If Tom Brady had suspiciously scrambled up the middle during Super Bowl LV, you probably wouldn't be hearing this story.
Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen appeared on the "Pat McAfee Show" on Monday after Tampa Bay beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV and shared an incredible story from the team's final positional meetings.
"Brady ... goes, 'Hey, I got an idea. There's a half-yard over/under for me rushing for a half a yard in the Super Bowl,' " Christensen relayed. " 'Here's what I'm saying: We all put in $1 million and the first time they're in two three-techniques, I'm going to gain 6. And we're going to sit on that thing the rest of the way, and we're going to fund our offseason.'
"We were all laughing, and I go, 'You can't --' he goes, 'I promise you if we have a million on it, I will not get sacked. We will not lose the money.' We did not do it, FYI, for the record for the IRS and NFL. It was just a joke. He was funny because he knew, someone told him, 'Hey, there's an over/under for you rushing for a half a yard in the Super Bowl.' The quarterbacks all talked about it, 'Hey, we might all throw some money in there and see if we can pay for a nice vacation or something.' "
Brady finished Super Bowl LV with four carries for a loss of 2 yards. He hopped on a fumble and kneeled three times.
After Spygate and Deflategate, the last thing Brady needed was Propgate. Between the money Brady and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, have earned in their respective careers, Brady probably didn't need the extra couple million dollars, anyway. He could probably fund a pretty nice vacation for Christensen and backup QBs Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Griffin and Drew Stanton after the Bucs' Super Bowl win.