Tom Brady’s Reply to Charles Barkley Reveals QB’s Secret to Success, Columnist Says

Tom Brady

Getty Tom Brady continues to defy odds at age 44.

Tom Brady running wind sprints had Charles Barkley befuddled before The Match II celebrity golf event in April 2020.

“What the hell are you doing,” Barkley asked according to Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins.

“I’m trying to win a Super Bowl,” Brady responded per Jenkins.

Barkley said a year later “man, Tom Brady inspired me to work harder” during The Match broadcast in July.

Jenkins recounted the moment as an example of Brady’s relentless drive for excellence and the secret behind it — self discipline. She noted that Brady “works in May for what might happen in February.”

“He will give up today’s fun for tomorrow’s reward, and eventually he will bury you … that is the difference between his self-discipline and your itch for immediate gratification,” Jenkins wrote.

Jenkins noted that Brady doesn’t have some sort of super-human genetic gifts to explain his continued success at age 44. Brady has 2,650 yards passing and 25 touchdowns less than halfway through the season, fresh off winning his seventh Super Bowl last season.

“His longevity may just be the product of better habits than yours and mine,” Jenkins wrote.

“Without that method, year-round rigor, he would be just another guy with big aspirations who couldn’t live up to them,” she added.

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Brady: ‘I’m a Very Average Quarterback’ Without Hard Work

Brady makes fun of his speed for a reason, and it’s not because someone else gave him a label whether an NFL scout or Madden rating expert such as Chad Ochocinco.

The Bucs quarterback spent his career proving himself from being a sixth-round NFL draft pick to seven-time champion. His regimen includes everything from attention-to-detail at football to how he eats and sleeps. He’s become well-known for his TB12 diet and health and wellness business.

“If I don’t really work at it .. and if I don’t play to my strengths, I’m a very average quarterback,” Brady said in 2005 per Jenkins via NBC News.

“The more good behavior you have, the better things turn out,” Brady said another time according to Jenkins.  “It’s just, do people have the discipline to repeat those behaviors? That’s the tricky part.”

Jenkins added that Brady likes to remind everyone that he started off like everyone else.

“I wasn’t born a prodigy, like a 3-year-old the world bestowed greatness on,” Brady said l earlier this year per Jenkins.


Brady Focused on Football During Bucs’ Bye Week

While Brady spent time with family during the Bucs’ bye week, he said that he stayed focused on the season, too.

“It’s not like you go on vacation. Pretty locked in still,” Brady told the media on Thursday per Pewter Report. “It was fun to get back to work. I think everyone enjoys time with their family and off time, but at the same time … you’re going to stay working out, stay on top of your study, and before you know it, you’re back at it.”

Brady and the Bucs look to bounce back from a Week 8 loss before the bye when facing the Washington Football Team on Sunday.