Ray Lewis gets emotional when discussing Tom Brady’s relationship with his father

Published Feb. 1, 2017 6:22 p.m. ET

Brett Pollakoff

Tom Brady fought back tears when answering questions about his father on Super Bowl Opening Night, a topic that came up because of remarks that Tom Brady Sr. made about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's handling of the Deflategate scandal in an interview last week.

“[Goodell] went on a witch hunt and went in way over his head, and had to lie his way out in numerous ways,” Brady Sr. said. “The reality is that Tommy never got suspended for deflating footballs. He got suspended because the court said that Roger Goodell could do anything he wanted to do to any player for any reason whatsoever.”

"The one thing in my entire career that I missed -- my entire life -- is that I've never walked off a field and felt my father hug me," Lewis said. "I've never had my daddy touch me. Right? To just say, 'Good job, son.' So when you think about Brady, the moment he had, he's sitting there saying, I have the ability to let my father -- the reason why I'm here -- touch me. That was a different passion for me. Many times when I was going through the playoffs, I would get emotional and I would cry. I would cry because I knew I wasn't walking in (the door) to a man. I was the man. So I was now hugging my kids. So to relate to what Brady was feeling the other day, I relate as a father. But I relate even more as a son, because I never had that."