Tom Brady Addresses The ESPN Piece That Has Him, Bill Belichick, And Robert Kraft At Odds

As more teams fall through the first slate of Wild Card games, ESPN has released an exposé alleging that the end may be near in a different way for the perennial Super Bowl favorite Patriots. In ESPN’s piece, author Seth Wickersham paints a picture of a team controlled by three egos: Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and team owner Robert Kraft. Brady’s insistence on playing into his 40s and Kraft’s loyalty to the quarterback that delivered him a dynasty has slammed head first into Belichick’s tightly-controlled ship.

The lengthy behind-the-scenes look at the most successful football franchise of the last two decades has ruffled feathers with its lack of an on-the-record source, and the Patriots released a statement rejecting the contents of the article, basically saying all is fine in Patriotsland.

Now Brady is taking it upon himself to clear the air in his own words. He participated in a lengthy interview with Westwood One Sports’ Jim Gray in which he described the scene as perfectly fine, reiterating his wish to remain a Patriot for life and professing his love for Belichick and Kraft.

“I think for a long time we’ve done a great job of winning games, and it forces people to be creative with what they talk about So speculating on relationships or what my feelings are towards my team or my organization or players or coaches, you know, I can only speak for myself,” Brady said. “And really my relationships with everybody that I deal with, I feel are so positive, to think anything differently of that is complete nonsense.”

He continued on, painting a picture quite the opposite of the ESPN story.

“[Mr. Kraft] is a great person, man. He has been like a second father to me in so many ways. I have a great relationship with Coach Belichick. We’ve worked together for 18 years. There’s no coach I’d rather play for, and I’ve loved my experience here. I certainly couldn’t be the player I am today without playing for such a great coach. So I see these as all positive things. A lot of people … that obviously doesn’t sell many newspapers, but, to me, I have such gratitude for my time here and I’ve loved my experience. I continue to love my experience.”

“I think, in so many ways, adversity that our team has faced over the years only makes us stronger. Everything is a great opportunity and we have a great opportunity as a team. And we’ve worked very hard to get ourselves to this spot: to be 13-3, to have the one seed, to have the bye is a very hard thing to do. So to let anything get in the way of that and all the hard work that people have really put into it, and what we’ve achieved—to take away from that—it would be very unfortunate if we let this opportunity get away from us.”

Sounds exactly like something someone would say when they’re just three wins away from hoisting their sixth Lombardi Trophy and don’t want to deal with more drama. Or, everything actually is fine. There’s that, too.