FOXBORO, Mass. — Regarding Tom Brady, I’ll have what he’s having. I’ll take the cacao-goji bars, and the coconut oil, and whatever other witchery he performs to keep his NFL-battered 40-year-old body going. But there’s really no potion that allows for what Brady and the New England Patriots are doing. There is no swallowable substance that gets you to seven straight conference championship games. The only thing that explains that is the grind.
The “TB12 method” pioneered by Brady gets jeered, perhaps deservedly at times, for its unorthodoxy and woo-wooness. But it stems from the same basic impulse that drives all of the Patriots: the seeking of an edge, the small difference-maker when there isn’t much of one to be found in the postseason.