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Visit Shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. In just two days, the Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Fox. As the Chiefs go for an historic three-peat. So there's a lot of new things to this game, including the seven-time Super Bowl champion calling the game as Fox Sports lead analyst Tom Brady.
The seven-time champ who played in ten joins us now. Tom, I know you've been down this road as a fan and a player. As a broadcaster, how have you prepared for this one over the rest of the games this season? Well, I've been a lot of times studying a lot of film, reading all the different packets of information that I get and trying to kind of make my notes and try to be really prepared for anything that can happen. I think the difference is as a player, you're really prepared for one side of the ball. As a broadcaster, you have to prepare for both offenses, both defenses.
There's a lot of things that you have on your sheet that you really want to get to. But the reality is, and even for this being a long game, I can't even get to all the stuff that I've already prepared for. But I'm really looking forward to a great game. Both teams kind of had unique journeys to get to this point.
But they're both so deserving to be here in New Orleans playing for a world championship. So Tom, you did a podcast recently. You talked about how tough it is going against Steve Magnolia, the defensive coordinator and how all the film that you've watched over the years. Talk about that challenge in this game. It's something that the Eagles are going to have to overcome. He's a phenomenal defensive coach.
And he, I said earlier in the season, he's the bane of my existence. And in fact, when we were in the production meeting the other day, Chris Jones, a great defensive tackle for the Chiefs, said, Tommy, we hired him because he's the one that could beat you. And they brought him in in 2019, and they've had a magical run with him as kind of leading that defense. And they're a very challenging defense to go against. They put a lot of pressure on the opposing quarterback, Jalen Hurts, and will be the Eagles' offensive line. They have so many unique blitzes, different alignments, and how Coach Spagnuolo calls the game. You have to be on high alert if you're the Eagles' offensive line and the quarterback. He's going to put a lot of pressure on those guys to be right in their communication all the time. And I'm sure there's going to be plenty of times where those blitzes are going to be really successful. They're going to get to Hurts, and he's got to make good decisions with the ball so that they don't create any unnecessary turnovers. Because that's really the story of the game.
Whose possession of the football, to me, is going to determine the outcome of this game. You know, Tom, it's so amazing to have you in the Fox family. We were so excited when you signed that contract. Welcome to the team. And I can't even believe we're talking to you because we followed your whole career. What you did in the Patriots, for the Patriots, what you did in Tampa was just remarkable. And we saw you retire and then come back, and everyone was excited.
I'm sure that was a hard decision to make. But now being in the box, is it hard? Is it difficult to not be out there on the field? I look back on my playing career and I feel like there was nothing left in the tank. And I'd love to throw the football. I still do that all the time. That will always be something I love to do. I mean, football was truly my first love. And I love competing at the highest level.
But I loved all the elements that came with playing football. The camaraderie, but also trying to master yourself. Trying to master your physical skill. Trying to master the preparation of the game. And then I always got myself to an emotional, kind of feverish pitch by game day. I knew that I was only competing for three hours a week. I wanted to be at my very best.
And I tried to take that approach every day in practice so that I could be prepared for moments like this. The Super Bowl preparation didn't start for these teams after the AFC and NFC championship games. They started in the summertime. Six, seven months ago when these teams came together, they had a belief that they would be here in this moment. And that's ultimately what they're preparing for.
And that's what championship organizations are all about. You don't wait for big moments for them to become big moments. You live those moments every day like they are big moments. So you're prepared when the moment arises. So if you want to be able to deal with pressure, you better put pressure on yourself all the time to succeed. And if you do that, you're going to put yourself like these teams are now in this place with this opportunity to go out there and win this world championship.
So there's so many preparations. With the ten Super Bowls you've been in, there were so many times you always made eye contact with people. You tried to answer them, be respectful. But then this one young man asked you this question in 2017, and it really stuck out with us. Let's watch. Who's my hero?
That's a great question. Well, I think my dad is my hero because he's someone that I look up to every day. And my dad.
So, yeah. And that was a young kid asking you a question, and it caught you. Yeah, I was so blessed to have a mom and dad that supported my athletic and career journey every step of the way. And I was had a great foundation about family and about commitment, support for one another. And at the time, my mom was battling breast cancer and my dad was there supporting my mom through her treatments. And it was a very challenging time for our family. And I just think about my dad and the commitment that he's made to her, to my sisters, to myself, to his grandkids. He's the greatest man I've ever known.
And I still feel that way. I try to make him proud in everything that I do. And when you have an example like that, like I did with my dad, I can just take what he taught me and try to be that kind of dad that I am for my kids. You know, Tom, that's ultimately how I can. Sorry, go ahead.
No, I'm sorry about that, Tom. To that point, I guess the question, because you have all this experience, now you're in the booth. I guess what is the one piece of advice you would give to these players? Some of them, this is their first time going to the Super Bowl.
That piece of advice that you wish someone would have told you for that first moment, what would you tell them? I think a big part of this experience ultimately comes down to what you do on game day. And all these things are really nice and getting all the logistics done and the tickets and being part of this Super Bowl extravaganza is awesome. It's really an event. It brings so many families together. So many of these players will reflect on the times where they weren't playing in the game and they were there at home with a barbecue, with all the dips and chips and all the food and people just enjoying the game.
And now they're in this moment. And what they remember from this week will ultimately be the game. And all these other things are great, but do everything you can to not let anything get in the way of your preparation.
And it still goes from now up until game time. There's a lot of things that can distract you or take your mind away from what ultimately the goal is. And the goal is to go out here and win the game. Whatever it takes for however long it takes, these guys need to be locked in for those.
It ends up being about a four hour game. And everything they can do to conserve their energy, to be prepared when it matters most, that's really where they need to lock in. Your parents clearly did a great job with you and for all of us that are raising kids, what advice do you have for our children who maybe are too scared to take their sport to the next level or a little bit too lazy to finish all of their homework? What advice do you have for the young people that look up to you? Well, I was very much just like an American, normal American kid that wanted to grow up and chase my dreams. And I would say my parents, they never kind of tempered my expectations for what I thought I could accomplish. When I wanted to go to Michigan, they didn't think, oh, it might be too hard for you.
You should probably pick a school where maybe you're going to go play earlier, play as a freshman. I always had this belief that I could do it. And my parents the whole time said, you could do it.
Absolutely. I was one of the slowest players at the NFL Combine when I got drafted by the New England Patriots. And my mom used to say, honey, you are so fast.
You get out there on that field and you can run. And and certainly I know I couldn't. I said, Mom, I love you.
You're very biased toward your son. But I think the reality is, is they never there was never a plan B for me. I never had to deal with that. And I think they supported me. And I got a belief in myself because you need people to believe in you even when you don't always have the most confidence in yourself. And if you're surrounded by people that love you, that are there for you when you fail, because the reality is in life, when we try things that are very difficult, we do fail because they're hard. And when they're hard and you overcome them, you learn a lot about yourself. And if you can apply those things going forward to accomplish what you want, you're going to gain a lot of self-esteem and a lot of self-confidence.
Yeah. You know, I've always felt that trying, trying things that were outside of my comfort zone ended up being the best things in my life. And having parents that supported me when I did fail, that was the biggest blessing in my life.
No plan B. Yeah. And reading your story and you talked about, you know, you weren't starting. So a coach walked up to you and said, your practices are your games. Take every single practice like they were your games. And sure enough, in a couple of years you were starting and you still had to split the games in college oftentimes. And then when he got to the pros, do you think part of your success is the chip on your shoulder from being a six-round draft pick?
Absolutely. I feel like overcoming those challenges and adversities that I had, whether it was in high school and college, allowed me to be the professional athlete that I was. I learned a lot of things through failing that a lot of guys didn't learn through high school and college because they were the best athletes.
So these sustainable qualities that you have as an athlete, like your work ethic, like your discipline, like your determination and competitiveness, those are what people would call intangibles because we can go measure physical strength or speed or all the things that are important. But in the end, they're not sustainable over the course of a 23-year career. And I look at what we're doing to college kids and high school kids and we make it so easy on them now. If you don't like where you're at, go somewhere else where you can play. And it goes from being, let's say, college or high school, a transformational experience to a transactional experience. And you're always trying to transform yourself into something a little bit more, into a little bit better version of yourself. But when you make it easy on yourself, in the end you're doing yourself a disservice. Because you're not challenging yourself to get outside your comfort zone. And if you get outside your comfort zone, you're going to realize like, oh man, I'm kind of on my own, but I've got people that support me, but how do I figure this out? And part of that figuring it out is to dig a little deeper within yourself and to develop a better work ethic, to be a little bit more disciplined in what you're doing and to be more determined to accomplish it every single day. And if you cheat that, in the end you cheat yourself and you're never going to accomplish your goals, you're going to be settling for your plan Bs your entire life. You're giving people wisdom that you just cannot buy.
Tom, I want to switch gears with you. It seems like there's a cloud over this game when it comes to the officiating. From your perspective, is that just all noise or do you think there's some legitimate concern when it comes to that?
I think it's just all BS. It's just a bunch of noise and these refs have very challenging jobs to do. I'm very happy Twitter didn't exist during the Tuck Rule game in 2001.
Let me say that. I would have been on the wrong end of a lot of those, but these refs are out there trying to do their very best. They've got to make decisions in a split second and they're going to call what they see. And these guys are some of the most professional people on the field.
They just want to go out and do a good job like everybody else. And look, sometimes the calls go your way, sometimes they don't. In the end, over the course of a 140 play game on both sides of the ball, the players have plenty of opportunities to go out there and make an impact on the game, winning or losing.
And that's what I'm excited to see on Sunday night. So your year's almost done. You had your best game in the championship game. You signed your contract with Foxwell. You're still playing. So you took a year off before you started.
Now the one year's done. Have you enjoyed it? Has this been what you thought?
Is this something that you're going to want to do long term? And have you gotten used to the producers talking in your ear? There's a lot of that.
There's an art and sciences, as you guys know, and you guys are so great. You're on every day doing your best. I think the more I've done it, the more comfortable I've gotten with it. And it's something that I'm going to continue to get comfortable doing. And the more comfortable I've got, the more relaxed I've gotten.
And then ultimately, it just sounds more and more like myself. So I really believe in those 10,000 hours that you need to practice in order to be truly great at something. And I'm about 300 hours into this, and I've got another at least nine years left on my contract, and hopefully many more years beyond that. Well, we're enjoying that time. Great job. Congratulations on this. We're so proud of you. We're so glad you're here. God bless you, and thank you so much.
Thanks for all the advice. I wrote it all down. My daughter's going to watch this interview.
She's never quitting. All right, Tom. Thanks so much. Good luck Sunday. You'll do great. I'm Dana Perino. This week on Perino on Politics, I'm joined by former communications director and senior advisor to President Trump, Tim Murtaugh, available now on FoxNewsPodcast.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
