HOUSTON — After Tom Brady was handed his Super Bowl LI MVP trophy from Roger Goodell and answered questions from the media for 15 minutes, the New England Patriots quarterback took his shiny, silver football and went home.
The thought of sitting next to the NFL commissioner who handed him a four-game suspension and listening to Bill Belichick talk to the media for 15 minutes, while appealing, wasn’t in Brady’s sleep-deprived plans for the morning after he engineered the most insane comeback in NFL history.
The handoff went off between QB and commish without a hitch. Goodell briefly led Brady by the arm to move him to the left of the stage and closer to photographers, they shook hands and smiled, and the commissioner went to sit down while Brady spoke. When Brady was done, he grabbed his trophy, tucked it under his arm high and tight and said, “I’m taking this home.”
It did seem a bit odd while Goodell was introducing Brady, he referred to him as “maybe one of the greatest players of all time,” and Super Bowl LI as “maybe one of the greatest games of all time.” Uhh, ya think? (No duh.)
Brady was asked during the news conference, in a two-part question, whether the moment would help fix the relationship between he and the commissioner. Brady skipped that portion, instead answering questions about his missing Super Bowl jersey, which he has yet to recover.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gave a very revealing quote when asked about his quarterback, however. Belichick was asked if Brady doesn’t receive enough credit for his accuracy since his heart and grit are mentioned so frequently. Unprompted, Belichick seemingly responded to pundits who suggested Brady was extra motivated this season by Goodell, Deflategate and his four-game suspension.
“With all do respect, I think it’s really inappropriate to suggest that in Tom’s career, he’s been anything other than a great teammate, a great worker and has given us every single ounce of effort, blood, sweat and tears that he has in him,” Belichick said. “To insinuate that this year was somehow different, that this year he competed harder or did anything to a higher degree than he every has in the past, I think is insulting to the tremendous effort and leadership and competitiveness that he’s shown in his 17 years that I’ve coached him. It’s been like that every year, every day, every week, every practice. I don’t care if it’s in May, August or January, Tom Brady gives us his best every time he steps onto the field.”
And with that, the Patriots are flying back to New England without any other responsibilities in Houston. They’ll land at approximately 4:15 p.m. ET and head back to Foxboro for a warm welcome after beating the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in the greatest Super Bowl of all time.
Thumbnail photo via Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports Images
