Pats' pivotmen past and present explain what it's like to work with Tom Brady: 'It all starts with us'

FOXBOROUGH — It is a very exclusive club.

While there have been occasional one-off appearances by the likes of Teddy Karras, or extended gigs by Bryan Stork, Dan Connolly or Ryan Wendell, the trio of Damien Woody, Dan Koppen and David Andrews have handled the bulk of the center duties for the Patriots since Tom Brady arrived as a starter in 2001.

And no one has had a more unique — and vital — working relationship with New England’s legendary quarterback than these guys.

“It’s not flashy, but it’s the most essential relationship on the offensive side of the ball. That’s where it all starts,” said Woody. “People talk about Tom and Gronk and Edelman and the rest of his receivers. And those relationships are big time. No question.

“But it all starts with us. It’s not sexy, but it’s just as important, if not more so.”


Continuity at center has been big for the Patriots offense over the years: Woody and Mike Compton split the duties between 2001 and 2003, and Woody ended up playing 45 regular-season games with Brady. (He also lined up at guard as well.)

After an injury to Woody, Koppen took over in 2003, and remained the starter through 2010, finishing his New England career with 121 regular-season games with Brady.

The Patriots shuffled a variety of centers between 2011 and 2014, but Andrews took over as the starter in 2015, and the laconic Georgia native has been Brady’s guy ever since, playing 44 regular-season games in the middle in that stretch.

To talk to them now is to get a snapshot of Brady at different stages of his career:

Brady and Woody were contemporaries, as the center entered the league a year before his quarterback, and learned their way at the same time. With Koppen, Brady was a couple of years older, and the two shared what one longtime Patriots observer would call a “big brother/little brother” dynamic.

Now, with Andrews — who was 9 years old when Brady won his first Super Bowl — it’s again a different setup. After he was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Georgia in 2015, Andrews recalled the feeling he had when Brady recognized him and introduced himself.

“Even from the beginning, Tom did a great job of making me feel welcomed,” Andrews recalled. “He knew my name the first day I was able to meet him. I was blown away by that, as an undrafted rookie, that this guy took the time to learn my name.”

Things quickly progressed for Andrews and Brady to a point where he’s become absolutely vital to what the Patriots want to accomplish on offense.

“He has a natural position of leadership at center,” Bill Belichick said of Andrews, who has missed just two games in his NFL career. “That’s a high-communication position coordinating the offensive line calls or identifying the defense that our opponents are in – the front or who’s who, who’s a linebacker, who’s a defensive lineman, how do we want to treat certain players in different looks. He does a good job in all that communication.”

Regardless of the era, the feeling among all three is the same: nothing happens unless their exchange is executed perfectly. It's a theme hit on time and again by the quarterback. And that begins with a level of trust between the two that’s developed over time.

“When you get right down to it, it’s all about the snap. You’re pretty close from a physical standpoint, and from that perspective, you have to be comfortable with that,” recalled Koppen. “In my experience, it’s not the same with every quarterback and center — it doesn’t always come as quickly or as naturally as you might like. Some guys, it doesn’t happen at all. But things between Tom and myself were pretty comfortable right from the start.”

Woody said that when they were younger, he and Brady would hang out all the time, along with other teammates.

“We had great trust,” said Woody. “When I was there, we used to hang out a lot off the field. Trust is something that can be built over time, and when you do the little things off the field, that helps build the relationship between the two. Tom did all the little things, and so we had that trust early between the two of us.”

Koppen said that in the spring and summer practice sessions, all the centers would snap to all the quarterbacks because you never knew what might happen. It helps acclimate him to Brady early on in his career.

“Every center would get a chance to work with every quarterback because you never know if someone would get hurt or injured. They wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable,” Koppen said.

“I remember early on that I didn’t have any sorts of issues with Tom. It was comfortable, and we were comfortable with each other. We knew early on where I was going to deliver it, and once that’s down, the rest takes care of itself.”

That has continued today. Andrews took over early in his career, and the transition process was relatively seamless.

The former Georgia Bulldog said he didn’t play enough baseball to make a pitcher-catcher analogy, but when it comes to his current relationship with Brady, it’s the closest thing there is in sports.

“Everywhere, at any level of football, there's kind of a special relationship (between the center and quarterback) because it all starts with you two and it's kind of your job to relay information to your other guys from him,” said Andrews. “I’m relaying information back to him. The big thing is just us being on the same page. I think we've done a pretty good job of that here.”

While all three acknowledge there have been disagreements from time-to-time, all three say that any beefs were quickly squashed.

“There are always going to be discussions. Tom is a fiery guy, and I’m someone with opinions. That’s just part of the game when things aren’t going as well as you’d like,” said Koppen. “There are a few exchanges back and forth and we would have disagreements — maybe not with polite words — but whatever happens between the lines stays between the lines. When you come off the field, you forget about it and move on. I had a great relationship with Tom.”

“I know this sounds crazy, but when I was there, Tom was one of the most chilled-out, mellow dudes you would come across,” said Woody. “I mean, not in the moment. But after he’d leave the environment, he would become one of the most laid-back guys you’d ever come across. Any arguments we would have, they’d be resolved quickly. And they would usually make our relationship better.”

Woody and Koppen each won a pair of rings while with New England. (Woody and Koppen each took one home for the 2003 title, while Stork was the center on the 2014 team.) Andrews match them next Sunday and get his second if he and Brady can manage to stay on the same page when it comes to the Philly defensive front.

“We've worked together for a while now and it's been good,” Andrews said of Brady. “We've just got to keep (it) going.”