Earlier this week, former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick defended retired quarterback Tom Brady over controversial comments Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield made last month about Brady's time with the organization.
Brian Hoyer earned a Super Bowl ring serving as Brady's backup and, unsurprisingly, backed TB12 while discussing the environment the future Hall of Famer and Belichick established with the Patriots.
"It was Tom taking the lessons he learned from Bill — basically holding people to a standard," Hoyer said during an appearance on the latest edition of "The Quick Snap" podcast, per Khari D. Thompson of Boston.com. "I don’t think that should be very stressful. And I think Tom’s reaction to that was pretty on par with who he is and who I know him to be."
Mayfield claimed last month that the Buccaneers were "pretty stressed out" and "weren’t having as much fun" when Brady was their starter from 2020 through the 2022 season. Brady responded this past weekend and humorously noted that he "thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings."
Former cornerback Richard Sherman was Brady's teammate with Tampa Bay during the 2021 campaign and later said that both quarterbacks "spoke facts" even though Mayfield has since walked back his original statements. Current Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David has shared locker rooms with both signal-callers and elected against taking a side.
"He demanded not just himself," Hoyer added about Brady, "but everybody else to take everything to another level … because when you looked at him — at least this was my experience — if this is what the greatest player of all time is doing to get us to win, I can’t do anything less than that."
For a piece published Thursday, Steve Buckley of The Athletic wrote that he felt Mayfield was simply trying to explain how Brady "ratcheted up the pressure during his years with the" Patriots and then "brought that same intensity to Tampa Bay for three seasons." Hoyer indicated that dealing with Brady and Belichick on a weekly basis was worth being able to get his hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
"When you put all that work in," Hoyer said, "you dealt with that stress and then you won a Super Bowl, that was more fun than any other Wednesday practice, Thursday practice."
