Tom Brady combats slippery snaps with butt towels for his centers
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady reportedly stuffs bath towels down the back of his center’s pants to soak up sweat during games.
The New England Patriots owe their team success to a slew of different factors. Much of it can be attributed to exemplary quarterback play from Tom Brady, standout head coaching from Bill Belichick, savvy management by owner Robert Kraft, and consistent hard work and execution from a bevy of talented players, coaches, and staffers over the years in almost every aspect of the game.
And oh yeah – plenty of butt towels, too. Those have definitely played a major role in forming one of the greatest professional sports dynasties in American history.
It may sound like a joke, but according to Sports Illustrated’s Charlotte Carroll, the 42-year-old quarterback has habitually spent portions of his career “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.”
Again, this is not a joke, today is not April Fool’s Day, and you’re not misreading any of this text.
Carroll cites an article by The Athletic’s Nick Underhill that credits the origin of the practice to Brady nearly 20 years ago, way back when he was just a first and then a second-year player cutting his teeth in the NFL. Brady reportedly had the idea to try and help his center at the time, Dan Koppen, stay drier back there by utilizing the absorbency of hand towels jammed underneath his pants material.
It worked, and Brady’s been maintaining the practice ever since – with Bryan Stork, Dan Connolly, David Andrews, and assumedly with Ted Karras this season well.
“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 in the report. “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.”
Bleacher Report’s Don Banks did a whole expose of sorts on “swamp ass” in the NFL two years ago. It’s a hilarious yet informative read about a very common aspect of playing football at a high level (especially in the heat) that most fans probably have never thought about while watching the action from afar in the stadium or from at home on their couch.
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While many quarterbacks have just accepted the nasty nature of receiving a snap from underneath their center’s rears, it’s not a surprise to learn that Brady – with all his age, experience, and ingenuity – long ago came up with a creative workaround to help negate snap slipperiness in such situations.