In his final season, Doug Flutie played back-up for Tom Brady and the two became firm friends, remaining in contact to this day. In a recent interview, Tom Brady was asked what he thought of Doug Flutie, and he responded by calling Flutie one of the greatest football players ever. While this was music to football fans’ ears, many have questioned what Flutie thinks of Tom Brady.
An Interview with Doug Flutie
When quizzed on the subject, Flutie already began to see his potential when he played with him, he said: “I get really excited about Tom Brady. I played one year, my last season, with him in New England. And when he made the move to Tampa, I was really intrigued.” He adds “of course, he knew what he was doing. He went to a team with a great defense. He had weapons around them, he didn’t have to be the entire show, although he always is. And he goes somewhere to win the Super Bowl.” He concludes “so now, I’m just intrigued again. Can he do it again? They’re reloaded. They’ve got all these weapons. That’s pretty exciting for me to see what’s going on there.”
Furthermore, in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Rich Eisen Flutie stated “He had a knack for making everyone feel like they were important. Everybody had a piece of this. The guy that’s in the training room, didn’t even practice that week and Tom would go in and have a good comment for him like, ‘You did a great job on the team last week and you really made us better’, things of that nature.” So, it’s clear to see that Flutie is a huge fan of Tom Brady.
When continuing the interview Doug Flutie said that he was impressed by how humble the world-famous player was. According to Flutie, Tom Brady would always insist on introducing himself to new players and would simply say “Hi, I’m tom”. When pressed further, Flutie thought of a particular example and started to talk about a game against the Indianapolis Colts in 2005. The two of them noticed a weakness in the opposing defence during the two-minute offence. Tom spotted an opening and suggested they went for it. When Brady scored the touchdown, he walked straight off of the field towards Flutie and said “that’s yours”. Flutie insisted that it wasn’t true, saying “He knew what he was doing. He’d done it 100 times before I got there but he would acknowledge any contribution from anyone on the team. It was really impressive”.
Creating a Lasting Impression
Despite only supporting Tom Brady in the quarterback position for one season, it’s clear that Flutie was left with a lasting positive impression of Brady. He has mentioned in repeated interviews that he was impressed by Brady’s incredibly humble attitude and his drive to make every player feel valued. With both players speaking so highly of each other without any real prompting, it’s no great surprise that they’ve remained firm friends since. Flutie has spoken in several interviews about his admiration for Brady and how excited he is to see him play in the NFL even now. They may have only played one season together, but it is clearly one that made a lasting impression – enough for Flutie to want to talk about what a great player he is even now. There aren’t many sporting friendships that are so strong, so clearly the pair have something special.
