Brian Hoyer defends Tom Brady after Baker Mayfield’s comments

The former Patriots backup QB also told a story of Brady's epically locked-in performance during Super Bowl LII.

Former Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer has played for the Patriots with and without Tom Brady as well as for other organizations. As such, few NFL players past or present can speak to what playing with the GOAT is like — and how different the mentality is at other destinations — better than Hoyer can.

So Hoyer’s take on the recent controversy surrounding Baker Mayfield’s comments about the supposedly “stressful” environment Brady created in Tampa Bay, including Brady’s response to it, holds weight. Unsurprisingly, the 15-year veteran sided with his seven-time Super Bowl-winning former teammate in the latest episode of “The Quick Snap” podcast.

“It was Tom taking the lessons he learned from Bill — basically holding people to a standard,” said Hoyer of the ethos Brady brought to the Buccaneers after his exit from New England. “I don’t think that should be very stressful. And I think Tom’s reaction to that was was pretty on par with who he is and who I know him to be.

“He demanded not just himself, but everybody else to take everything to another level … because when you looked at him — at least this was my experience — if this is what the greatest player of all time is doing to get us to win, I can’t do anything less than that.”

While speaking on the “Casa De Klub” podcast, Mayfield said several Tampa Bay teammates told stories of a “high-strung,” “stressful” situation during Brady’s three years with the team, which included one Super Bowl title, in contrast to Mayfield’s goal to “bring the joy back to football for guys who weren’t having as much fun.”

Brady later shot back in typical fashion: “I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” Brady said. “There was a mind-set of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t day care. If I wanted to have fun, I was going to go to Disneyland with my kids.”

Mayfield later said his comments were taken out of context.

Hoyer acknowledged that other teams he played on were much more laid-back than the Patriots, who constantly pushed players to be “comfortable with being uncomfortable” under Bill Belichick. But that lax atmosphere, Hoyer said, only made him appreciate being back in Foxborough even more during the second stage of the team’s dynasty.

“When you put all that work in, you dealt with that stress and then you won a Super Bowl, that was more fun than any other Wednesday practice, Thursday practice,” he said. “… You realize it was worth it in the end.”

It was that constant striving for excellence and comfort with adverse situations that led Brady to be his best in big moments, his ex-backup explained. The most incredible example, Hoyer recalled, was Super Bowl LII, in which the Patriots lost to the Philadelphia Eagles but Brady set the record for most passing yards in the championship game.

“I’ll never forget his calmness, how locked in he was,” Hoyer said. “Remember that movie ‘For Love of the Game’ with Kevin Costner where he’s says, ‘Clear the mechanism?’ Tom would come over after each drive. Josh [McDaniels] would be going over the pictures. And Tom wouldn’t even really say anything. He would just nod his head.

“… I just remember sitting there witnessing. Usually, we had a conversation on the sidelines, and I was like, ‘There’s nothing to be said.’ He’s so dialed in.”

Not everyone could live up to that kind of intensity. But then again, maybe that’s why Brady won seven Super Bowls and Mayfield hasn’t won any.