Tom Brady defends Colts' Jim Irsay over Jeff Saturday hire

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady defended Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay over his hiring of interim head coach Jeff Saturday. 

"Well, it was obviously unprecedented and to go from his role, what he was working on in media, to that in the middle of the season is something very unique," Brady said of Saturday during the latest edition of his "Let’s Go!" SiriusXM show with broadcaster Jim Gray, as shared by Ryan Gaydos of Fox News. "And, obviously, Jim Irsay had a great relationship with him. He felt like Jeff can come in and do some things that they hadn't been doing. And, you know, I think the owners always have at their discretion the ability to do what they want with their team. 

"So it's a long season and Jeff got the team, you know, found a way to win and they're 1-0. And I think for all of us, not just for Jeff and the Colts, but for our team, the season is everything's ahead of us and time will tell on all of what happens. So we have a very small sample size. It always feels good to win. It sucks when you lose. The success of a season is determined by what happens over the length of the season. So there's still a lot more football to have happen."

Saturday was serving as an ESPN analyst when he was named as the replacement for the fired Frank Reich on Nov. 7. Well-respected football personalities such as Cleveland Browns all-time great Joe Thomas and former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher heavily criticized Irsay for hiring somebody who had no coaching experience at the pro or college levels, but Saturday temporarily quieted such noise when he led the Colts to a 25-20 win over the Las Vegas Raiders Sunday. 

While Saturday refused to take victory laps shortly after Sunday's result, Irsay dunked on doubters via social media: