New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien had nothing but fun memories and positive things to say about Tom Brady, when meeting with media members.
Brady is set to return to Gillette Stadium on Sunday, when the Patriots open their 2023 regular season against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Buy Patriots TicketsO’Brien was a notable part of Brady’s career. He was the offensive coordinator for New England in 2011 and worked with Brady as the quarterbacks coach in 2009 and 2010. Simply put, the two have history together.
Now, O’Brien will get to work with a different quarterback in Mac Jones, who is looking to offer the organization some stability following the departure of Brady in 2020. New England is in a bit of a rut in terms of success, as they missed the playoffs last season and finished with a losing record.
Perhaps having Brady back in the building could help motivate the team in pulling off an upset.
“That was definitely a really exciting time in my career,” O’Brien said, when talking about coaching Brady, via NESN.com’s Dakota Randall. “But also a tough time because … at that time, I was moving on to be a head coach at Penn State. But I was leaving a place in New England, and players in New England — obviously Tom being at the head of that. A great organization, a place where we had won a lot of games and we had formed a tremendous bond.
“Tom meant a lot to all of our careers. Tom’s a great friend. I’ve been fortunate enough to stay in touch with Tom since I coached him. It’s just a really good friendship and a guy that you always can count on. Just a great guy. I know everybody knows him as a great football player and everything he did on the football field … he’s a tremendous friend. And I’ve been able to lean on him at times over my career since I left coaching him. He’s just been a really good friend to me.”
It’s going to be a sentimental moment on Sunday, when New England opens the season at home and honors Brady.
If nothing else, this speaks to the wide-ranging impact Brady had on the entire Patriots organization. It will be a roller coaster of emotions for fans in attendance and the ones watching at home.
