Tom Brady and Bill O'Brien Describing Their Face-to-Face, F-Bomb Filled Screaming Match is Making the Rounds on the Internet and I Can't Get Enough of It

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

The internet has this weird habit of presenting a viral video, then having it resurface all over the place again and again later on like an echo. This one is an example. We first saw it with the release of Tom Brady's Man in the Arena docuseries. It came back on most of the major Patriots-related social media sites when Bill O'Brien was rehired as the Pats offensive coordinator. And now that stone is skipping once again as we approach Brady's triumphant return to Gillette. It's the two describing their legendary screaming match in 2011:

I simply cannot get enough of this. Two Alphas locking horns, fighting for supremacy of the herd. Neither of them the least bit apologetic. Actually looking back at their "Fuck"-laced tirades in the heat of battle and realizing how much fun it was. Laughing about it like a couple of kids who came to blows when things got heated at the pickup basketball game, but that doesn't mean they stopped being friends. 

What makes it even funnier is remembering the reaction from the public and media. This was treated like a crisis event. Depending on who was doing the talking, it was either proof Brady had become a diva and was demanding special treatment, or proof the coaching methods of Bill Belichick's staff were too abusive for the modern player and the game had passed him by. Either argument was given as the reason the team hadn't won a Super Bowl in seven years. And probably never would again. 

When the reality is, this was just two dudes rocking. Guys who genuinely like and admire each other. Loved working together. And who accomplished great things with their collaboration. They're just perfectionists, for whom nothing is good enough. Everything can be done better. And so they're going to butt heads a lot. Like in every documentary you've seen about every great band that's ever existed. And if you're one of those people who watched this beef when it happened and couldn't understand how the Brady-O'Brien relationship could survive it, it's possible you've never been in an actual relationship. For sure, you've never been on a football sidelines. 

The kicker to all this is that the interception came with the Patriots up 34-27. Brady had been tearing Washington to shreds. O'Brien was frustrated because with 6:30 left in the game, even a field goal there probably seals the deal. But neither guy was satisfied with Brady's 22-for-37, 357 yard, 3 TDs, 1 INT, 107.6 passer rating day. The R-words bones still had flesh on them and needed to be picked clean. Hence, the intense vitriol that they're laughing about now. Better still, that 2011 team was a wagon. With the third highest scoring offense in the league. And which came within a Rob Gronkowski ankle injury and another Super Bowl miracle catch by the Giants away from winning their fourth title. 

Just keep this video in mind when O'Brien and Mac Jones inevitably break out the lightsabers and start dueling on the sidelines in a few weeks and everyone makes a huge hairy deal about it. Brady used to call O'Brien "Teapot" for a reason. And he's going to boil over again and again this season.

Yes, sometimes the animosity is real (think Jones and Matt Patricia last year), but most of the time it's just how the process of building great, lasting things together works. And I for one can't wait to see it. It'll make great content for Mac Jones future docuseries about all his Super Bowl seasons.