1. Leadership and responding to adversity. The Patriots have had a lot of success for so long, you ask yourself the question "What type of experiences can the young players go back to that brings them back to a time they dug out of a streak like this?" Right now, a lot of the young players on the team don't know what it's like to deal with a losing streak or losing three out of four. How do you get yourself out of that? What attitude do you have to have? In the Patriots' case, some of the young players might shake off a loss, thinking it's going to turn around because that's what has happened in the past. That's where the leaders on this team have to find ways to get their message across to players who might be from a different generation. If an older player sees a younger player who needs guidance, sometimes you can go up to that player and talk to him as a professional and say "This is a problem. This is what we need to work on. This is why we're not succeeding." But sometimes that can go in one ear and out another. So as a leader, you look for different ways to get the message across and one of those is going through the media. I think that's what Tom Brady was attempting to do after the game when he essentially said 'Sometimes we fight back, sometimes we don't.' He was trying to send a message to his team. Tom does talk to the team in the locker room and says what needs to be said. But he might have been thinking that some of the words aren't getting through to the team and that's why he said something publicly. That's a strong message to send from a strong leader.
