Tom Brady is not a quitter.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, 45, is again insisting he has no plans to cut his season short with a retirement.
Last week, former Bucs quarterback Chris Simms suggested that Brady's recent marriage troubles could be a sign that he won't finish out this season in full. While Brady denied those claims during his mid-week press conference, he expanded on his thought process during this week's episode of his Sirius XM show, Let's Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray.
Gray posed a question to the Bucs QB about whether he ever thinks about quitting. "I've never quit on anything in my life," Brady said. "I made a commitment to this team and I love this team and I love this organization."
While there "was a retirement in the past," as Brady acknowledges, referring to his brief retirement this February, he confirms that "there's no immediate retirement" in his future.
"I've had nothing but a great experience here," he said of his time at the Bucs so far. "I want to keep fighting as hard as I can and I'm always trying to do better. I'm always trying to work hard and I'm always trying to commit more to the things that are important to me. And this team is very important to me and I certainly want to be the best I can be for them."
The Bucs have been struggling in recent weeks, though, with two consecutive losses on the road, first to the Pittsburgh Steelers, then to the Carolina Panthers. Last year, the team only lost four games throughout the entire regular season. They've already lost four so far this year, seven weeks into the season, and are 2-2 in away games.
"There's no quit in our group and there will never be quit as long as I'm a part of any team, I know that for sure," Brady said in response to the recent losses on the SiriusXM podcast.
The team has to "play harder, gotta play faster, gotta play stronger, more determined," he says, "with better execution."
"And then you hope that once you find your rhythm, that that can continue to carry you," he told Gray.
Even as he faces a sub-.500 record for the first time since 2002, Brady says he's still "absolutely" loving the game.
"It's a hard sport we've chosen and it's tough," he said. "It challenges you in every area, physically, mentally and emotionally. And certainly at this stage we're in, this is where you gotta dig deep and see what you're all about and see what kind of character you have and see what you believe in and your values as a team. Do you stand up for each other when you face adversity or do you not? That's what we're all trying to figure out every time we take the field."
