Bill Belichick will be coaching his ninth Super Bowl and Tom Brady will be playing in his sixth. Even with all of their success, the humility they both showed at tonight’s Press Conference, in Arizona, was beyond admirable. The praises the two passed between each other, the team, the media, and their owner, Robert Kraft as well as their big opponent were not deficient by any means.
Belichick took time early in his statements to give much praise to Seattle. Before any questions were asked about the ‘deflate gate’ controversy, which were all answered in a ‘Marshawn Lynch’ type commentary, with a short and sweet reply of, “my attention is focused on the Seattle Seahawks”, he directed his respect towards the Patriots Super Bowl Sunday opponent. Belichick stated, “There is no way that I could in a brief amount of time express the amount of admiration and respect that I have for that organization, in particular Pete Carroll. I think that Pete’s one of the great coaches in my time…I tried to study him closely and learn from many of the things that he and his organization have done. I’ve watched them build that organization very carefully. And although we haven’t competed directly with them since early 2012, it’s very obvious to me now why they were the world champions last year and why they are here again this year…I really feel like it’s an honor to compete with the Seattle Seahawks with Coach Carroll and his outstanding staff this week.”
Belichick was later asked about his legacy, and how he would like to be remembered, but quickly pushed all praises aside stating, “it’s really not about that right now for me. What it’s about for me is this week and our matchup with the Seattle Seahawks…this is the one that is really important…the other eight…You can’t change them; certainly, a lot of great moments. It’s difficult to get to this game. It’s very difficult to win a conference championship. Right now, everything is just about Seattle and what in front of us.” When Brady was later asked about how Belichick has evolved since the beginning of his career it was evident that his pursuit to stay focused on the task at hand was what makes him a solid coach. Brady conveyed, “he’s very consistent…He has high expectations for our team, he has high expectations in the spring camps and they travel all the way through the football season up to this point. So he’s always coaching, he wants us to all be at our very best. It doesn’t stop. The meeting rooms are important, the walkthroughs are important and I think the pressure is always on with him. So that ultimately gets the best out of all of us.”
Brady was later asked about his legacy and possibly tying former Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw’s title of four rings, but quickly deflated the praises, showing his utmost gratitude for having the opportunities at hand. He spoke on, “I never thought I’d have the experience to play in one of these. To think that it’s my sixth time, I can’t imagine that I’d think I’d ever play anything professionally. Certainly to make the Super Bowl is pretty amazing experience. To do it once and then six times is very, very special.” Brady was also very impressive in his ability to show his respect to the media. When one reporter asked him a question he couldn’t place the reporter in the crowd, Brady called him by name, the name he heard the media personality claim himself by, and asked him to identify himself so Brady could look him in the eye when he answered his question, to fully-acknowledge him. He not only made eye contact with each individual who posed a question, but heard them out, listened intently to the entire question, before answering. It was not only impressive, but also refreshing.
Whether you are a Brady and/or Belichick fan or not the sincerity and respect they both showed at tonight’s press conference was remarkable. They are both very accomplished individuals and proved that with success comes humility.
