Afterward, Belichick would go back and run the film on those same plays and would find that everything Brady had said was borne out by film. It was as if there were a camera secreted away in his brain. In the 2001 training camp Brady would come off the field after an offensive series, and Belichick would question him about each play, and it was quite remarkable: Brady would be able to tell his coach what every receiver was doing on each play, what the defensive backs were doing, and explain why he had chose to throw where he had.
Or as one of the assistants said, it was like having Belichick himself out there if only Belichick had a great arm. What Brady might have, they began to suspect, was that marvelous ability that sets the truly great athletes apart from the very good ones. The NFL was filled with coaches with weak arms themselves, who could see things quickly on the field but who were doomed to work with quarterbacks who had great arms, but whose ability to read the defense was less impressive. That was the rarest of abilities, the so-called Montana Factor: the eye perceiving, and then in the same instant, making the additional transfer from brain to the requisite muscles. There were some quarterbacks who were very smart, who knew the playbook cold, but who were not kinetic wonders, and could not make the instantaneous read. The ability to make those reads on the defense was a hard thing to measure, as football intelligence was always hard to measure. *About his ability to read what was happening on the field, that is, field intelligence, Belichick was pleased. Submit, lest our awesome NFL show you straight to the flaming gates of hell!" Surrender now and save yourself a world of hurt, for our mighty football players cannot be stopped, they are so huge, so strong, so fearsomely ripped that mere bombs and bullets bounce off their bones of steel. They are among the best-cared-for creatures in the history of the planet, beneficiaries of the best nutrition, the latest technologies, the finest medical care, they live at the very pinnacle of American innovation and abundance, which inspires an extraordinary thought - send them to fight the war! Send them just as they are this moment, well rested, suited up, psyched for brutal combat, send the entire NFL! Attack with all our bears and raiders, our ferocious redskins, our jets, eagles, falcons, chiefs, patriots, cowboys - how could a bunch of skinny hajjis in man-skirts and sandals stand a chance against these all-Americans? Resistance is futile, oh Arab foes. The players dutifully approach, and as they assemble here in the middle of the room Billy tries to imagine the vast systems that support these athletes.
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