Getty New England Patriots QB Tom Brady against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The relationship between Philadelphia Eagles fans and Tom Brady is a complicated one. It’s a love-hate thing, mostly born out of mutual respect disguised as loathing. So it was funny to see the viral reactions sparked by the news of Brady’s impending retirement.
Brady will hang up his cleats after 22 extraordinary seasons, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Twitter was abuzz with the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the Philly faithful were quick to point out two very important pieces of information: first, the last team Brady beat was the Eagles: 31-15 in the 2021 wild-card playoffs; and two, the Eagles were the last team to defeat Brady in a Super Bowl: 41-33 in Super Bowl LII.
Tom Brady’s 22-year career:
* 7X Super Bowl champion
* 5X Super Bowl MVP
* 3X NFL MVP
* 15X Pro Bowl
* 6X All Pro
* NFL’s all time passing TD leader (624)
* NFL’s all passing yard leader (85,520)
* Most career wins: 243
🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐
Eagles fans will miss Brady in a bizarre sort of way. He retires with a 6-2 all-time record (including playoffs) versus Philadelphia and a perfect 4-0 mark at Lincoln Financial Field. The banter between the two sides never got old
“Yeah, they do a good job. They love their team,” Brady said of Eagles fans back in October. “I played there quite a few times over the years and it’s a great football stadium.”
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Eagles Twitter Remembers The GOAT
Brady threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns the last time he faced the Eagles. He walked off the field all smiles, especially after catching a “makeup pass” on the sideline. He also trolled Philadelphia hardcore following the Buccaneers’ win by mocking their Super Bowl anthem. Naturally, Eagles fans reacted hilariously to Brady’s retirement news on Twitter:
Happy retirement to Tom Brady, most famous for losing to the Eagles in Super Bowl 52
Tom Brady really said “Let me just beat the Eagles one more time before I go”. I regrettably have to respect it.
Tom Brady’s final win of his career was against the #Eagles.
The Eagles could’ve been the team that sent Tom Brady into retirement… How incredible would that have been.
The Philadelphia Eagles will always be the last team to beat Tom Brady in the Super Bowl
The most accomplished player in NFL history retires. Thanks to Tom Brady for countless special football memories.
Some much, much better than others 😏
#Eagles
Brady retiring is good news for the #Eagles
Brady is gone. Rodgers is likely gone. There simply are not many (if any) elite teams in NFC — nowhere near the QB talent that is in the AFC.
NFC is wide open for Eagles
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni called Brady “one of the greatest players of all-time” prior to the two teams meeting on January 16.
“We know that some of the players have changed throughout Tampa, but we know that No. 12 is still going to be standing back there,” Sirianni said, “and what a good challenge for us, to go against one of the guys that is considered one of the greatest players of all-time.”
Brandon Graham Strip-Sacks Brady
Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham has himself making a strip-sack on Brady as the main image on his Twitter profile. That highlight-reel play secured Super Bowl LII for the Eagles in 2018 while turning Graham into a folk hero in Philly. Graham shared that whenever he’s having a bad day, he’ll watch it.
“We knew that Tom Brady was going to try to take us out of the game,” Graham said in 2018, via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “We knew we were going to have an opportunity in there where he was going to have to hold the ball. We just kept working, kept working, not getting frustrated, we had to keep talking to each other. ‘Hey, we’re going to make a play, we’re going to win this thing.’”
Brandon Graham’s farewell to Tom Brady 😂
#Eagles
Graham sent a special message to Brady upon hearing of his possible retirement and the “friendly trash-talker” mentioned their Michigan roots. It’s all love between two of the fiercest competitors in the NFL.