Tom Brady’s mother apparently needs to get her eyes checked.
The woman who gave birth to baby #Tommy nearly 40 years ago believes that her offspring can spring around the field faster than anyone.
During his Wednesday press conference, Brady interrupted a question that mentioned his lack of speed.
“Don’t tell my mom that either because she would totally disagree with that,” Brady said.
So Mother Brady thinks you’re fast, Tom?
“Yes, she thinks I’m very fast,” Brady said. “She says, ‘I think you’re the fastest person on the field.’ I say, ‘Mom, you are crazy. No way.’ That’s moms.”
The broader point was that, even though Brady may lack straight-line speed (except in the beta-carotene challenged rods and cones of his mother), he has developed an explosiveness in tight spaces, allowing him to move quickly in the pocket or, if necessary, to scramble for a key gain.
“We’ve been talking about that for a few years,” Brady said, “just being able to, if there are two or three plays a game that you can make just moving the pocket, or sliding, or buying your receivers more time, or scrambling on third and two, it’s just one more thing that they have to defend. . . . It’s nice to be able to do that because I think it’s a little discouraging for a defense when they feel like they’ve got you covered or they’ve got the right call on it, and all of the sudden -- I mean, I don’t think they’re preparing for me scrambling for first downs. I know they’re not working on that. They’re working on stopping Gronk, and stopping Julian [Edelman], and Danny, and [Chris Hogan], LeGarrette [Blount] and James [White]. That’s not one of their top 10 things on their hit list, so I think it’s pretty discouraging when it happens and hopefully we can keep it going.”
Maybe that’s why Brady’s mom thinks he’s so fast. By running when no one else thinks it’s coming, Brady seems speedy because the 11 guys who are hoping to tackle him have been caught flat-footed.