Surprised that Tom Brady would willingly hurl the Lombardi Trophy between two moving boats? So was the guy who caught it.
Speaking Thursday in an interview with NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano, Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cameron Brate said he was not given a heads-up about Brady’s trophy toss during Thursday’s Super Bowl boat parade.
“I had no idea he was going to throw that,” Brate said. “If he pre-planned it, he didn’t tell me. I had no clue he was going to throw it. I thought he was kind of just fake tossing it over, and then all of a sudden, it was up in the air, and I knew I had to make a play. Big-time players make big-time plays. I was able to come through and not drop the trophy.”
Brate was riding on a boat that also carried fellow Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski — whom many initially believed had caught the trophy — and wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Scotty Miller.
“It all happened so fast,” Brate said on NFL Network. “I had had a couple adult beverages at that point, and I think that helped take some of the edge off. I wasn’t feeling too nervous or anything like that. I was really just locked in on the trophy. … I caught the football part of it, which was pretty nice. I guess that’s what I’m used to.”
Brate was asked how many “adult beverages” the visibly wobbly Brady consumed while the team was out on the water.
“I can’t speak for Tom,” he replied, “but it looked like, based on how he was walking into our little press conference there at the end, that he had had a couple.”
Brate, who first joined the Buccaneers in 2014, hadn’t even appeared in a playoff game until this season. The Harvard product called the entire Super Bowl celebration “amazing.”
“I don’t know how we could ever go back to doing a regular parade,” he said. “The boat parade adds a whole new element. … I think I said it probably 100 times (Wednesday), but I’m pretty sure it was the best day of my life.”
