Well, I think in in September I didn't obviously realized I have enough experience to know it's not that easy.

Let me say that.

It's There's a lot of things that go into getting to this point in the season, and it's a lot of hard work.

It's a lot of effort.

It's a lot of doing the right thing on a consistent basis.

So I every team at the beginning of the year has expectations.

Thio, you know, be the best they could be and whatever that means.

You know, some teams are a different phases of, uh, of competing.

I think we all felt like we had a team that could compete with anybody and at the same time, you know, there's a lot to try to figure out and we're figuring it out all the way through the year and I still feel like we're a team that's trying to improve and I would say a team that's trying to get better, so we're gonna use all the time we have right up to game time to try to be the best we could be and were playing against a great football team.

And we're going to be our best.

I know you're not a huge fan of talking about yourself, So let's start with with some of the people who have meant the most to you in this journey.

I mean, maybe, like for this game more than ever.

What's the significance of your parents being able to watch you play?

You know, it's they've been so supportive over my entire career and since I was a kid, you know, my parents were enabled me, thio always, you know, try to be the best.

I could be an accomplished whatever I dreamed of.

So, you know, when I wanted to go to a big time division one school in college, they were never like Oh, you know, You sure it was like, Let's go for it, You know, let's be the best you could be.

And when I was a kid and I wanted to go field ground balls at eight o'clock at night after dinner with my dad, he was there in his shirt and, you know, hit me ground balls and, you know, trying Thio to be, you know, the best I could be at whatever sport I was playing.

I wasn't the best student.

I'll admit that I was not looking to do extra homework at eight o'clock at night.

I was much rather be up with the baseball field fielding ground balls.

But, um, you know, they're just amazing.

You know, Mom and Dad that I have, and we've all been through a lot over the years.

A lot of great incredible moments for our family have been shared playing sports, and it's sports have been a lot to our family, and we dealt with obviously some difficult situations, like every family.

But you know, that's life, and we're very close, tight knit family and my parents have been great examples for me, for my sisters, too, start our own families and their great grand parents, too.

So although I think my dad gives away a little too much sugar to my kids, but they're grand parents, too, So everyone loved that moment after the championship game, when you hugged your oldest son, Jack.

How does it feel to you.

We have a look up in the stands and see him there and then share a moment like that.

It's the best.

I mean, it's the best part of the whole day.

So that's the moment I kept looking up there.

You know, he's I mean, he's a great kid and just a always just straight A just wants to always do the right thing.

But I'm there the whole day looking up like waving at him, and he's like, I saw you looking up there during the game and I knew that wasn't just like, a normal look.

Like, I figured one of your kids must be there.

He was up there and I just kept trying to get his attention.

And he was.

He's probably 40 50 yards away, and you know, he just doesn't want anyone to know.

That's That's my dad.

So finally, after the game, I saw him and just, you know, he came down and I gave a big hug, and, you know, he was brave in there.

Yeah, I called him on Friday, and I had, you know, my friend was coming to the game with his son, who's in who's in the same class and he said, I'd love to bring Jack, and I was like, I would love that and I called Jack and I said, Can you make it?

And he says, I'd love to go So I talked with his mom and his mom said, Yeah, go for it And she said, You know, I said, Just make sure Jack really wants to go.

It's gonna be cold.

So he was bundled up and it was just ended up being just a great day for for the two of us.

And, you know, he'll never forget being at Lambeau.

And I made a comment, you know, so special for me.

I hope it's a special for him, you know, just being there to watch, which was really cool.

You know, for all your kids, obviously, you know it Z really good at his job.

But do you?

What do you think they take away from the work ethic and the dedication?

Well, you know, that's I always telling That's what dads do.

You know, we goto work and you know, we got to show up and we got to find something you love to do and find something you love to do because you're gonna work hard at it if you love it.

And if you wanna, you know, you find something you love, you're gonna work hard.

You're gonna be good at it.

And if you're good at, you're gonna enjoy it.

You know?

And I think for me, going toe work has never felt difficult for me to dio.

I've loved doing what I've done and my kids, you know, I think, yeah, those days where they wake up and I'm just not there, I'm out of that.

I'm not out of the out of the house very early.

And, uh, when the off season comes, I've really tried to make a concerted effort, certainly the last three or four years, to spend more quality time with them and find a better balance during this off season that, you know, maybe when I was younger was still committed to a obviously, a lot of football, and that's important.

I wanna make sure, but I just had to be more efficient with what I'm doing because there's more things going on in my life and my kids are getting older.

I understand Jack's 13, you know, it's not like he's five years old, five years old anymore.

And you know, my daughter is eight, my son's mother, son Benny's 10.

So they're getting older, and I want to be there for the important things going on their life.

And it's not always about what's going on Dad's life.

It's what's going on their life, too.

So, um, I think part of being an older athlete, and I'm sure a lot of older athletes who feel that way is that's That's the tricky part is how do you balance and find time for a lot of things.

They're important to the other people that in your life that really matter and my wife so supportive of everything I do.

She allows me toe, continue to fulfill my dream of playing football, and you know, she's She's been so great, you know, being down here in Tampa and moving our family, and she's just been a great supporter of mine.

So I'm very, very blessed like any parent.

Do they get embarrassed?

You do stuff that they get embarrassed by my kids?

Yeah, definitely.

You know, I think there's certain things that you know Dad does that you know, isn't quite as cool as they would, they would normally think.

But, you know, I am still around a lot of kids, so I think I am pretty cool for 43.

I mean, I'm with a lot of young kids, so I know kind of the right music to listen to and the right things to say.

Well, that leads Thio, you Bruce area instead of beginning of the of the time with you that the thing that surprised me most was how you could relate to the young guys.

And these are his words.

Because some of them you could be there.

Dad, what do you think it is about some players that holds them back from unlocking their full potential?

Well, that's a long answer to that.

To that question.

I mean, there's a lot of reasons why people don't unlock their potential.

Um, because you coach these guys, you've really you raised the level there with the box and you've coached them.

So, like, what was principal for you?

Well, I think there's a lot of different things and there's a lot of different issues with different players that I see over the years that I try to mentor people, whether it's a physical issue, whether it's you know, something with their training or they're playing, that needs help, whether it's a mental issue, their approach to how they have to do their job and what they need to do in order to do their job.

And then the emotional issue, which is, you know, how do you show up with a consistent, positive attitude to be the best you could be?

And I think if those three things, um you gotta find the right balance and all those things it's a very physical sport.

It's a very mental sport.

It's It's definitely not, Um, it was a thinking man's sport.

You know, football.

This is not, you know, this is not checkers is more chess, and it's very emotional.

And over the course of six months, there's a lot of motion you have because you're still living your life.

This isn't like, just put my life aside.

This is your life.

So I think mastering those three is what's really important, and some people struggle a different things, You know, some people struggle to learn, maybe talented physically, but never can maximize their potential because mentally, they don't put enough work in or emotionally there, too immature to ever realize what their potential could be.

So they make poor decisions and then poor decisions over time, Of course, don't allow you to be the best you could be.

So part of that and again, being an older player is toe mentor.

People on what I think I see in them and what they could become themselves.

It's still a really fun thing for me to be able to dio.

Your example.

Reached Patrick Mahomes and he When we interviewed him, he said that.

I mean, he just so appreciates your sustained success.

So after the championship game, the A F C championship game in 2018 and you saw him out in his locker room?

Why'd you do that?

Well, I think I'm just so impressed with Pat, um, as a as a as a obviously young player.

But just, you know, his, um, it's there's one thing about the physical skill, but also how he, uh, endearing he is to his teammates.

You know, I could see there's a special quality about him that attracts the teammates to him, and he's a great leader as great charisma.

Um, he just has everything it takes and then hearing about him.

Cliff Kingsbury, who?

I'm obviously very good friends with Coach Pat and had a lot of great stories about Pat.

And, uh, I just kind of felt like I knew him a little bit.

Didn't get a chance to talk to him much during the year had he had an incredible year that year, and I just want to make sure he knew that, you know, I was, you know, obviously E don't know for its proud, but just wanted to let him know what kind of guy that I thought he was not as a player and not just as a player, but as a person as well.

And he's an exceptional player, obviously.

But he looks to be an exceptional team mate and the times that I've got to spend with him, he's got a maturity beyond his years and he's gonna be a great player in the NFL for a long time.

Do you look at him and kind of say, Oh my gosh, like you've got so many great years ahead of you like, is there any amount of like envy?

like, Oh, my gosh, like you know what's ahead for him.

It's amazing.

Yeah, no, it's I think that, you know, it's all up to him.

The reality that's up to him and no one you know what his potential be Will will be up to him.

And, um, you know, obviously he's had an incredible career to this point.

In order to continue to do that, you got to make a lot of great choices.

And he seems like the kind of guy that's gonna make those great choices.

And, um, he's got a lot of support.

And he's in a great place and just very happy for him and his success.

So after this NFC championship game, Social Media lights up.

Tom Brady wins his seventh Super Bowl.

Yeah, he's broken all these records, the records air shattered.

What else does he have to prove he's with a new team?

Can you just explain to everybody what keeps you playing?

Well, I still feel like I'm a you know, a teenage kid, You know, I'm still trying in my mind.

Thio, um you know, be the best I could be for myself.

And I think for me I've never been about.

I've always felt, you know, pretty strange when people compared me toe different players.

And when I was young, it was compared me to Peyton Manning and then compare me Thio.

You know other players is, you know, whether it was Aaron Rodgers or Joe Montana or Steve Young or Troy Aikman or Dan Marino.

And, you know, I just for me, it's always been those air incredible players.

And I've always felt Is it Did I do my best that I give my best?

I give my all.

And as long as I felt like I could do that, then that's where I That's where my satisfaction is, because I really don't do it for anybody else.

You know, I really do it for the my teammates, and I do it to prove to myself that I'm capable of doing it.

And, uh, you know, why do I still do it?

Because I love doing it because I love the sport and I love the game and I love the preparation.

Don't mind the practice.

I love the practice.

I love the working out in the training.

Um, you know, I think some of the other things I don't like are the, you know, all the things that come along with, you know, a lot of the demands.

That's probably again.

The hard thing for me is probably is an older athlete is just making sure that I can be available to other people.

You know, because again, I'm not getting these years back.

And certainly my kids is a big consideration.

So you feel really good.

I mean, this is a stretch to say you're still on target for 45.

Yeah, I certainly hope so.

Onda again.

It's a contact sport, but I definitely like Thio.

Keep going as long as I can that that term goat gets thrown out there all the time.

What would be your definition?

Goat?