Tom Brady spoke compassionately about Antonio Brown on Sunday after the wide receiver removed his pads, shirt and gloves, flinging the latter two into the stands, before finding his own way to the airport.
Brady’s words, suggesting that people should “do what they can to help [Brown] in the ways he really needs it,” pressed the pause button on what was initially a cascade of media schadenfreude, resulting from weeks of criticism over the Buccaneers’ having Brown on the roster in the first place. The team signed Brown in 2020 while he was facing a civil case for sexual assault (which was later settled out of court after Brown helped the team win a Super Bowl).