When Tom Met Patrick: The meaning behind Mahomes-Brady meetup in Arrowhead locker room
You might know that Patrick Mahomes was all of 6 years old when Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl as the New England Patriots beat the then-St. Louis Rams on Feb. 3, 2002.
But ever aware as he is, Mahomes will tell you his first memory of Brady was well before then.
“It’s probably September 17, 1995, when I was born,” Mahomes said, laughing. “He’s been around for a while.”
At the time, actually, Brady was a redshirt freshman at Michigan.
But Brady’s fabled NFL history looms so large that it’s no wonder Mahomes is prone to exaggerate when it comes to him — including calling Super Bowl LV Brady’s 150th appearance in the event.
In some way or another Mahomes has almost forever been conscious of Brady, who will be making merely his 10th Super Bowl appearance when the Chiefs take on the Buccaneers on Sunday in Tampa.
As a 9-year-old, Mahomes picked against Brady and the Patriots against the Eagles of Andy Reid in Super Bowl XXXIX, his prediction enshrined in the Tyler Morning Telegraph: “Eagles are a better team.”
If Mahomes evidently wasn’t a full believer in Brady then, he came to be an ardent admirer as the Patriots that year became the last NFL team to repeat as champions — something the Chiefs seek to replicate 16 years later — on the way to winning six of nine they played in from the 2001 to 2018 seasons.
The reverence from Mahomes has been clear through four previous meetings between them, games their teams have split evenly. Mahomes understands Brady’s unparalleled stature in the game, after all.
And even as a fierce competitor with otherworldly skills who wants to go where Brady has been, he respects what the journey might require. He also appreciates how Brady has demonstrated the way forward in everything from preparation to how he takes care of his body.
Which helps explain the ongoing significance of Brady’s gracious gesture after the Patriots beat Mahomes and the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game two years ago. at Arrowhead Stadium.
Following the devastating 37-31 overtime loss, with the Chiefs locker room nearly emptied out, Brady sent word to the Chiefs asking if he could come see Mahomes.
Granted permission by a security guard, he walked through the double-doors on the end of the locker room closest to the visitor’s room. Brady still was clad in game pants and an AFC Championship T-shirt as he approached Mahomes, who was showered and dressed and getting ready to leave.
They spoke only briefly, perhaps 3-4 minutes, and we’ll come back to that. But the action itself was so rare, if not unprecedented, to many in the game for decades.
“Well I would say it was unique,” Reid said recently. “I mean he didn’t have to do that. He is arguably the best quarterback to ever play the game, and he surely didn’t have to come over and say a word.
“But he did that, and I think for a young quarterback to have somebody of his stature do that, I think, was a tremendous gesture. And it was heartfelt. He didn’t have to do it, and he wasn’t putting on a show. There was nobody there to really see it, so it was really just his respect for Pat and in return, Pat’s respect for him.”
From Deflategate to being married to a supermodel, from winning it all so often to any number of other matters, Brady has long been a polarizing figure. But this was the sportsmanship we might all seek to emulate, and something that had great currency with Mahomes.
It was easy then to construe it as a sort of a passing of the torch, with Brady seemingly soon to retire. Instead, it was more of a welcome to the club … and even to the chase.
Mahomes has spoken briefly about it several times, most recently reiterating Brady told him he was “doing things the right way, that I was putting in the right work, and that I would have more opportunities to be in these games.”
Mahomes was perhaps at his most expansive soon after that meeting when he appeared on ESPN’s “NFL Live” from the 2019 Pro Bowl.
“I mean, he was in my place. He was young …” Mahomes said. “So he understands that time, it flies, and (to) make sure to put in the work.”
Brady spoke recently with ESPN about what compelled him to reach out to Mahomes, whom he had seen briefly on the field in person after their previous meeting at Gillette Stadium earlier that season.
He spoke of being “just so impressed with” Mahomes and noticing “how endearing he is to his teammates. I could see there’s a special quality about him that attracts his teammates to him.”
He added, “I just wanted to make sure he knew … what kind of guy that I thought he was, not only as a player but as a person as well.”
During his media availability Monday, Brady wasn’t asked directly about the moment (and our Zoom hand went uncalled on). But he expanded on those points when asked about Mahomes, including saying his respect for him has “elevated” since then.
He referred again to Mahomes’ charismatic command of the team and noted his poise, saying “none of these moments are too big for him” and that he “always seems to play best when his team needs him the most.”
He even seemed to suggest he envies some of Mahomes’ abilities. When asked if that were the case, he rattled off Mahomes’ “incredible” play-making abilities, feel for the pocket and ability to be accurate even when back-pedaling and throwing off his back foot.
So now here they stand, across from one another once more even as they reside in generationally different phases of their careers.
As badly as each will want to win on Sunday, Brady now seems as big a believer in Mahomes as Mahomes has been in him, saying “what he accomplishes ultimately is going to be up to him” … even as he offers a cautionary caveat that Mahomes also must decide what choices he’ll make in the years to come.
If the way he’s conducted himself, played and returned from injuries to now is any indication, Mahomes figures to “be around for a while” like he remembers Brady being.
And to continue advancing toward him in the annals of the game ... with what might be considered a small but indelible nudge from Brady.
Not that Mahomes lacked confidence. But he’s also human and was at what might be considered a pivotal moment in his career.
“To a young guy, that means a lot,” Reid said before the teams met earlier this season. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that, and Patrick did, too. It was just a respect thing and I just really thought that was great. That was a tough game, and he just said, ‘Hey, you just keep being you and things are going to work out.’
“I think that just kind of, those simple words, that’s big for a young guy to hear, especially from somebody that great.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 2:37 PM with the headline "When Tom Met Patrick: The meaning behind Mahomes-Brady meetup in Arrowhead locker room."