Clyde Christensen, who retired last week after decades in coaching and five years as the Buccaneers’ quarterbacks coach, says Tom Brady went through a season like few players have experienced.
Christensen told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times that Brady, who went through a divorce last year, lost 15 pounds and was doing his best to focus on football and family simultaneously.
“Yeah, I worried about him,” Christensen said. “He lost that weight. It was very stressful. And he battled and he hurt, but he put on the brave face and did it again. You’ve got a bunch of folks depending on you. I have an unbelievable respect for what Tom did this year. Off-the-charts amount of respect for him just managing things.”
Christensen said that Brady’s leave of absence from training camp was a trying time for Brady on a personal level.
“To watch Tom have to leave training camp for 11 days to take care of some personal problems, it was heartbreaking stuff,” Christensen said. “A divorce. Worrying about his kids. Hard stuff. But then you’re still expected to do your job when you get back. No one cares. And you’ve got a team. You have everyone depending on you. The show goes on.”
Still, Christensen credited Brady for pulling it together for the season.
“It’s amazing to watch Tom Brady, in the middle of going through all those tough times, somehow keep it in the lane and get to the playoffs and win a division,” Christensen said. “People don’t see that side of it. Wins and losses are really, really important, but it’s a much bigger picture than that.”
Whether Brady returns or retires in 2023 remains to be seen, but one of the people who knows Brady best clearly thinks that 2022 took a toll on him, particularly off the field.