Troy Aikman: Tom Brady Vacationing In The Middle Of Training Camp Means “Nothing”

September 1st, 2022

ESPN’s Troy Aikman.

As Joe has written, it’s fascinating how Tom Brady taking an 11-day vacation and skipping the middle of training camp really has the football world turned upside down.

All the hardarses and old-school football types are pulling out what little hair they have left with a franchise quarterback hitting the Bahamas for 11 days. In August. That goes totally against every known football doctrine that training camp is supposed to be a test of wills against the elements, against your teammates and to build endurance and bonding.

Brady blew all that nonsense up for the world to see. He was sharp when he returned — just as he was before he left. Decades-old football beliefs were shattered.

Now three-time Super Bowl-winner and Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman is, himself, an old-school football guy and a red-arse. He hated playing for Barry Switzer because he thought Switzer wasn’t tough enough and disciplined enough with his Cowboys.

Aikman longed for the day he had Jimmy Johnson as coach. Johnson was such a hardarse that he threw a player off his team for having an asthma attack. Joe can only imagine what Johnson’s reaction would have been if Aikman asked him if he could blow off training camp for 11 days to hit the Bahamas.

But with Brady taking a tropical siesta in the middle of August? Aikman shrugged his shoulders.

Appearing on the “Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast,” co-hosted by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post and John Ourand of Sports Business Journal, Aikman was asked by Marchand what he thought of a quarterback like Brady walking away.

Aikman’s response was to the point.

“Nothing. You know, nothing.”

But Aikman, now working for ESPN, elaborated that it meant nothing in the big picture for both Brady and the Bucs because it was Tom freaking Brady.

“It doesn’t really matter,” Aikman said. “There is not a more team-oriented guy than Tom Brady. I mean there is just not. There is a reason why he has won the way that he has. He gets it. He knows what it takes to not only play at a high level, but also to create a culture within an organization on what it takes exactly to win.

“So, never would I question anything Tom Brady does as to how that may or may not detract from the goal of a football team. “

Aikman noted that Brady wants to win badly. And Brady knows what he and the Bucs need to do to be ready to play real games. And, if Brady felt he would be hurting his teammates, he never would have left camp.

Then, Aikman said modern training camps are a joke anyway.

“Let’s be honest,” Aikman said. “What do they do? We call it ‘training camp’ but they better come up with a different name for it because it is not training camp that I am familiar with.

“And I’m sure [the time off] was probably beneficial for [Brady] to get away.”

Aikman in previous podcasts has mentioned since he began calling Brady games with the Bucs, he began to get close to Brady. Aikman said he was shocked when Brady announced his retirement earlier this year because he said he didn’t think Brady was “committed” to hanging it up. So when Brady returned 40 days later, Aikman unfazed.

Aikman will call the Bucs hosingt the slimy Saints on Monday Night Football Dec. 5.

12 Responses to “Troy Aikman: Tom Brady Vacationing In The Middle Of Training Camp Means “Nothing””

  1. TBChucky Says:

    One more year in Tampa Tom!!

  2. SufferingSince76 Says:

    And that from a very qualified football guy. Sometimes these football shows are no better than TMZ.

  3. Beeej Says:

    Outside of Andrew Luck and Barry Sanders, people just never quit until nature makes them, and nature hasn’t had that talk with Tom yet

  4. BucsfanFred Says:

    Ali marpet

  5. D Says:

    John Elway probably had a few more solid years, especially with that supporting cast.

  6. mark2001 Says:

    Fred… you think the 240 lb. version of Marpet can play OG?

    Troy is right. As Ira’s old friend Britain’s Lord Chancellor Thurlow said in 1815, it is a tempest in a teapot.

  7. tampabayallday Says:

    Three more years in Tampa TB!

  8. Goatfarmer Says:

    Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are the cause a lot of early day drinking. It’s the only way they can be listened to. They’re so overrated.

  9. CrackWise Says:

    I think it should be a requirement that every player 45 or over gets a team paid mandatory “Mini” Vacation after minicamp.

  10. AbucAway Says:

    These little vacations will start popping up as contract incentives for certain vets. What’s the time frame? 10 yrs?

  11. Bucs Win Says:

    I hate the Cowboys but Aikman is tremendous at his job, he gives very insightful commentary then lets the game play out. Romo sucks, he never shuts up and he sounds like he’s trying to make it big at an open mike night at a comedy club.

  12. August 1976 Buc Says:

    lol the 11 day version of Anti- Tom, is the exact opposite of everything we have seen about Tom since he came to the Bucs.

    So whatever reason it was, I do not know.

    But again, we all know it is the opposite of the way Brady has been since he signed a contract in 2020 with the Bucs

    Bring on week 1 in Little D

    GO BUCS!!!!