Bruschi: Seize opportunities for greatness

Former Patriot Tedy Bruschi, a fan favorite who became the first player ever to return to the NFL field after suffering a stroke, delivered a hopeful message of teamwork, perseverance and seizing opportunities for greatness during the MMA Annual Meeting on Jan. 22.
 
Bruschi said the Patriots won three Super Bowls over four years during his playing days “because of a conscious decision [by the team] to want to be the best ever.”
 
“Those are the decisions you must make when you’re faced with those opportunities,” he said. “You have to want it.”
 
After their first Super Bowl victory, following the 2001 season, he said the Patriots became “complacent,” moving away from their commitment to teamwork and unselfish play. They learned the hard way that winning again would not be easy.
 
“Once you’ve reached the top … you’ve climbed that mountain and you’ve fallen off, to get back up again, that’s very difficult to do,” he said.
 
The next season, the team worked hard to refocus, with the result being two straight Super Bowl titles.
 
“When you’re on the cusp of greatness,” he said, “You go for it. You go for it.”
 
Bruschi also spoke of his “personal adversity,” the stroke he suffered less than two weeks after his first Pro Bowl appearance, in early 2005 at age 31. He said the diagnosis “was probably the most shocking statement I’d ever heard in my life.” Initially, he felt certain that his playing days were over.
 
At first, Bruschi had to learn how to walk again, but eventually his commitment to rehabilitation paid off and he was ready to return to playing. But his wife was not. He said she came up with the “three second rule.”
 
“If you’re on the ground for more than three seconds,” she told him, “I’m going down on that field and I’m going to get you.”
 
Bruschi went on to make 366 tackles after his stroke.
 
“That’s a special stat for me,” he said.
 
When Bruschi retired last August after spending his entire career with the Patriots, coach Bill Belichick called him “the perfect player.”
 
“I made sure during my 13 years of playing that every day I gave it everything I had,” Bruschi said.
 
It’s a philosophy he urged his audience to adopt for their own lives.
 
Bruschi has been named one of the top players in the New England Patriots’ 50-year history. During his career, the Patriots had 11 winning records, nine playoff seasons, eight division championships, five AFC titles, and three Super Bowl titles.
 
Bruschi established Tedy’s Team to help battle stroke, the leading cause of disability in the United States. In 2007, Bruschi published “Never Give Up: My Stroke, My Recovery, and My Return to the NFL,” written with Michael Holley.
 
He is now an NFL analyst with ESPN and hosts online “chats” on ESPNBoston.com.
 
Bruschi and his wife, Heidi, live in North Attleborough with their three sons.