They say that Tom Brady does not watch as much film as Peyton Manning. Maybe that’s because Brady has some secret weapons in his corner doing that sort of work for him.
SI’s Michael Rosenberg has a cool story this week about a former Michigan Wolverines student assistant on the football team who still keeps in touch with Brady and emails him scouting reports. Oh, and this man — Jay Flannelly — works as a dishwasher at two Ann Arbor restaurants when he’s not analyzing the All-22 football film.
Rosenberg shares how the emails from Flannelly to Brady generally look:
And so now Flannelly, a native New Englander, watches video of the Patriots’ upcoming opponent—the All-22 version, or coach’s cut—every week. Then he sends Brady a scouting report. The dish-washer tells the four-time Super Bowl champion which cornerback is vulnerable to double-moves, what kind of blitzes the coordinator prefers, or how a team’s defensive front is usually aligned. He advises Brady that the defense’s “concepts are pretty consistent” and that a hobbling defensive player “is not right and can be handled.”
Would Brady actually take advice from a guy who washes dishes for a living? It’s unclear how much stock Brady puts into the emails, but Flannelly believes Brady would get mad if the former student assistant didn’t send the reports.
Perhaps Brady is just being a good friend to Flannelly by having him send the reports, thereby making Flannelly feel important. Or maybe Brady does look at them and get some valuable information. Or maybe having Flannelly help is just part of Brady’s superstition.
Whatever the case, what Brady has been doing all these years is definitely working, so no need to change his system. And we’ve also heard of football people taking advice from much weirder sources, so in the grand scheme of things, this is really nothing.
Helmet smack to Black Sports Online
