Tom Brady

Tom Brady appreciates his teammate having his back even if he doesn't agree with the ensuing punishment.

"The fact that Mike [Evans] would come out to defend me means everything in the world to me as a teammate," he said on his Let's Go! podcast with Jim Gray (h/t Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times) when discussing the scuffle during Sunday's game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints.

Jenna Laine of ESPN reported Monday that Evans was suspended one game for his altercation with Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore.

"I don't think it deserved any type of suspension; I think that's ridiculous," Brady said. "Hopefully we can move past it and get to a better place."

The brawl overshadowed Tampa Bay's 20-10 victory in the latest chapter of the NFC South rivalry.

It started when Brady and Lattimore appeared to exchange words, and Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette responded by shoving the cornerback. Lattimore shoved him back before Evans came running into the fray to shove the Saints playmaker.

Both Evans and Lattimore were ejected.

Laine shared the letter written to Evans by NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan explaining the punishment:

"After a play had ended, you were walking toward your sidelines. When you noticed your teammates engaged in a confrontation with Saints' players, you ran toward that area on the field and violently threw your body into and struck an unsuspecting opponent who was part of that confrontation. You knocked your opponent to the ground and a melee ensued involving players from both teams. Your aggressive conduct could have caused serious injury to your opponent and clearly does not reflect the high standards of sportsmanship expected of a professional."

Evans and Lattimore are far from best friends, as the wide receiver was also suspended in 2017 for shoving the cornerback. Lattimore was fined $10,500 for an altercation between the two during the 2020 campaign.

While Brady appreciated Evans having his back, the suspension is a costly one for Tampa Bay ahead of a potential playoff preview against the Green Bay Packers.

The Buccaneers were already without wide receivers Chris Godwin (hamstring) and Julio Jones (knee) in Sunday's win and will be quite short-handed at the position if they do not return. Evans could also appeal the suspension, which Laine reported he plans to do, so his status is not finalized as of Monday.

Tua Tagovailoa arm-strength concern trolls are awfully quiet on this Monday morning.

The Miami Dolphins quarterback threw for 469 yards and six touchdowns, spearheading a comeback from 21 points down in Sunday's 42-38 win over the Baltimore Ravens.

An NFL executive told Mike Sando of The Athletic that Tagovailoa looked like "a young Aaron Rodgers" out on the field.

That's high praise for a player who spent most of the offseason answering questions about the Dolphins' long-term commitment to him as a franchise quarterback. Miami won't have its first-round pick next April after what's been described as unprecedented levels of tampering with Tom Brady.

Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reported in April that there was a clandestine plan in place to have Brady retire, join the Dolphins front office and then unretire once the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a replacement lined up. All of this planning was done with Tagovailoa still on the roster and apparently being kept in the dark about the team trying to replace him.

After two weeks of the 2022 NFL season, Tagovailoa has thrown for seven touchdowns. Brady has thrown for two.

While there is no telling how Brady would have fared in this loaded Dolphins offense, it's hard to imagine him being better than Tagovailoa has been in leading Miami to a 2-0 start.

Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers improved to 2-0 with a 20-10 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, but not before the all-time great took out some of his frustration on a tablet.

Brady threw a tablet to the ground in the third quarter, marking the second successive year he has done so during a matchup with the Saints.

He addressed it in his post-victory video he posted on Twitter, saying, "Sorry for breaking that tablet, I think that's going to be another Twitter meme or something like that."

Frustration was the theme for much of the game, as Mike Evans and Marshon Lattimore were ejected for a shoving match during the fourth quarter. The two offenses each had three points heading into that fourth quarter as well, although the Buccaneers eventually pulled away.

Brady threw a touchdown pass to Breshad Perriman as Tampa Bay seized control, but Mike Edwards' pick-six was also critical. It was another strong showing for the Buccaneers defense, which was important since the offense was playing without left tackle Donovan Smith and wide receivers Chris Godwin and Julio Jones.

As a result, Tampa Bay ended a seven-game regular-season losing streak to New Orleans.

For the first time in his NFL career, Tom Brady appears to be taking advantage of his status as the greatest quarterback of all time and using some PTO.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Brady will receive a "veteran's day" off from Wednesday practice throughout the 2022 season. This continues a trend that began in training camp when Brady took 11 days off for a family vacation in the Bahamas.

Rapoport reported the vacation was a product of a promise Brady made to his family during his brief retirement during the offseason. The Bucs have granted the 23-year veteran some understandable leeway given his stature around the league, and coach Todd Bowles said other veterans will get practice days off as well.

"I think when you play in the league a certain amount of time and you prepare a certain way, it's not necessary to practice that guy all the time," Bowles told reporters Friday. "You're going to practice, but you're not going to practice all the time. You'll get a day off here and there because it is a long season."

The Bucs are already one of the most injury-riddled teams in the NFL. They saw several injuries befall their offensive line during training camp, and they will go into Week 2 without Chris Godwin and with Julio Jones, Mike Evans and Leonard Fournette all listed on the injury report.

Tampa showed few ill effects of Brady's preseason absence in last Sunday's 19-3 win over the Dallas Cowboys. While the offense was not great, the Bucs protected the ball well and allowed their defense to overwhelm a scuffling Dallas offense.

Sunday will arguably provide a greater test, with the Bucs visiting the division-rival New Orleans Saints. The Saints are coming off a thrilling comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and his wife, fashion model Gisele Bündchen, are reportedly going through a "difficult period."

Sources told CNN's Chloe Melas on Thursday the couple is "living separately" while dealing with "marital issues." They were married in February 2009.

Brady skipped 11 days of Bucs training camp in August to handle personal matters. He didn't shed much light on the situation upon his return.

"It's all personal," the future Hall of Famer told reporters. "You know everyone's got different situations they're dealing with. So, we all have really unique challenges to our life. I'm 45 years old, man. There's a lot of s--t going on. You've just got to try to figure out life the best you can. It's a continuous process."

Bündchen, 42, told Chantal Fernandez of Elle on Tuesday her husband's football future has been a persistent discussion in their lives.

"Obviously, I have my concerns—this is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present," the Brazilian said. "I have definitely had those conversations with him over and over again. But ultimately, I feel that everybody has to make a decision that works for [them]. He needs to follow his joy, too."

She added, "I have a huge list of things that I have to do, that I want to do."

Meanwhile, Brady opened his 23rd NFL season by helping lead the Buccaneers to a 19-3 win over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1. He completed 18 of his 27 throws for 212 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported Sunday it's likely the quarterback's final season, for real this time.

Brady addressed the speculation Monday on his Let's Go! podcast (via CNN), saying he's missed a lot of important events over the past two decades.

"And I think when you're 45, and you have a lot of other commitments and obligations which are very important to you—namely children that are growing up and things that," he said. "... I think there comes a point in your life where you say: 'You know what? I've had my fill and it's enough and time to go on, to move into other parts of life.'"

The seven-time Super Bowl champion stopped short of saying he's going to retire at season's end, though.

Brady and the Bucs are back in action Sunday when they visit the Caesars Superdome to take on the New Orleans Saints.

Tom Brady may not be the only legendary athlete who only steps away from the game only temporarily this year.

While much of the coverage of the 2022 U.S. Open—at least when it came to the women's singles draw—focused on how it was Serena Williams' final tournament of her illustrious career, she suggested she may follow in Brady's footsteps during an appearance on Good Morning America.

"I mean, you never know," she said when discussing a possible return to tennis (h/t ESPN). "I've just been saying that I think Tom Brady started a really cool trend."

Brady's future was one of the biggest storylines of the entire NFL during the past offseason as he retired and then unretired a mere six weeks later. He also stepped away from Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp for 11 days and agreed to a 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox to eventually contribute to the network's NFL coverage.

That's quite the retirement plan, although he is back under center for a 23rd season and led the Buccaneers to a Week 1 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the 2022 campaign is "expected" to be the all-time great's last year in the league.

As for Williams, she wrote in Vogue that she was "evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me" in August, adding "it's the hardest thing that I could ever imagine."

She notably didn't use the word "retirement," although the implication was fairly clear when there was a post-victory ceremony honoring her career and the impact she has made on so many after she defeated Danka Kovinić in the opening round of the U.S. Open.

Billie Jean King spoke, Oprah Winfrey narrated a video montage and the entire thing, along with a raucous crowd that packed the stadium every time she took the court, felt like a retirement celebration.

Yet Williams impressed in New York, not only defeating Kovinić but also handling second-seeded Anett Kontaveit in the second round and taking Ajla Tomljanovic the full three sets in the third despite playing just four matches since July 2021 ahead of the year's final major.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who has 73 career singles titles, looked like she could play at an elevated level even at 40 years old with a more consistent schedule.

While that may not happen at this point, her schedule may include some more tennis tournaments in the future.

Ryan Fitzpatrick believes he was that "motherf--ker" Tom Brady was talking about during a 2021 appearance on HBO's The Shop.

While discussing his 2020 free agency and how he eventually ended up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady said one team that expressed interest in him backed off in the end, which he couldn't believe.

Brady said: "One of the teams, they weren’t interested at the very end. I was thinking, ‘You’re sticking with that motherf--ker?'"

Fans came to the conclusion that Brady was referring to the Miami Dolphins and Fitzpatrick, who played for the team in 2019 and 2020. However, Brady never revealed who he was referring to.

Regardless, Fitzpatrick thinks he's "that motherf--ker," and he elaborated on his belief during an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, via Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post:

“I think I still am. I think I still am that guy. If you go back to that…before the 2019 season when the Dolphins are trying to assemble a roster that is going to help them get a better draft pick the next year, so it’s not like that was going to be an attractive situation for Tom anyway. So I’m not sure why he was so upset about it, but I still to this day believe that I am that mother[f--ker].”

When asked if he was offended by Brady's comments, Fitzpatrick replied:

"I tried to get my wife to make a few T-shirts so I could wear them around. We were just trying to figure out with all the kids around which letters to blank out."

Later, he said: "I like it. It’s a good nickname."

Gisele Bündchen did not object to her husband, Tom Brady, ending his brief retirement to return to the NFL for a 23rd season.

In an interview with Chantal Fernandez of Elle, Bündchen did note she has concerns about Brady continuing to play "a very violent sport" but ultimately he "needs to follow his joy" in life.

Appearing on The Late Late Show with James Corden in March 2021, weeks after leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a victory in Super Bowl LV, Brady said Bündchen asked him a question on the field moments after the game ended.

"What more do you have to prove?" Brady said she asked him (h/t Alek Raskin of the Daily Mail).

It doesn't seem at the time that Brady was interested in entertaining the subject.

"I was trying to figure out a way to change the subject really quick," the seven-time Super Bowl champion told Corden about his reaction. "I think I moved on to something else pretty quickly."

Bündchen has also joked in the past about not having much luck getting through to her husband about walking away from football.

"I think you should talk with him about that," she said in a December 2018 appearance on Ellen Degeneres' talk show when asked about Brady retiring (h/t Maura Hohman of People). "I haven’t been very successful. I want him to do whatever makes him happy, but maybe if you have a conversation with him—explain that you love the Saints."

There was a brief moment in time after the Bucs' 30-27 playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams in January when it seemed like Brady was done. He announced his retirement on Instagram on Feb. 1 only to reverse course on March 13.

Brady did have a mysterious 11-day hiatus from the Buccaneers during the preseason that prompted a lot of speculation.

"I'm 45 years old, man," Brady told reporters after an Aug. 27 preseason matchup with the Indianapolis Colts. "There's a lot of s--t going on, so you just have to try and figure out life the best you can. You know, it's a continuous process."

Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network reported Brady took a vacation with his family and the Bucs approved his absence.

There was no indication from Week 1 of the regular season that Brady's absence was a problem. He finished 18-of-27 for 212 yards with one touchdown in Tampa Bay's 19-3 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

Brady and Bündchen have been married since February 2009. The couple has two children together.