Falcons DE Dwight Freeney says he tries to hate Tom Brady but he can't
It seems almost effortless to hate on Tom Brady if you’re not a fan of the New England Patriots. That much success coupled with some controversy will breed a lot of blowback.
So you’d figure it would be even easier to dislike the four-time Super Bowl champ if you were facing him on football’s biggest stage. But for Atlanta Falcons defensive end Dwight Freeney, he can’t bring himself to hate Brady.
“The thing is, I try to hate the guy, but I can’t because he is a good guy,” Freeney said of Brady, via Pro Football Talk. “I know him personally off the field, too – he is a good dude. I guess it comes with the territory, just playing as long as I have been and as long as he has been.”
Freeney has every reason to hold a grudge against Brady given their history. Freeney spent his first 11 years in the league with the Colts and faced off numerous times against Brady and the Patriots as they battled for AFC supremacy.
But Freeney says the only feeling he has toward Brady and the Patriots is respect.
“We have had a rivalry in the Colts versus the Patriots for years – it was like they were in our division since we played them twice a year, because we played them once in the regular season and once in the postseason,” Freeney said. “We knocked them out, they knocked us out, so it is kind of those things where you know it is going to be a battle. You know it is going to be a war. At the end, you have so much respect for them because of the fact that they are such a great franchise and they can continually make it to this moment year in and year out, even when they have changes on the team. They go through adversity throughout the years. Tom is not playing the first four games and they are still here. It is a testament to what they do around there.”
