Of all the things Tom Brady considers himself, it’s definitely not the “Greatest of All Time.”
In a recently interview with the Football player on “Good Morning America,” he said that the title made him cringe when host of the show, Michael Strahan, called him the best quarterback ever, according to TMZ.
“It makes me cringe!”
The @Patriots‘ Tom Brady tells @michaelstrahan he still doesn’t like it when people refer to him as the “G.O.A.T.” https://t.co/x4xMHH0TFx pic.twitter.com/fi05gT2iYz
— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 5, 2019
“I don’t even like that. It makes me cringe,” Brady said.
The quarterback went on to explain that he wished people would criticize him rather than compliment him, because he is driven by criticism rather than success.
“I wish you would say, ‘you’re trash, you’re too old, you’re too slow, you can’t get it done no more,'” he said, “and I would say, ‘Thank you very much,’ and I would go prove you wrong.”
Another reason why he doesn’t like hearing that title is he really doesn’t see himself as it suggests. In an interview on the Patriots’ website posted on Twitter, he explained further that it’s not a value he puts on himself while playing.
“All of our biggest games are ahead of us.”@scottzolak catches up with the QB. pic.twitter.com/mj0JqTnRsm
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 16, 2018
In contrast, he prefers to play football for the enjoyment, the camaraderie with his teammates, and he plays to win.
“I don’t play to be called a certain thing or compared to this guy,” he said. “There’s a lot of great players, and that’s how I see other players, too.”
Brady attributes his wins to the team, because there are skillsets that every member of the team has, and these skills are spread out so that every member of the team does their part in order to make the team successful.
“There’s a lot of things other guys can do that I can’t do. And there’s some things I can do other guys can’t do, too. That’s part of my skillset. There’s so many different things involved with being a great player,” Brady said.
On Feb. 3, The New England Patriots faced off against the Los Angeles Rams and won 13-3, claiming the sixth Super Bowl for the team.
The greatest from the ????.
Brady’s best throws from #SBLIII. pic.twitter.com/s6J7KvitUn
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 4, 2019
Although the star quarterback of the New England Patriots has achieved quite a record with six Super Bowl wins in nine Super Bowl appearances, he considers his biggest asset to be his teammates and his coach, Bill Belichick, who helped him every step of the way.
Rocky Road
However, as a star, Brady is no stranger to criticism. As much as he has fans, he and the New England Patriots have garnered a lot of detractors.
In January 2015, the team came under investigation for “deflategate,” and in particular, Tom Brady, under the suspicion that the team’s footballs were under-inflated in order to give the team an advantage, according to Elite Daily.
The controversial incident alleged that Tom Brady deliberately ordered the footballs used in the game against the Indianapolis Colts to be under-inflated. As a result of the incident, The New England Patriots were fined $1 million, and Brady was suspended for four games in the 2016 season, according to NBCSports.
“Brady offered to pay the fine, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also demanded Brady publicly blame the equipment guys.”
Brady had refused to implicate the two equipment guys, stating that he would not ruin the reputation of two people for something that he doesn’t believe they did.
When it comes to people who criticism Brady, something he’s very familiar with, he says that rather than fueling the fires of hate, it’s better to appreciate those people instead, according to Newsweek.
Tom Brady shared an adorable moment with a young fan who asked about how to handle haters. pic.twitter.com/1SfzZGQBOs
— ESPN (@espn) January 29, 2019
“What do we do about the haters? We love them. We love them back, because we don’t hate back. We appreciate it, we love them, and we wish them the best in their life,” said Brady.
