A funny thing happens with two weeks of Super Bowl buildup.
Each storyline gets dissected every which way, and words often get twisted to the point where faux controversies develop in the media.
That appears to be the case here, with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe debating Tuesday on FS1's "Undisputed" whether Patrick Mahomes took a subtle shot at Tom Brady by calling the six-time Super Bowl champion "one of the greatest, if not the greatest, quarterback of all time."
Sure sounds like a compliment, no?
Well, Sharpe agrees, insisting Mahomes likely meant no harm with his comment.
But Bayless argued Mahomes' refusal to label Brady the undisputed GOAT very well could serve as motivation for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback. And Bayless therefore wonders whether the Kansas City Chiefs are playing with fire ahead of Super Bowl LV.
"I interpret all three of these instances as shots at Brady, because I believe he will interpret them as shots," Bayless said. "Maybe he's (Michael) Jordan-esque in that he oversees shots at him as personal. Because Jordan would fabricate a slight.
" ... To me, Tom Brady doesn't look like an assassin. He doesn't look like some badass quarterback who's gonna get even with you. He looks like the lame cliché dad down the street or next door. So he comes in a different package. But what I've learned over many years of closely observing Brady is you better be careful with what you say before games, because the littlest perceived slight will become massive in his mind by kickoff. And you just better be careful with this guy, because he can be a force of nature in games of this magnitude -- like a championship game or certainly a Super Bowl -- if he decides you have little to no respect for him."
More power to Brady if he somehow views Mahomes' apparent praise in a negative light and uses it to his advantage. Few athletes in the history of American sports have been as competitive as Brady, and it's worked out well for him throughout his illustrious NFL career.
Still, it seems like an instance of nitpicking and reading too much into the semantics of what Mahomes said, especially since there's really no other evidence to suggest the Chiefs QB has anything but the utmost respect for his 43-year-old counterpart.
It's hard to imagine Mahomes suddenly is playing mind games on the biggest stage, although Bayless evidently is buying into that theory.
"I really love Patrick Mahomes, all of his talent. I think he's a good kid. But he's becoming a cocky kid to me," Bayless said. "And I don't know why in several references that I've heard he has to say, 'He's one of the best, if not the best.' Because, come on. We know who the best is."
See, we told you the leadup to the Super Bowl can get weird.
