Tom Brady on his 11-day absence: I’m 45 years old, man; there’s a lot of s–t going on

Posted by Charean Williams on August 27, 2022, 11:52 PM EDT
USA TODAY Sports

Tom Brady saw his first action of this preseason, playing 11 snaps and leading the Bucs to a field goal. His appearance required him to speak to the media afterward.

It marked the first time the quarterback has talked publicly since the NFL punished the Dolphins and owner Stephen Ross for tampering with Brady and coach Sean Payton. It also was the first time Brady has met with the media since taking an 11-day hiatus for personal reasons.

Brady’s absence reportedly had nothing to do with the health of Brady or his family, but there was no announcement or reporting on why he was away from the team. Brady shed little light on the situation Saturday.

“It’s all personal,” Brady said, via video from the team. “You know everyone’s got different situations they’re dealing with. So, we all have really unique challenges to our life. I’m 45 years old, man. There’s a lot of shit going on. You’ve just got to try to figure out life the best you can. It’s a continuous process.”

Bucs coach Todd Bowles and General Manager Jason Licht both said at the time that Brady’s hiatus was planned, but whether it was or not, the team had no choice but to go along. Brady said Saturday he was grateful to the Bucs for accommodating him.

“Since I’ve come to this organization, it’s been an amazing experience for me to come to this place and be this supported over a long period of time,” Brady said, via Greg Auman of TheAthletic.com.

There was speculation outside the facility about whether Brady might retire. He announced he was retiring this offseason before returning after 40 days. He is back again, but it prompts a question about whether his heart is still in it?

Brady was asked Saturday whether he has addressed what he needed to address in his personal leave.

“I’m ready to go,” Brady said.

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23 responses to “Tom Brady on his 11-day absence: I’m 45 years old, man; there’s a lot of s–t going on”

  2. My guess is it has something to do with Gisele wanting him to retire. Or it might involve the construction of the moat around his castle.

  3. Just because he’s rich, famous, has beautiful family, etc. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t have issues like anyone else. He’s human. We all got BS were dealing with privately

  5. A lot of people probably want to see the Bucs struggle and Brady go out on a low note. But honestly why? When these all time great QBs retire they take a piece of the game with them. Peyton retiring. Brees retiring. Ben retiring. Rivers retiring. It’ll be the same with Brady except he’ll take a larger chunk of the game with him. It appears this is probably his last go of it, I hope he goes out on his own terms and is able to at least get to the playoffs. He’s more than earned it.

  6. Say what you will about their relationship. But Brady learned from Belichick how to handle this stuff. Say what you need to say, and nothing more.

  7. My guess has always been something was planned family wise with the kids that he wanted to keep before coming back and made a deal that he could still do this if he returned. If true good for him for keeping his promiss.

  8. Besides the fact that the man is 45 years old, let’s not forget the amount of playoff games the guys has played, which is 47.

    That’s basically an extra 3 seasons of games on top of the fact that he’s 45.

    Dude has earned the right to take some time off.

  9. It looks like Brady has regrets about coming back this season and he is struggling with this decision.

  10. My sincere hope is he leaves before it gets too ugly with him. He has nothing tonorove, and a bit to lose in terms of perceptions

  12. I can understand Brady’s mixed feeings about retirement. On one hand, he doesn’t have anything left to achieve in football and certainly doesn’t need the money but on the other hand, he might get bored playing golf or watching daytime TV shows. Still, time marches on for all of us and Brady is very near the end of his playing days. He’s going to have to figure it out soon.

  13. Sooner or later Tom is going to have decide it’s time to retire, which is totally up to him when he is ready. It’s sad to see these athletes who are unable to walk away from the game until is is too late. Tom has nothing left to prove and hopefully he has the strength to make that decision and move on to the next phase of his life.

  14. For the life of me, I will never understand why anyone cares if Tom Brady misses practice. If he starts missing games, that’s news.

  17. Yeah, we should all be sympathetic to the problems of a super-rich celebrity who has an army of paid staff to insure he is never troubled by having to do any of the gritty, real-life tasks and obligations that the rest of us struggle with every day.

    If it was some charity event or folksy family thing he would put it on social media. He’s keeping it quiet because it’s embarrassing, like a $25,000/day exotic vacation or working on a deal with Putin to build a TB12 facility in the Donbas after the Ukrainians are cleared out.

  18. It’s was over a decade ago that I realized betting against Tom Brady was a fools errand. Until he retires, or proves otherwise ill continue to view him that way. I won’t be surprised to see Brady contending in the playoffs again.

  19. So if you have that much ish going on in your personal life, you should have stayed retired. Maybe then you wouldn’t have had to skip out on training camp.

  20. I don’t even think this is an issue. Obviously media are going to ask the question anyway because it’s their job but as a football fan, I don’t care, Brady is going to be prepared regardless.

  21. Brady consistently has the shortest off season because he takes his teams deeper into the playoffs every year. He has less time for family matters, and less time to recuperate. He’s never complained. He shows up every year and wins. After 20 years, we’re still questioning him? There are a lot of NFL stories to talk about. It’s that time of year. Brady’s name probably gets a click every time, so it’s understandable. But save the worrying for someone else.

  22. This is all absolutely none of my business, but that still doesn’t mean I’m not curious as heck to why this additional time off was needed when he’d already had the prior 45 days off prior to the start of training camp.

  23. Amazing that 45 he still has the best long ball in the league – looked like poetry in motion this week.

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