Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Tom Brady is a Super Bowl champion.
Sunday night’s game against the Chiefs marked Brady’s 10th appearance in the Super Bowl, and in those nine prior trips to the Super Bowl, Brady’s postgame sportsmanship has fallen under increasing scrutiny.
It comes down to this: Brady has always made the effort to be available for the postgame handshake after wins. But in his three previous Super Bowl losses, Brady never met at midfield with the quarterback who beat him.
Well, the same can’t be said for Mahomes because after Kansas City’s 31-9 loss to the Buccaneers, Mahomes was among the first players on the field to congratulate Brady on his seventh Super Bowl win. The two met on the field and we could hear as Brady told Mahomes to “keep in touch.”
GOAT vs Baby GOAT. Nada além de respeito. #GoBucs #SuperBowl #NFLBrasil pic.twitter.com/UjLvxB7KBT
— NFL Brasil (@NFLBrasil) February 8, 2021
It was all class from Mahomes, which, in his first Super Bowl loss, showed how he handled the defeat differently than Brady had.
Up until Super Bowl LV, there was an undeniable pattern with Brady’s post-Super Bowl handshakes.
Following the Eagles’ win over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII, Brady notably snubbed Nick Foles of a postgame handshake. Though Brady did meet with some Eagles players behind the scenes after the game, Brady’s tendency to avoid greetings with Foles had Foles himself curious years later.
Nick Foles on the handshake snubbing from Tom Brady: “You know it’s happened a few times. Someday Tom and I will have a great conversation about it and probably laugh about it. It is what it is. I think he’s a tremendous player.”
— StaceyDales (@StaceyDales) October 22, 2020
Going back to the Super Bowl XLII loss to the Giants, Brady and the Patriots were already heading down the tunnel when the game ended. He didn’t meet with Giants quarterback Eli Manning for any on-field handshake.
At Super Bowl XLVI, the Giants again beat the Patriots, and Brady immediately left the field when his third-down Hail Mary fell incomplete. To be fair to Brady here, though, it would have been tough for the Patriots quarterback to find Manning among the photographers.
Yet, Brady has made himself available to shake hands with the opposing quarterback on the field after his own Super Bowl wins.
Super Bowl LI
Super Bowl XLIX
Super Bowl XXXIX
There were a few times that Brady didn’t shake hands with the losing quarterback.
Super Bowl XXXVIII
Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme remained on the sideline before leaving the field for the locker room. He didn’t greet Brady on the field.
Super Bowl XXXVI
Kurt Warner remained out on the field to congratulate Patriots players, but there were no videos or photos available of him congratulating Brady on the field.
But as far as sportsmanship goes, you have to respect how Mahomes handled the disappointing defeat with class.
