Given that one of Tom Brady’s main attributes as a quarterback was his attention to detail, it should come as no surprise that the ex-Patriot is going to apply similar principles to his fledgling career in broadcasting.
Brady, 47, is preparing for his official debut as a commentator on Fox’s NFL coverage this fall. It’s spurred him to revisit some of his old notes, giving a glimpse at just how in-depth Brady’s pregame preparations were during his playing career.
In a video clip he recently shared on his social media, Brady gave an overview of a longstanding habit from his years in the NFL.
“I basically kept every call sheet [and] scouting report from every game I played by season in real time,” Brady explained.
“You wonder why I picked 2016?” Brady asked, noting that it has symmetry with his upcoming broadcasting role.
“My first game back at Cleveland, which happens to be my first game as a broadcaster.”
Scanning back through the notebook, Brady described its contents.
“These were notes that I did based on plays I [wanted] to run. This is our final call sheet,” he shared. He eventually got to the actual Patriots play-call sheet, teasing an interesting anecdote about two of his well-known coaches: former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and ex-head coach Bill Belichick.
“There was about 95 [plays], and then Josh always hid plays in here from Bill, because Bill always wanted to never [have] a high play count,” Brady recalled.
According to Brady, McDaniels would circumvent Belichick’s preference for a restrained number of plays by sneaking references to other plays onto the sheet with asterisks carrying his initials.
“We’d probably end up having 150 plays,” said the former Patriots quarterback.
Beyond the play-calling, Brady also cycled through other pieces of information included in his notebook, ranging from Belichick’s specific notes to scouting reports on individual opponents.
“It’s just good to keep track of all the information rather than throw it in a big bin and you don’t know where it is,” Brady reasoned. “I think for here, it’s all organized really well. I think if I want to refer back to players, or scheme, or defensive coordinators, it’s all here.
“I’ll do the same thing as a broadcaster: I’m going to store information going into the season,” he added. “I’ll be involved in football for a long time.”
As for whether or not the entire volume of football analysis would ever be made available for public consumption, Brady signaled his enthusiastic support.
“That would be sick!” Brady replied regarding the possibility of a “2001-2040 Tom Brady book.”
“That’s a lot of years in the NFL.”