Just like the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles defenses, peer pressure has proven effective against Tom Brady in Super Bowl week.
The New England Patriots legend reversed course from his stated neutrality in Super Bowl LX, posting an encouraging message aimed at Patriots owner Robert Kraft urging him to win a seventh ring.
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“You know I got your back RKK [fist emoji] Get that 7th ring so we can match,” Brady posted on his Instagram story.
Brady unintentionally triggered a backlash from multiple former Patriots teammates on Monday, when he declared “I don’t have a dog in the fight, may the best team win” in the upcoming Super Bowl between the Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.
He explained it as caring more about the people involved than the actual teams:
“I think there’s always different chapters in your life. And you have different chapters and moments that you go through where you are affiliated with a certain team. Michigan, and then I was with the Patriots for 20 years. I was with Tampa for three amazing years. I’ve been in broadcasting, now I’m an owner of the Raiders. So, those memories that I have are forever ingrained in me and I’m indebted to all the people who worked so hard to help make our team successful.
“And now in a different phase of my life, I really root for people and the people I care about. The people who I know the work that goes in to what they are trying to accomplish. I really want to sit back as a fan and enjoy the game, enjoy the moment. And I always think, may the best team win. It’s not going to be who I’m cheering for or who I think is going to win, it’s going to be decided by the people out there on the field.”
As much as Brady tried to explain the nuances of his stance, it didn’t square with some of his most famous teammates.
Vince Wilfork called the comments “political bullcrap.” Asante Samuel Sr. called him Flaw Ass Brady, said he was “highly disappointed” in Brady for not rooting for his ex-teammate, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, and jokingly suggested Brady’s Gillette Stadium statue be replaced with one of himself. Rob Gronkowski made very clear he was rooting for the Patriots.
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As for current Patriots, linebacker Robert Spillane said the idea “makes me sick.”
So Brady mildly backtracked, though you could argue his message to Kraft very much falls in the category of rooting for people he cares about that he originally explained. It apparently remains to be seen if he will be forgiven.
A Patriots win on Sunday would give the franchise its record seventh Super Bowl title, and would even the score with Brady after his final title with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While he is more formally associated with the Las Vegas Raiders, owning a minority stake in the franchise, he had his statue unveiled in Foxboro last August.
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