Tom Brady called the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 33-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday for Fox and went viral when he offered an interesting response to comments made by current Tampa Bay starting quarterback Baker Mayfield earlier this month.
Following the game, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated told Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David what Brady said during the broadcast.
"That’s typical Tom, man. That’s typical Tom," David said. "All you care about is winning—no matter what’s going on, no matter what the outside noise is, all you want to do is win and win Super Bowls. And that’s the reason why he got seven of them. That’s one of the reasons why I love and appreciate him for bringing me one."
Specifically, Mayfield revealed during a podcast appearance that the Buccaneers were "pretty stressed out" and "weren’t having as much fun" when Brady and David were teammates from 2020 through the 2022 season. While inside the Fox booth at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Brady explained that he "thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings" and said that he didn't treat his Tampa Bay tenure like it was "daycare."
Mayfield later insisted shortly after he helped Tampa Bay improve to 3-1 on the season that his original words "got taken out of context" and weren't "personal" in nature. He chatted with Brady on the field before the game and through a headset following the victory.
"All we ask is for Baker to be Baker," David told Breer. "Be the great football player that he is, be the great teammate that he is and everything will take care of itself. I never try to ask him to be more than what he is. Tom is Tom, but Baker is Baker."
Brady guided the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl championship in his first season with the organization, while Mayfield notched a playoff victory as a first-year Tampa Bay starter before he signed a new three-year contract to stay with the franchise this past offseason. David reminded everybody during his chat with Breer that Brady "had a huge impact on us" during his three campaigns as the club's QB1.
"He changed the organization with the way he leads, the way he gets everybody going, the way he tried to get everybody going and playing up to their level," David added about Brady. "And just me watching him, watching the way he worked, with all the success he had, he just worked like he was a rookie every time. And that was just incredible for me to see. And I try to adopt that mentality."
The best way for Mayfield to ensure he and the Buccaneers have "fun" would be to follow in Brady's footsteps and bring another championship to the organization. If nothing else, it could be quite interesting to hear if Brady has more to say about this subject, assuming he calls another Tampa Bay game this season.
