“I appreciate good quarterback play,” Brady said. “I’m always watching around the league, whether it’s Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees having phenomenal years. Obviously, Tim is having a great year. You watch guys and the way that they perform under pressure, and it says a lot about who they are and the way their teammates feel about them. It’s a big challenge. It’s going to be a very electric environment out there [in Denver]. We’ve had some really great games against the Broncos over the years. I’m sure this will be no different.”
Brady will get his first chance to witness Tebowmania this weekend, though the elder statesman of the NFL’s current fraternity of quarterbacks probably won’t spend much time watching Tebow on the field.
Still, Brady was asked about a particular parallel between the two. For as much praise as there’s been for Tebow, there seems to be just as much disrespect. There was a fraction of the publicity surrounding Brady early in his career — shy of the Super Bowl run, of course — but there were still plenty of doubters, which was evidenced by his fall to the sixth round of the draft.
“I think you just really have confidence in yourself that you can achieve whatever you think you can achieve,” Brady said. “Then you try to work hard at it, and then when you get your opportunity, you try to take advantage of it. I think that’s what a lot of young players — not everyone is a high pick or not everyone gets a lot of chances right out of the box. But when you do get your opportunity, you really try to take advantage of your opportunity, and do your best and give everything you have. If football means a lot to you and it’s important, usually good things happen.”
