FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 5th, 2018

TOM BRADY & ROBERT KRAFT SPOKE WITH PETER KING FOR “FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA” EXCLUSIVELY ON NBCSPORTS.COM

 “This is the Rolling Stones and the Beatles meeting. Mick Jagger and John Lennon. It’s not gonna happen again, ever. It’s happening this week, and it’s kind of fun.” – Veteran Patriot on Brady-Rodgers

“There are two people I know accomplishing far more than people their age would normally accomplish. Rupert Murdoch … And there’s Tommy.” – Kraft

“Football Morning in America” Runs Every Monday Exclusively on NBCSports.com

STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 5, 2018 – Peter King’s Week 9 edition of “Football Morning in America,” available now exclusively on NBCSports.com, is highlighted by interviews with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and owner Robert Kraft following the Patriots’ 31-17 victory over the Green Bay Packers on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

This week’s edition also includes an interview with Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, a requiem for the late sports writer Paul Zimmerman, this week’s “What I Learned” with Paul’s wife Linda Zimmerman, awards, quotes, travel notes, and more.

The following are highlights from this week’s edition of “Football Morning in America”:

KRAFT & BRADY

  • Brady on players being selfless: “A lot of guys have watched us play for a long time. I think they know they’re going to an organization that it’s really just about winning, about being selfless. If you gotta play running back, like CP [Patterson], you play running back. If you gotta block because you’re a receiver, you block. You gotta run a clearing route, you clear.”
  • Brady on playing until he’s 45 years old: “I’d like to go till I’m 45. I know I said that hundred times, and no one believes me. But I mean, I feel good. I could go play another game tomorrow. I know what to do. It’s fun. What else would you rather do than run out in front of 70,000 people and throw a football?”
  • A veteran Patriot to King following Sunday’s game: “We’re not the type of team that buys into hype. And so we didn’t really take the Aaron Rodgers versus Tom Brady thing too seriously. But as the week went on, and the game began to grow, I have to admit we felt it. We started to realize: This is the Rolling Stones and the Beatles meeting. Mick Jagger and John Lennon. It’s not gonna happen again, ever. It’s happening this week, and it’s kind of fun.”
  • Kraft on what’s different about this year: “There are two people I know accomplishing far more than people their age would normally accomplish. [News Corp. CEO] Rupert Murdoch — he’s a guy going on 88, and he’s still making brilliant business deals. I know guys 10 years younger than me who are just hanging on till retirement. And there’s Tommy, who’s still playing great football at 41, and he’s going to keep going. Forty-one, and three Super Bowls in the last four years, and he’s still going. What these two men have accomplished, it’s just sick. They defy the normal rules of business, the normal rules of life.”

CORA

  • Cora on Belichick: “The way you see him in silence. He’s thinking. He’s calm, very calm. That’s what people say about me. Don’t show emotion, don’t get too high, don’t get too low. Biggest moments of the game, be the same.”
  • Cora on the advice he sought from Belichick: “I told him, ‘We have to catch up because you know a lot about this back to back stuff. You have to fill me in how we keep the team focused and how can we do this.’”

 “WHAT I LEARNED” WITH LINDA ZIMMERMAN

  • Linda Zimmerman on her late husband: “The biggest thing I learned with Paul over the years: loyalty. Like my daughter would say, ‘With Paul, you were either in or you were out.’ Before Paul had his strokes, he’d go into the same place to get his newspapers every day, and the owner there knew Paul as this blunt pain in the ass. Once, we ran into the guy and his wife at a restaurant, and I’m sure the guy is thinking, ‘Oh my God, what is he going to say to my wife?’ And Paul grabbed her hand, kissed it and said some really nice things. He was loyal to the newspaper guy, who was there every day for him.”

Read the rest of the column here.

A new “Football Morning in America” will post every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com. It was announced in May that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on NBCSN’s and NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.

–NBC SPORTS–