It’s safe to say Tom Brady’s most iconic pass completion of the 2020 NFL season came after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV.
We’re talking, of course, about Brady throwing the Lombardi Trophy from one boat to another during the Buccaneers’ championship boat parade through Tampa in February 2021.
Bucs tight end Cameron Brate was on the receiving end of the impromptu toss, successfully corralling the hardware and preventing it from falling into the water. Brady’s daughter, Vivian, even screamed, “Dad, no!” as the legendary quarterback released the trophy, though it doesn’t sound like he was too concerned about the potential repercussions.
In fact, Brady later revealed he didn’t give the trophy toss much thought in the moment.
Well, The Athletic’s Greg Auman shared some untold stories from the championship parade in a piece published Tuesday. And Stephen Lynch, the Buccaneers’ director of production, recalled standing next to Brady as the QB threw the trophy to a nearby boat carrying a collection of pass-catchers, including Brate.
“If there’s anybody that you’re going to expect to understand the ergonomics of a Super Bowl trophy and the weight distribution and everything, of course it’s going to be the guy who’s held it the most,” Lynch said, according to Auman. “After the fact, our boat is chuckling and I look at him, and I’m like, ‘You’re a madman, bro,’ and he’s like, ‘Ah, not really. Two things happen. Either Cam catches it, or you’ve got 10 drunk guys diving to the bottom of the river trying to get a trophy.’ “
Fortunately, Brady and the Bucs avoided disaster, thanks in large to Brate’s surehandedness. We’ve already seen Rob Gronkowski dent a Super Bowl trophy while with the New England Patriots, so perhaps it’s for the best that Gronk wasn’t targeted on this particular Brady pass.
Then again, even if the trophy plummeted into the water, it’s hard to imagine the rescue effort being too extensive. The trophy actually might’ve floated, and as Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, pointed out to Lynch, there would have been plenty of willing divers available to recover football’s ultimate prize.
