Tom Brady reveals what last-minute change helped Patriots win Super Bowl XLIX

With two weeks between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, it’s easy to believe that the teams involved have their game plans fully set and have practiced the plays they expect to use. 

That extended window also allows plenty of time to make last-minute tweaks and adjustments, which, according to Tom Brady, actually helped give the New England Patriots an edge over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.

On a recent episode of “The Herd,” the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback shared that there was an element he still felt uncomfortable dealing with against the Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” defense — which led the league in scoring in each of the three previous regular seasons — after the Patriots held their final practice of the week. 

“It’s Friday night before the Super Bowl,” Brady began. “We had 11 or 12 days to prepare. I came back from dinner. It’s probably 9 o’clock, and I wasn’t feeling great about the red area package we had. I went in and [Patriots offensive coordinator] Josh McDaniels is in the staff room and I said, ‘We’ve got to go through red area. It’s just too hard down there. They play too much zone. If I look to the left, [Seahawks safety] Earl [Thomas] moves to the left. If I look to the right, Earl moves to the right. We need a few easy plays where I can just stick the ball in there on a play-action pass and get all of the linebackers to step up and let me rip something to the back of the end zone.'”

So, Brady and McDaniels got to work on designing more plays to use — less than 48 hours before the Super Bowl — and what they drew up led directly to 14 points in New England’s win. 

“We installed three plays on Friday night after two weeks of preparation and all the practices done,” Brady said. “One of the touchdowns was to [Bradon] ‘JoJo’ Lafell, the first one of the game, and the second one was to Danny Amendola, later in that game. We hadn’t practiced them at all going in for 11 days. I like to use every minute of prep going up into those games because they’re the hardest ones to win.”

As Brady mentioned, that 11-yard touchdown pass to LaFell gave New England an early 7-0 lead after he threw an interception in the red zone earlier. His four-yard touchdown pass to Amendola helped cut Seattle’s lead to 24-21 with 7:55 remaining. Brady added another touchdown pass to Julian Edelman to give the Patriots the lead later on before Malcolm Butler made one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, intercepting Russell Wilson to seal the victory. 

Tom Brady reflects on preparing for the Legion of Boom

The ending of that game marked another thrilling finish in a Super Bowl that involved Brady’s Patriots. All nine of them that they played in were determined by a score in the fourth quarter or overtime. Even though New England needed almost all 60 minutes, if not more, to win each of those six Super Bowls, Brady swore that the Patriots deliberately weren’t trying to slow play in those games. 

“It wasn’t intentional, let me say that,” Brady added with a laugh. “We weren’t trying to go out there and suck in the first quarter, but most of the time, we did. There’s definitely a little [bit of] nerves. I think both teams are feeling each other out. We never really got behind too much, but the Atlanta one kind of got away from us there in the first half. 

“For the most part, we just didn’t execute the plan exactly the way we wanted it, and you’re going up against a team that has a lot of good players and they’ve got a lot of juice and energy. There’s a lot in the stadium. It does take a little bit of time to settle into that game. It’s an interesting game to play in.”

Tom Brady on preparing for the Super Bowl

Brady noted that the Super Bowl is a bit of an abnormality compared to most other games teams played in the Super Bowl, which played a hand in how he and his teams might have approached the game over the years and potentially giving him an edge later on. 

“It’s a four-hour game, 33% longer than normal,” Brady said. “I often thought of the Super Bowl as two games, there’s a first-half game and a second-half game. It was really important for us as players to not go out there in pregame warm-ups and lose all your energy because it was so built up from these couple weeks of prep that you had because you waste all your energy in pre-game warm-up knowing you still had a four-hour game ahead of you. 

“That’s why I think a lot of the defenses die in the second half. It’s such a long day. There’s so much emotional energy that gets put out. Then, it’s really who can survive the fourth quarter of the game.”

Brady added his seventh Super Bowl win when he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020, which was his final one as a player. Now, he’s preparing to call his first one as a broadcaster. He’ll be on the call when the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles meet in Super Bowl LIX (Feb. 9, 6:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app). 

The GOAT knows that his preparation for this Super Bowl can be different from the first 10 Super Bowls he was a part of, though. “No Aaron Donald trying to hunt me down. This preparation’s way easier,” Brady said with a laugh. “No Legion of Boom I was getting ready for. I can look at where the best beignets in New Orleans are or what a Hurricane is or be down Bourbon Street.”

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