUND
WHO: Kansas City Chiefs at New England Patriots
WHEN: 4:35 p.m. Saturday
TELEVISION: CBS
Because if you don’t, Brady’s going to let you know about it. That includes Slater, a wide receiver who was selected to his fifth Pro Bowl as a special teams player this season.
“Oh yeah, several times,” Slater said.
Brady’s work ethic and intensity are legendary by now. Since being drafted in the sixth round in 2000 – the 199th player selected (behind the likes of Giovanni Carmazzi, Tee Martin and Spergon Wynn) – he has played with a chip the size of Katahdin on his shoulders.
He has attacked his doubters, and made himself a four-time Super Bowl champion and two-time Most Valuable Player. And part of his makeup is a drive to excel at everything.
A story in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday detailed how Brady takes a simple game of catch and turns it into a precision drill, with Brady getting upset at himself when his passes are mere inches off.
“I think he demands a lot of himself and a lot of his teammates,” said Slater. “That’s part of what makes Tom, Tom. This game of football means the world to him and I’m sure he would tell you the same. It shows in his intensity.”
As the Patriots prepare to play the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs Saturday at Gillette Stadium, Brady said he knows he can be a little intense at times.
“I would say I’m not the easiest guy to play with,” he said Tuesday. “I think there are a lot of high expectations and I try to put a lot of pressure on everybody to get the best out of us.”
His teammates understand exactly what he’s doing.
“I think I’ve said it many times,” said defensive end Rob Ninkovich. “Tom is one of the most competitive people I’ve ever been around, so I just think his competitive nature is to put himself mentally in a state where he’s going to be the best guy on the field.”
And that doesn’t just start now, when the stakes are so much higher. As Brady said, “The ramifications of a loss are a lot different (than in the regular season). You really don’t have next week to get it right, so we’ve worked pretty hard to get to this point and we’re going to have to have our best week. It’s a great team we’re playing.”
And that’s why Brady works endlessly to get things right, to get his mechanics pure, to maintain his 6-foot-4, 225-pound body and his skill level at age 38, when many of his contemporaries are showing signs of wearing down.
He doesn’t just flip a switch when the playoffs arrive. He is firmly grounded in football.
“Every time of the year is really important because you’re always trying to build to something,” Brady said. “I don’t care if it’s an offseason, non-practice day: What are you trying to do to help our team win and become a better player?
“It’s not like you’re going to do anything different because it’s the playoffs now. You’re just going to do more of the same, but at the same time you know if you lose there’s nothing to figure out the following week.”
He expects his teammates to follow his lead and they do. The Patriots have won seven consecutive AFC East titles and are the first NFL team to win a division title in 12 of 13 years. Brady has won 21 postseason games, the most in league history.
Backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo sees Brady at work every day.
“He’s intense, that’s for sure,” said Garoppolo. “I think the receivers probably get it a little more than I do, but it’s good. You need that in a quarterback. It makes for a competitive atmosphere and makes people better.”
Brady realizes that different players respond to different leadership cues, but that the expectations will not change.
“I think there are different tools at different times for different players,” he said. “Some guys may think I’m being really hard on them but I’m not being hard on them at all. I just think ultimately we’re all trying to get to the same place and you’ve got to have different leadership styles with different players.
“Every day you’re trying to create some urgency so you can realize the importance of what we’re trying to do for ourselves, for our team, because everyone puts in a lot of work.
“There are a lot of people that sacrifice a lot to get to this point. This is not a one-week event. This is a year-round event that you commit to, to play in moments like this, and this is when you need to be at your best.”
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