FOXBORO, Mass. — The Gillette Stadium crowd was an orchestra, and Tom Brady was its conductor.
Facing a third down late in the first half of Sunday night’s AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots quarterback took off for a rather impressive 9-yard run to the Colts’ 4.
Brady’s Barry Sanders-esque jukes left New England just short of a first down, but the Patriots decided to go for it, which prompted a roar of approval from the Gillette Stadium faithful.
Brady was not amused.
Brady might have come off as a party pooper, but chances are he just was trying to settle down the crowd so his offense could communicate before its fourth-down attempt.
Brady’s attempts to control roughly 68,000 fans apparently worked, as his subsequent QB sneak was successful. The Patriots had to settle for a field goal to take a 10-point lead into halftime.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images