Any deplorables out here?
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you very much.
So...
I was in the plane and they handed me a letter,
and it was from Coach Belichick.
So, we called, we said,
"Do you think that Mr. Trump could read that letter
to the people of New Hampshire?"
He said, "Absolutely, if you'd like."
So, he writes, "Congratulations on a tremendous campaign.
You have dealt with an unbelievable,
slanted and negative media...
...and have come out...
...beautifully.
Hopefully, tomorrow's election
will give the opportunity to make America great again."
Make America great again!
"Best wishes for great results tomorrow...
Bill Belichick."
U-S-A!
Last night, Trump read a letter of support
he said came from Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
Of all the things to keep out of the locker room,
isn't politics number one?
Didn't see that coming from Belichick, because, really,
he doesn't talk about anything normally at all.
You don't say shit to the press. You get your shit on and get out of here.
We don't need to hear anything from you.
Having always told people in the locker room
not to say anything publicly, because it was a distraction,
why did you choose
to make a public statement that you told Donald Trump he could read?
Yeah, my relationship with Donald Trump isn't political.
I knew him long before he ever got involved in politics.
So... Donald was a friend and...
I wrote a personal letter.
When the letter came out,
I felt kind of like, "Man, we got kind of bamboozled."
Bill always said things like, "We don't want to have to be in the media
talking about these different things."
Like, I had some opinions I might have wanted to share,
but out of respect to the team, I didn't.
I personally thought it was very hypocritical.
The Patriot way, it starts with respecting the men you work alongside
and trying to put the team first.
I mean, that's the foundation for this place.
I just don't think he was connected enough with his players at the time
to realize that that was going to, you know,
have an impact on the locker room.
They have completed the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history.
By the end of that 2016 season,
the Patriots had a Super Bowl win that was historic.
But instead of solidifying and cementing what they were all about,
the team's foundation had started to be chipped at.
And over the next year, we start to see a crumbling of relationships...
...diminishing enjoyment...
...and a certain level of dysfunction.
From the way the season started
to the way it ended,
I can say that this Super Bowl win
was unequivocally the sweetest one of them all.
And if you think that was sweet,
wait until you see what we've prepared next.
Rather than serve a traditional carrot cake for dessert,
we offer a reward that is caked in carats.
Super Bowl champions, open your rings now.
I told you
we were gonna bring this sucker home.
And we brought it home. Let's go!
Let's go!
After that Super Bowl win,
Tom Brady solidified himself as the Patriots quarterback for evermore.
And over the next few months, you began to realize
that Tom was going to live in a way that he felt
took advantage of what he had accomplished.
Tom started spending less time worrying about what Bill thought was okay
and did his own thing.
And you saw all of the Brady industry start to explode and mushroom.
I love the sport of football,
and it's nice to be here in Tokyo to share it with you.
What's gonna take you from the level that you're at now to being even better?
Hard work, dedication,
and never let anybody tell you that you can't do something.
I'm faster now and quicker now than, you know,
when I first started playing football.
You're faster at age 40
- than at age, like, 18? - Yeah.
If there's a magic formula,
you'll find it inside this fitness facility near Gillette Stadium.
It's called the TB12 Sports Therapy Center.
The building of the TB12 business
represented a new kind of independence for Tom.
Tommy was starting to separate from "team first all the time."
As that happened,
it created a certain amount of tension with Bill.
Especially when it came to Tommy's relationship with Alex Guerrero.
All right, are we ready?
Just generically feet, and then we'll hit legs, two special spots and arm?
Perfect. Okay, face up first.
Oh, you're getting in there today.
There's a little residue right there.
Tom and I, you know, we share a very special relationship.
Okay, relax there.
When you're doing manual therapy and there's a physical component,
along with, I think the emotion of helping someone, you know, get out of pain,
there's some sort of, you know, connection.
People call it having a soulmate.
That feels good.
It became friendship, it became family, it became a brotherhood.
Blueberry froth?
- What is that right there? - This is a good mixture.
Over the years, my relationship with Alex really blossomed.
There's many moments where Alex helped me through tough times,
physically, mentally, emotionally.
I mean, I remember back in 2004, I was dealing with elbow pain
and I couldn't throw at training camp.
God damn, let's wake up!
For the quarterbacks, we've thrown 12 straight days, so,
you really get worn down.
When I went to the treatment people, it wasn't helping.
But when I met Alex for the first time,
my pain went away in my elbow, in my whole life.
So I was like, "How the fuck did you do that?"
Pliability is the core part of our method.
I just believe, if I can keep your muscles pliable,
they can sustain the forces that are put upon them.
But if they are tight or restricted, well, then the load has to go somewhere.
So, load's either going to go on your ankle, knee, hip joint,
your low back, where people often find pain.
How often do you do the pliability training?
As often as I can.
Alex and I work together at least five or six days a week.
Tom caught on early and then he bought in early.
So, over the course of years, you'd be able to see the effect,
playing at a high level at age 40.
40's just a number.
We set off on this journey together.
A journey of really being proactive about your health.
And over that time,
I really encouraged all my other teammates to do the same.
I think there has to be, like, a medium in everything. I feel like...
you have to have strength,
but you have to have pliability and flexibility. You have to have...
I'm not an anti-weight guy. Everyone thinks I'm anti-weights.
I think weights with pliability are optimal. That's what you want.
I think you should train for what you want to get out of your training.
You need to be strong, Jules. You just take a look.
You need to be strong.
And I was like, "Guys, this works for me."
I had elbow pain my whole life. I don't have elbow pain.
I had a shoulder that has had hundreds of thousands of throws,
that if you were to do an MRI of it, it would look pristine.
At that point, Brady was basically evangelical
about the things Alex had done for him.
And suddenly there's a lot of players who are working with Guerrero,
including Rob Gronkowski.
But when Belichick found out,
things in the building kind of...
Welcome to training camp.
The year before, I punctured my lung
and my back was actually blown out, and that ended my season that year.
So, coming back was very difficult.
I had a terrible off-season.
Coach Belichick had a meeting with me that I was not producing,
that I looked slow, that I looked awful.
I swear Bill was about to cut me.
After that, I went to TB12, and let me tell you,
after about a couple sessions, I started to feel the difference.
Good. Relax. Good job. Good work.
My back started loosening up. All the pain was going away.
When I hit the practice field, my speed was coming back
and I was like, "Holy shit, that's magic!"
But there was something with my following Tom Brady's method
that some people didn't like.
One of the interesting things
about Rob Gronkowski subscribing to the TB12 method was
Brady and Alex Guerrero don't push weights all over the place.
So, Gronk was saying, "I'm not doing squats,"
when the Patriots' strength and conditioning folks were asking him to.
At that point, Belichick, in front of other players, said to Gronk,
"You're not doing these squats, you're just doing all this fucking band stuff.
No wonder you get thrown around on the field. You're weak."
In Bill's eyes, I believe there was too many chefs in the kitchen.
Just having this other non-Patriot affiliated professional in the building,
I can see where, you know, as a Patriots trainer,
kind of, the tension was... could mount there.
Guerrero was basically
pissing on Belichick's strength and conditioning staff.
And the thing about Alex Guerrero that was difficult
was he had had, in his past, instances
where he was kind of looked at as a snake oil salesman, a charlatan.
He was presenting himself as a doctor, a medical doctor, which he is not.
- Yeah. - He claimed
he could save lives of terminally ill patients.
- Couldn't back that up. - No.
- Now he's handling lots of players. - Yes.
And the training staff, I'm sure, is outraged over this,
because they don't believe in it.
Players can talk to whoever they want to outside the building.
But you can't have somebody in your building giving conflicting advice
against what your training staff are saying,
against what your strength and conditioning staff are saying.
You know, giving off a mixed message.
The New England Patriots have stripped Tom Brady's trainer,
business partner, and close friend Alex Guerrero of various team privileges.
Guerrero is no longer permitted to treat players other than Brady
in the office and is reportedly banned from boarding Patriots' jets.
Guerrero's sideline access has also been revoked.
How did you react when Bill told you that he was
removing Alex from the sideline or the team planes?
I don't really agree with your question.
So I don't know what you're talking about.
How do you know what he said?
So are you saying the report that the access was...?
I'm not saying anything. I mean, how do you say that he said anything?
You don't know anything about that.
I have a lot of conversations with him. So, those are private between he and I.
And I don't think anyone knows what we talk about.
I've never talked about it. He's never talked about it.
The whole situation, it caused a lot of animosity.
And, I mean, it was so stupid, because Alex is an amazing guy.
He kept me healthy. I mean, if I look at...
There's no way I played probably 12 years in the NFL
without his commitment to me and our team.
And then instead of getting credit for it, he got blamed,
and I kept going, "What the fuck is wrong with you people?"
There was a lot of turmoil with Alex and the Patriots,
and I just didn't really understand it.
I'd be like, "Tom, why are you getting hounded...
...when you're 40 years old and you're putting up numbers...
...like you're 23 years old?
You're still the best quarterback in the league."
I just didn't get it. And he would never have an answer for me.
He'd be like, "You know, Rob, I don't know fucking either."
Reason to wonder if all is good between Brady and Belichick?
I don't know how you can not wonder that,
because if we've learned anything about Tom Brady,
who otherwise has been fairly and intentionally private
about his life and inner circle,
is that Alex Guerrero sits at the center of it.
This is Tom Brady's guru.
- This guy convinced Tom Brady... - To eat avocado slices?
- Right. He is the avocado shake-meister. - Right.
Tom Brady thinks he can play till he's 100 years old.
You know what it seems like to me? It's a turf battle.
The whole thing with Guerrero was a power struggle.
You've got Brady trying to establish his ground here
and Belichick trying to hold his.
You just have to think about the arc of their relationship.
And the game is over, and the Patriots are Super Bowl champions!
How about that, baby? How about that one?
At the beginning, Brady looked at Belichick as a mentor,
who he totally admired and trusted.
This is an example of what happens when guys believe in each other.
And my coach, you know, it's always with the support.
Dream come true.
He'd say exactly what Bill wanted him to say.
And during the season, he was even willing to be a punching bag for Bill Belichick.
I can't stand it.
Run it again. Huddle up and run it again, Brady.
If Belichick said it was good for the team, Brady would do it.
But now, 15 years later,
Brady's exerting some independence
and Bill's losing some power.
Not just with Guerrero.
In the middle of the season, there was also the incident with Jimmy Garoppolo.
We begin tonight with the trade that no one saw coming.
The Patriots dealing Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers.
Garoppolo, it seemed, was being groomed as the heir apparent to Tom Brady.
I believe Coach Belichick was ready to move on without Tom Brady.
And Mr. Kraft, he viewed Tom Brady like a son, and told Belichick,
"You will move Jimmy Garoppolo."
I never asked him to do it.
I just told Bill that we weren't trading Brady ever,
so... that made it a little awkward.
Bill Belichick was grieving after they traded Garoppolo.
It's as if he lost his best quarterback friend.
You could just sense that the divide between Brady and Belichick...
...it was widening.
Are you still meeting with Tom and the quarterbacks
on a weekly basis like you have over the...
pretty much for every year?
I meet with all the players all the time.
How would you describe just the dynamic with you and Tom
in terms of the working relationship?
Has anything changed this year?
Well, every year's different.
We talked to a lot of your veteran players from the 2017 season.
Many of them said that this was the most difficult season they had.
Why do you think that is?
I don't know. Every year in the NFL is a challenging season.
You'd have to ask them why they said that.
That whole year, Tom and Bill,
it was like two parents fighting at each other.
There was always so much tension.
It was like, right when you opened up that door,
your asshole is just super tight,
like you're just walking around, like, clenching your butt cheeks.
That's what it felt like. I thought I was the only one that felt that.
But then I asked other people.
As a player on that team that year,
I could feel the tension building.
It was just weird. You just feel it.
It's just something you just can feel
within people, within yourself, within the team.
That was a trialing year.
Not just because of what's happening behind the scenes,
in the building...
...but also what's going on socially all over the country.
Felt like there was tension everywhere.
We're proud of our country.
We respect our flag.
Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners,
when somebody disrespects our flag,
to say, "Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he's fired?
He's fired!"
When Trump started weighing in on the NFL...
I was appalled. The President of the United States
was attacking a group of mostly Black players
who were taking the knee during the national anthem.
They were protesting in a peaceful manner against inequality.
Well, I think it's a lack of respect for our country.
I really said they should try another country, see if they like it better.
The things that Trump would say, it made me angry.
But here we were, we were seen as, like, Team Trump.
Trump's either friends or friendly with the top three people of our organization.
Kraft's relationship with him, they were friends.
Tom had a hat in his locker.
Bill wrote a letter to him.
When the faces of the team
support something individually that has nothing to do with the team,
that gets thrown on the team, and we all have to take that.
So, when Trump called us sons of bitches, the whole locker room is talking about,
"What are we gonna do during the anthem?"
We take you now to the field for the playing of the national anthem.
Stand up!
It's a disgrace. They should be standing.
I liked what the president's saying.
If you're not gonna stand for this country, you're fired.
Belichick and Kraft should do something about it. Fire 'em.
You felt the impact right away. You heard the boos.
And like, if this is what we think most of our Patriot fans feel,
then they don't know us as players.
Those men that they come and cheer for, jerseys they buy...
...they don't know us.
Everyone went to work worn down. You were like, man, like, this is hard.
This is a unique time and a unique place, but we're making the most of it.
We're navigating it as we go. And we're winning on the way.
But, the one thing is, when you play for the Patriots,
like, every year we felt like we had an opportunity to win a championship.
And when you feel like that, everyone says to themselves, like,
"Let's just try to win a championship."
You know what I mean? Like, "You do your job."
Look, fellas, this is just about doing our job.
Just cover your man.
Do what you're supposed to do.
"Do your job."
On the one hand, there's something admirable about it.
It's a very scaled-back idea of America for itself.
That we're just all about the work.
But it's also totally soul-sucking.
Brady under center.
Burkhead takes off and he fights for it.
Touchdown.
Walking off with another victory.
Fourteen consecutive road games.
They are just winning.
Brady. Gronk pulls it down for the two.
You're looking at the greatest quarterback. He's the MVP of the league.
And they're doing it without a smile.
They're doing it without a great deal of personality.
Every week now, the games keep getting bigger.
We're playing for more every week.
They're getting bigger, so we gotta approach 'em that way.
Very business-like.
Very cold.
Joyless.
Brady, looking in the end zone.
Now gets rid of it for the touchdown!
Easy New England touchdown.
And the Patriots will head to the post-season.
Even when they made the playoffs, they were not welcoming you to the party.
There was no party.
Hey, do your job, right? Go there and score, huh?
Brady throws it.
Touchdown, Amendola.
Belichick ecstatic.
Yeah, Belichick going wild.
The clock hits zero
and the Patriots are going back to the Super Bowl.
Did you think anything else was gonna happen?
At the end of the day, this team was tied together
by the idea
that all of this is worth it...
...if we win.
Hey, folks, come on in out of the cold
and into the US Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis.
Philadelphia taking on New England as we get set for Super Bowl 52.
And now, the AFC champions,
New England Patriots.
For the Patriots going into this game,
there's been 5 Super Bowl championships, 7 Super Bowl appearances.
The two constants, Bill Belichick, the coach,
and the quarterback, Tom Brady.
Bill Belichick and Tom Brady
are the most successful duo in NFL history.
But lately here's been a lot of noise around the Patriots organization,
and it doesn't sound as if it's quieted.
I remember going into that game feeling like,
"All right, this was a long year."
I think that was a year where guys will tell you,
"Man, maybe I didn't love ball the way I should have."
But our quest to win the title is not gonna change.
Our end goal is the same as it's always been.
It's to win a championship, to win a Super Bowl.
They told me I could only give this speech once in a lifetime!
But we back, fellas!
I remember getting ready to go,
trying to give the team the boost, the lift, just doing what I normally do.
We dominate, fellas, no tomorrow.
Dominate on three. One, two, three!
Dominate!
Little did we know we're about to witness
one of the greatest New England mysteries of all time.
Malcolm Butler very emotional on the sideline.
I was very emotional, man.
Like, I didn't feel like I was being treated right,
because I didn't find out until the game
that I wasn't going to play.
Well, I got a chance to speak with Bill Belichick
and I asked him why he did not start Malcolm Butler
and why Butler's not playing on defense and he said,
"I made the decisions that give us the best chance to win."
If you'd told me going into the game,
"Malcolm Butler's not going in.
Do you think that helps you win?" I would say no.
For that year, 98 percent of the time,
Malcolm was on the field playing with us on defense.
And then 3 years before, at Super Bowl 49,
he saves the game.
Intercepted! Intercepted to Malcolm Butler!
Malcolm Butler, unreal!
As players, I know that we all felt strongly
that Malcolm should've been out there, but that's not our call.
And at the end of the day, we trust our coach.
Two weeks of hype, and as the great John Madden used to say,
"It's time for a game to break out."
Brady begins this drive.
Big hole, left side.
James White, inside the ten, takes it to the end zone.
Touchdown, Patriots.
Let's fucking go!
When we scored,
I remember telling Bill, "I don't think they can stop us."
But, as things continued,
I just felt like the game was, like, out of control.
And they're gonna snap it,
and it's Trey Burton who throws... Caught, touchdown!
Wow!
Philly's scoring...
Brady. Caught!
Gronkowski for the touchdown.
And we're scoring again.
Both teams were putting up a lot of points and yards,
and it's like, "Holy cow,
is this really gonna be who has the ball last?"
Pass goes up to the 23-yard line.
Agholor breaks away and picks up a first down.
This defense for the New England Patriots,
they are really struggling with this pace.
Butler still on the bench. Has not played a defensive snap tonight.
Seeing how the game was transpiring, it's like, well,
man, we kinda need him in there right now. I mean,
can we get him in there to stop the bleed?
Fake to Blount.
Foles fires down the sideline. Caught, first down.
Damn it!
They were getting creamed defensively.
And Bill's not putting him in.
It can't be performance-based.
He played practically every snap your entire season.
And it's like, "What is going on here?"
Why was Malcolm Butler sitting on the sidelines?
I don't have one bit of information about that to this day.
I talked to coaches, other players, like,
none of us ever heard what happened or why it happened.
People still ask me that now, to this day, "Why you didn't play in the Super Bowl?"
I'm like, "I don't know, man, coach's decision."
But the thing about it, I really don't know.
I really don't.
Just to, like, leave me watching my team suffer
when I know I can help them...
...like, not one rep.
Not one rep.
The pass into the end zone and it is...
Yes, touchdown!
Bill Belichick watching his defense pretty much getting shredded.
In the 2017 season,
Malcolm Butler played 98 percent of the snaps.
Why was he only on the field for one play during the Super Bowl?
Matt, we've talked about that.
I didn't ask you about it.
What has been told to me
is that there was something personal going on
between Bill and Malcolm that was not football-related.
Hey, fellas, just do our job now. Read our keys on the play action.
Just do our job!
I always felt that every decision Bill had made
had been to put what was in the best interests of the team first
and put emotion aside.
But with Malcolm, he did just the opposite.
It's a 1-point game. The clock keeps on ticking.
The Philadelphia Eagles trying to win the big game.
Caught over the middle and into the end zone!
It's over!
The Eagles have beaten the New England Patriots!
The confetti flies,
and it's the color of green.
I remember walking off the field that night just really confused.
That was the biggest game of our lives at the moment,
and Malcolm's not on the field.
That shit kind of pisses me off still today.
I mean, we played our asses off.
Tom threw for 500-plus yards,
which in the Super Bowl had never been done.
We're out there literally putting our bodies on the line,
our heads on the line for, you know, our friends, our family, our teammates,
and to not get an explanation, like...
I felt like we got cheated a little bit, honestly, and I don't...
I don't feel bad saying that.
When we lost to the Philadelphia Eagles,
I was like, "I'm done." I remember there were so many guys
in the shower after the game. Like, "Dude, I'm so glad the fucking season's over.
I'm getting the fuck out of here."
After that Super Bowl...
...I've never been in a more, sort of, horrified,
dejected-feeling...
...locker room.
It seemed pretty clear that Belichick might have been losing the team,
and that quite a few unhappy players
were leaving that off-season...
...including Malcolm Butler.
He makes this post where he says goodbye, and...
Brady commented very glowingly and lovingly.
He seemed to be very sympathetic
to Malcolm's plight, whatever that was.
And then Danny Amendola, who's been this real fixture and receiver
that Brady had this real connection with also left.
At that point, Gronk comments
on some post of Danny Amendola's, writing,
"Be free, be happy."
It felt like there was a mutiny!
It was kind of a shot, you know, at Coach Belichick a little bit,
because it just didn't feel like you could be
who you really wanted to be that whole entire year with the Patriots.
Go!
It was weird. It was like, football's already stressful.
Why are we adding more when we're already doing everything we possibly are doing?
It's just so un-fucking-necessary.
All right, boys?
So... how are you feeling, man?
I'm feeling, um...
It's a loaded question.
It's a big commitment.
I've given my body, my everything, every bit of energy for 18 years to it.
And you go, "What are we doing this for?"
You know, "What are we doing this for? Who are we doing this for?
Why are we doing this?"
You gotta have answers to those questions,
and they have to be with a lot of conviction.
When you lose your conviction, you probably should be doing something else.
At that point...
...I don't think Tommy was himself.
Over the years, he made a lot of sacrifices to be with us.
And I don't think he felt appreciated.
I realized we were coming near the end,
and I was just trying to hold it together the best I could.