Tom Brady Hits Back At Bucs QB Who Said He Stressed Out The Team

Ex-Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady responded to a claim by current QB Baker Mayfield that the retired great created a high-strung atmosphere and left players stressed out, and that Mayfield had the job of bringing the joy back.

Brady, who guided the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory in 2021 after winning six with New England, covered the Buccaneers game at home against Philadelphia as a Fox analyst on Sunday. The subject came up in the booth.

I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings, Brady retorted. So, there was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasnt day care. If I wanted to have fun, I was gonna go to Disneyland with my kids.

Urged on by play-by-play partner Kevin Burkhardt, Brady added: Theres a way to approach this game, and its that, with the right mindset and try to push each other outside of our comfort zone, and great teammates do that.

The competitive juices, still flowing, Burkhardt commented.

Still in there, Brady replied. No apologies.

Tom Brady claps back at Baker Mayfield over his claim that the Buccaneers didn't \"have as much fun\" under him as they currently are with Mayfield. pic.twitter.com/J86Qyaecid

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Tom Brady claps back at Baker Mayfield over his claim that the Buccaneers didn't "have as much fun" under him as they currently are with Mayfield. pic.twitter.com/J86Qyaecid
The Comeback NFL (@TheComebackNFL) September 29, 2024

Mayfield, who appeared to have had a cordial meetup with Brady before the game, defended his remarks afterward.

I think a lot of that got taken out of context , and none of it was personal by any means, said Mayfield , who guided the Bucs to a 33-16 victory and 3-1 record amid a career renaissance. Its just what he demanded of the guys, and thats the aura of Tom Brady. And thats what he did to bring a championship here.

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We might argue with the context part Mayfield appeared to mean what he said at the time. Take a listen at the 3:35 mark here .

The building was a little bit different with Tom in there, Mayfield said on the Casa de Klub podcast earlier this month. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out ... They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football a little bit, for guys that werent having as much fun.