Tom Brady Confesses PTSD From Blunder 6-Years Ago as Bill Belichick Clears Stance on Fox Broadcaster’s ‘Greatest Play’

February 5, 2018: It was an important day for the New England Patriots‘ quarterback, Tom Brady. With seven Super Bowls in his pocket, the eighth one was just one catch away. Literally. But that was until the easiest job to pull off became a stuff of nightmare for the player. During third-and-5 with 12 minutes left in the second quarter and the Patriots down 9-3 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Brady handed the ball to running back James White. White ran over to the offense’s left in a trick play and handed it to wide receiver Danny Amendola, who threw it toward Brady…

It was almost like watching a movie in slow motion. Brady ran to position, stretched his hand for a sure shot catch. The ball, however, brushed his fingertips, and bounced off. The game subsequently concluded with a 33-41 heartbreak for the Patriots, and Brady became the first quarterback to lose a game while throwing for over 500 yards (505 yards) with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. It wasn’t long before fans jumped to social media to amplify what Brady would only describe as ‘PTSD’ for years to come.

“Gisele was right,” one user said, reminiscing about what Brady’s then wife had said exactly six years back, after the team’s Super Bowl XLVI loss to the New York Giants in 2012. “My husband cannot f****** throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time,” Gisele had said, as she was being heckled by Giants fans. But 12 years have passed since that comment, and six years have flown by since that massive upset—Brady has retired, and taken up a new profession as a lead color commentator for the NFL on Fox, but wounds still stay fresh in his mind.

Appearing as a guest on the ‘Let’s Go! with Bill Belichick, Maxx Crosby, Peter King & Jim Gray’ podcast, Brady reunited with his former HC Belichick, where the duo discussed all things NFL. At one point, the conversation moved to the playoffs. One host asked, “Did you change your approach as the playoffs neared and in the playoffs coach, did you make things simpler? Did you make ’em more complicated? Did you alter the way you went the whole season? What did you do?”

To this Brady responded, “There was a constant need for us to go out there with an urgency to practice and get better...So, I love those game changing plays. And I think when you put those in there, it is different than just throwing a hitch route and a curl route. It’s like there’s an excitement to all these things that you see. And especially when you have a history of hitting some of those plays in big moments, you start to think about, ‘Oh yeah, this play, this is in for me’. And we used them in the biggest moments. I mean,with the Super Bowl against Atlanta where we used multiple trick plays at different times. Some of them successful, some of ’em unsuccessful. But you don’t wanna get into one of these games late year where you need to win.”

You want to cut ’em loose and you wanna let ’em out of the bag. So I think you’ve got this opportunity to use these trick plays. No one’s seen them. You practice ’em, you got an inventory of ’em, everyone’s got confidence in ’em and then you pull ’em out at the biggest moments and you surprise your opponent with something that they haven’t seen. I think when you have those in practice and you execute ’em well and you bring ’em out,” the former quarterback said before reminiscing about his infamous miss.

The legend stated, “I mean there’s one that didn’t work so well where I dropped the freaking ball against the Eagles…And I must have caught it 10 times in practice, but I didn’t catch it when it mattered. And those are ones you look back on and you wish you did. But the reality is when you make ’em, they’re great. And, and when you miss ’em, you look back and you realize, ‘Yeah, those were the ones that could have changed the game’.

But how often does that cross a player’s mind who’s been a 5x Super Bowl MVP, 3x NFL Most Valuable Player, among other unending accolades? Well, if you listen to Brady, “Too damn much? That’s the problem…Too much.”

“And whenever I see trick plays, certainly when I see Philly with some trick plays, it’s PTSD. And I’ve had them call a few of their games this year. But, something that me made more, thankfully when I look back on my career, I made more of ’em than I missed. So that gives me a little bit of reprieve.” The QB-turned-broadcaster believes it was a terrible situation, so to overcome he thinks about the positive aspects. After all, you can’t expect a flawless career, and Brady has certainly given more than he’s missed.

No matter how much the 47-year-old blames himself for the loss, let’s be honest: We cannot say for sure that Brady’s mistake cost the Patriots the Super Bowl. Notably, this is not the first time the veteran has talked about the situation. Back in 2022, he had honestly confessed, “I get reminded of that play every time I see an Eagles fan!” Bill Belichick, on the other hand, sorely disagrees with his former player’s self-deprecating behavior.

While the former Patriots head coach agreed acknowledged how important the game was for Brady. Not only did he have a poor moment, but he also had his best play of his career. Wait, Brady had the best play of his career in a loss?

Bill Belichick tells how Tom Brady did an excellent job under pressure

Imagine you’re on the NFL’s largest platform and you’ve already made a big mistake. There is so much pressure on you, and your team is in the red zone, attempting to make a comeback with a touchdown. Even in their wildest dreams, many people/players will fail to score due to immense pressure. But Tom Brady is built differently, and Bill Belichick highlighted this exact incident. The former head coach explained that it was a critical juncture in the game and Brady needed to make a quick and big decision.

Belichick explained, “Tom, one of your greatest plays ever was in the Super Bowl against the Eagles. Now that you mention it when, and this comes down to fundamental execution, that’s just so critical…Here’s [Anthony Deion Branch Jr], no chance to throw him the ball, we got to go to the third guy and make it a back shoulder throw. And that’s what great execution is under pressure at critical moments of the game. And that’s how you win and you know Tom, you made a lot of plays, but I put that one up there.” 

After this conversation, Tom Brady began to discuss how a player is never pleased with his effort. And this is why the former QB has only remembered the bad aspect of that game. The icon used himself as an example, stating that if he had made 700 passes in a season. Even if 400 of them are deemed terrific passes, the quarterback refuses to accept that. Brady believes that only ten of those throws went as planned. And that’s how a player’s dissatisfaction is always there, even if he is playing a great game.

Well, that was it for the QB-HC remembering when one of the most important games got away from them. The Eagles won that game, but it appears the Patriots learned a lot from it. Who knows what would have occurred if Tom Brady had caught that throw? Oh well, there are too many possibilities to consider now.