One of the most overused phrases when dissecting the New England Patriots’ near 20-year dynasty is the “Patriot Way.” Those two words seemingly contained the special sauce for why the Patriots’ recipe for success was better than everyone else’s.
But as it turns out, those words were just a phrase created by outsiders to better explain the inner-workings of the greatest dynasty in NFL history. When appearing on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Former legendary Patriots quarterback Tom Brady admitted he’s never used the term “Patriot Way” in his entire life.
“I’ve never used that term in my entire life. I think when people say it, I’m always like what’s the Patriot Way? It sounds like the title of a book,” said Brady. “I think what we tried to do was we tried to do things the right way. I think we tried to practice the right way and prepare the right way.
“What happened on game day was ultimately a reflection of what we practiced, and I thought we had great leadership from our coaches and it filtered down to the guys that really drove the culture. We had so many guys that I played with over the course of a lot of years that that really understood, like, ‘Okay, I’m going to care about my teammates, and I’m going to care about helping the team win.'”
Things obviously weren’t perfect in the Patriots’ organization, but they overcame obstacles and remained competitive for nearly two decades with Brady and coach Bill Belichick as a tandem.
That led them to six Super Bowl victories and a seat on the mountaintop as all-time greats in their respective positions.
The truth is there was never a secret sauce beyond the typical hard work, comradery amongst teammates and the ability to get the job done in the biggest moments. That’s what truly set the Patriots apart from their competition.
