Tom Brady suffered a rare loss Sunday, but he still emerged from Week 3 with a little vindication.
One week after Brady broke two Microsoft Surface tablets in frustration during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' win over the New Orleans Saints, cameras caught Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey blowing a gasket in the coaches' booth after his team failed to run one final play in a loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Brady received some blowback for his outburst, as the NFL reportedly sent a league-wide memo warning of punishment for those who break team equipment. But on Monday night, Brady noted he's not the only one with a short fuse.
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"I’m not the only adult in the entire league that’s throwing temper tantrums," Brady said on his "Let's Go!" podcast with co-host Jim Gray. "So thank you, Ken, for taking me off the hook."
Brady, whose Bucs fell to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday after a failed 2-point conversion in the final minute, also can relate to Dorsey letting his emotions get the best of him during a football game.
"I know exactly what he was feeling. Absolutely," Brady continued. “There’s so much emotion. You feel like you’re in a battle out there and it’s a physical battle and it’s just so -- I mean, you’ve got to get the emotion out.
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"I know it should be poised and yeah, there’s moments (where) sometimes it just boils over. I’d rather have it boil over on the sideline than on the field, you know? And sometimes it’s a little bit of both."
Brady has had his fair share of freakouts over the years, both on the field and on the sidelines. (Just ask Bill O'Brien.) But Brady's fierce competitiveness is part of what makes him so successful, so as long as he doesn't cross the line, it's hard to fault his behavior.
For those who may view his tantrums as childish or immature, Brady said he'd rather be closer to that extreme than that other.
"Sometimes our emotions get the best of us and you’ve got to live with it for the rest of your life. So that’s OK," Brady said. "It’s better to have that feeling and emotion because it feels like you’re alive.
"You know, you could be dead and not feel anything. So I choose to be alive and feel everything."
That's a pretty deep response about throwing tablets on a football field. But when you're 45 years old with 23 NFL seasons under your belt, you tend to reflect a bit more thoroughly on your actions.