Tom Brady expressed gratitude for his loved ones after the Buccaneers’ overtime win against the Cardinals, but there was one conspicuous omission.
When taking part in a post game interview with Melissa Stark on “Sunday Night Football,” the Tampa Bay quarterback gave his parents, siblings and children a Christmas Day shout-out. He did not mention ex-wife Gisele Bündchen roughly two months after their divorce.
“Say hi to my parents, my sisters, my kids, love you all, hope you had a good time. Merry Christmas to everyone, see you soon,” Brady said, according to the New York Post.
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Brady, 45, announced in October that he and Bündchen, 42, had called it quits after 13 years of marriage.
The former couple has two children together, son Benjamin, 13, and daughter Vivian, 10. Brady is also a dad to 15-year-old son Jack, whom he shares with ex Bridget Moynahan.
Leading up to Sunday’s game in Arizona, Brady spoke about what playing on Christmas would be like this year and his plans to celebrate after.
“It’ll be a new experience that I’ve never had before that I’m gonna learn how to deal with,” Brady said last week on his SiriusXM podcast, “Let’s Go!”
“And I think that’s what life’s about. So you just asked a question about what have you learned from this football season? I’m gonna learn how to deal with Christmas Eve in a hotel, and I’m gonna have to learn how to deal with Christmas and Christmas night and still go out there and be a professional, and then look forward to celebrating Christmas with my kids the day after. Which is, you know, just part of what football season has been for a long time.”
Though far from perfect against the Cardinals, Brady helped lead Tampa Bay to its seventh win of the season with a 19-16 victory over Arizona.
The Buccaneers can clinch the NFC South this weekend with a win over the Panthers (6-9), whom they’ll host Sunday.
But sealing the victory was far from pretty — as NFL commentator Cris Collinsworth can attest.
With the Buccaneers up 6-3 in the second quarter, Brady and Tampa Bay’s offence attempted to move the ball downfield on a 3rd-and-one in their own territory. Brady then threw an incomplete pass to wide receiver Russell Gage, with the inaccurate throw perplexing Collinsworth in the NBC booth.
“I got nothing,” Collinsworth said of the gimme throw. “I mean, this is a layup. This is like watching LeBron James miss a layup right here … I don’t know what I’m watching.”
Though it’s unclear if Brady and Gage had a miscommunication, the Buccaneers’ offence has struggled mightily this season, averaging 17.7 points per game compared to 30.1 last year. The miscues have also triggered fiery sideline rants from Tampa Bay’s quarterback, whose future with the team — let alone his time playing in the league — remains uncertain.
— This story originally appeared on nypost.com and has been republished with permission