Tom Brady received a lot of backlash from New England Patriots fans when he completely omitted his former team from his formal retirement announcement. It seems like the star quarterback is trying to make up for that.
Brady released a farewell video on Thursday that featured mostly Patriots highlights. That makes sense considering he played 20 of his 22 seasons in New England and won six of his seven Super Bowls with the team. It’s noteworthy that the clip included a portion of an interview Brady gave following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ win over the Patriots earlier this season. He spoke at the time about how fond he is of New England and said he will be “part of this community for a long time.”
Here’s the video:
I played for the name on the front of my jersey and the name on the back of my jersey. I played for my friends, my family & our community – every single one of you – that have given me what I have today.
I love you all. Thank you ALL for making this incredible journey possible pic.twitter.com/3jmNWid9ZB
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) February 3, 2022
Everything Brady does is calculated. That’s why it was almost certainly intentional that he didn’t mention the Patriots once in his nearly 1,000-word Instagram post on Tuesday. He may have just wanted to keep the spotlight on the Bucs since they signed him two years ago when Bill Belichick didn’t try hard enough to keep him.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft was reportedly irate that Brady did not mention his former team when announcing his retirement. Brady later acknowledged the Pats in response to them praising his accomplishments. He also had a big compliment for Belichick after Belichick released a statement.
It certainly seems like Brady wanted to send some sort of message by leaving the Patriots out of his initial announcement. The message was received.
Photo: Aug 28, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) jogs off the field after a game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
