Leave It to Tom Brady to Stuff Towels Down His Centers' Pants to Stop Sweat
Tom Brady is known to be extremely competitive when it comes to his game, and it's helped lead him to six Super Bowl rings. So it is certainly not a surprise that getting to G.O.A.T. status requires some sacrifices along the way from him and his teammates, including actually stuffing towels down his centers pants to sweat.
Yes, Brady goes to the extreme measure of personally tossing towels, sometimes of the bath variety, down his teammates' uniforms to avoid receiving slippery balls from his centers that would impact his throwing.
While the idea of Brady doing such practice first surfaced to the press last year when former Patriot Rob Ninkovich talked about his old teammate Bryan Stark's sweat problem, The Atheltic's Nick Underhill talked to former centers who described their experience with Brady. And the quarterback admitted to doing it—even once stuffing a bath towel down Dan Connolly pants in Miami because hand towels weren't working well enough.
"He literally stood behind me, took his hand, and stuck the towel down my pants," Connolly said. "I walked around that game, feeling like I was carrying a loaded diaper the entire time. It was the most uncomfortable thing, but he was so crazy about not getting his hands wet that he would stuff s--- down our pants."
According to Underhill, Brady, who has been with the Patriots since 2000, first tried the method with center Dan Koppen, and it's been used ever since.
David Andrews, who is on injured reserve this year, said he actually tried to train his body not to sweat, which surprise surprise, didn't work. So towel method it was.
"It was something that was very different for me at first, especially when he grabs you as a rookie in training camp and throws a towel down your butt," Andrews said. "Pulling your shorts back, dumping baby powder down your butt. But that’s part of it, and obviously, if it affects how he operates, you want to be as good as you can about it."
The Patriots head to Miami to face the Dolphins on Sunday. With temperatures forecasted for the high 80s, New England better have plenty of towels stacked and ready to go.
