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Louise Thomas
Editor
Tom Brady had no sympathy for fellow quarterback Baker Mayfield after the latter accused him of creating a “stressed out” environment at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brady closed out his career at the Florida NFL team after winning six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. He won a final Super Bowl with the Buccaneers in 2021.
Two weeks ago, Mayfield appeared on the Casa De Klub podcast where he said Brady had left behind a “high-strung environment” in the locker room.
Brady responded to the claims while calling the Buccaneers’ game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday (September 29).
“I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” Brady said during the broadcast. “There was a mindset of a champion I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare – if I wanted to have fun, I was going to Disneyland with my kids.
“There’s a way to approach this game and it’s with the right mindset to push each other outside of our comfort zone, and great teammates do that.”
Brady added that he had “no apologies” for his competitive spirit.
Speaking to the press after the Buccaneers’ 33-16 win, Mayfield said his comments had been misinterpreted and praised Brady’s mindset.
“I think a lot of that got taken out of context, and none of it was personal by any means,” Mayfield said. “It’s just what he demanded of the guys, and that’s the aura of Tom Brady. And that’s what he did to bring a championship here.”
Mayfield had previously said on the podcast appearance: “The building was a little bit different with Tom in there. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out.”
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He continued: “You hear some of the stories about if he didn’t like a certain play call and he didn’t like it throughout the week and they still call it in the game, there might have been a throwaway on purpose or throwing it at the running back or receiver’s feet. There were a lot of mind games going on.”
Hired to replace Brady, Mayfield has previously praised his predecessor as the greatest of all time. On a 2023 episode of NFL Now, Mayfield said, “He’s the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, and he deserves that recognition. I’m going to be myself, and Tom was himself. I respect everything he did, and obviously people around here have worked with him, so I’m going to try and pick their brain about how he did it, how he operated and certain things that were the difference-makers and who he is.”
He added: “I’m excited about it. Those are big shoes to fill, but I’m just going to try and wear my own.”
