Tom Brady surprised many NFL fans when he revealed on Tuesday that he is not rooting for his former team, the New England Patriots, in the Super Bowl this Sunday at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion (including six with the Patriots) is not cheering for the Seattle Seahawks, either. He simply told host Jim Gray on the “Let’s Go!” podcast that he does not “have a dog in the fight.”
Patriots players, fans and media members like podcaster Bill Simmons took issue with Brady's comment about not rooting for emerging star quarterback Drake Maye and the rest of the 2025 team. It was hard to reckon with the idea that Brady did not want New England to win after spending 20 seasons in Foxborough and getting a statue outside Gillette Stadium.
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Amid the ongoing Super Bowl discourse, Brady took to Instagram to share a powerful message about the Patriots organization on Thursday with his 15.4 million followers.
Brady did not explicitly address his rooting interest for the Super Bowl, but the future Hall of Famer did call back to the pride he felt in leading a remarkable comeback to win the Lombardi Trophy alongside head coach Bill Belichick with New England in 2017.
"A day I will never forget," Brady wrote on his Instagram story. "Drive, determination and the will to win. ... Playing the game I love with the most amazing teammates and coaches that I loved even more."
At the top, he tagged the official accounts of the NFL and the Patriots, writing "LFG," which is short for "Let's [Expletive] Go." He did not mention any teammates or coaches by name.
Brady's message was in reference to their 34-28 overtime win against the Atlanta Falcons, which featured 31 unanswered points after Brady and the Patriots trailed 28-3 in the third quarter. It remains the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, led by Brady's 466 passing yards and two touchdowns.
Time will tell if Brady's statement was enough to quiet the concerns about the quarterback's loyalty raised by former teammates Vince Wilfork and Asante Samuel.
On the surface, Brady's post is easy to pass off because it was the nine-year anniversary of the fabled comeback. Either way, his public expression of love for the organization that he has such a complicated relationship with made for another interesting piece to the conversation around this year's Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl rematch.
The Super Bowl kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. Brady, who is the lead NFL game analyst for Fox Sports, will not call the game because it will be televised on NBC and streamed on Peacock.