Retirement hasn’t made Tom Brady any less competitive.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion responded sternly to Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield during the broadcast of Sunday’s game between the Buccaneers and Philadelphia Eagles.
On the “Casa de Klub” podcast earlier this month, Mayfield described the environment in Tampa Bay under Brady — who played three seasons with the team before retiring after the 2022 season — as stressful.
“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,” Mayfield said. “They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football for guys who weren’t having as much fun.”
Brady didn’t hold back in his response to Mayfield, citing his lack of championships and defending his mindset.
“I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” Brady said. “There was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t day care. If I wanted to have fun, I was gonna go to Disneyland with my kids.”
Brady then added: “There’s a way to approach this game. ... There’s high expectations for us. We have to make sure we go out there and deliver.”
After a remark from his broadcast partner Kevin Burkhardt that the competitive juices were still flowing, Brady said, “Still in there. No apologies.”
Mayfield backed up his comments on Sunday, however. He completed 30 of 47 passes for 347 yards and two touchdowns in a 33-16 win. Mayfield also ran for another score.
The Buccaneers improved to 3-1 with the win and are in first place in the NFC South.
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Mayfield is 12-9 as a starter in the regular season with Tampa Bay, with 36 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions. His one playoff win with the team (which came last season) is the same number Brady had his last two seasons with the Bucs.
