Getty Tom Brady celebrates his catch at the end of the Buccaneers-Eagles Wild Card game on Sunday.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady made up for his epic dropped catch against the Philadelphia Eagles after all.
Brady caught the ball from the sideline on an incomplete pass at the end of the Bucs’ 31-15 win over the Eagles on Sunday, January 16. He dropped a pass against the Eagles four years prior in Super Bowl LII. Now that he caught a pass, he won’t let the Eagles — or anyone else — hear the end of it.
“Look at the smile when I caught it,” Brady wrote on Instagram. “I love you Philly fans.”
The moment has since gone viral on Twitter, which included another of his Instagram comments.
“Finally a catch against the Eagles,” Brady wrote.
Tom Brady got his redemption on the Eagles after picking off Jalen Hurts on the final play 😂
(🎥 @NFL)
Brady actually has caught passes that counted in his career before. He made a catch in 2001, 2015, and 2018 — two of which that went for first downs. He had three career catches for 65 yards.
Brady: ‘I Caught the One That Didn’t Matter’
Brady recapped his memory of just missing the grab in Super Bowl LII in his documentary “Man in the Arena”. Brady and the New England Patriots lost that game 41-33.
“I’m running out to catch it, and man I’m in space,” Brady said in the film. “Danny [Amendola] literally throws a perfect ball. I look up for the ball and I see it, and I reach out, and just as I reach out to catch it, I don’t come down with it.”
“Out of all the moments for me to make a play to help us win, that was the one that in that game I really look back on,” Brady added.
So when Brady made the catch on Sunday, January 16, Brady knew something was missing.
“I caught the one that didn’t matter,” Brady told host Jim Gray on their podcast “Let’s Go!” on Monday. “I finally caught a pass against the Eagles. Redemption. I don’t even want to talk about it anymore. It’s about time.”
“I can catch it, and you know what I did once I got it, I actually threw it [into the stands],” Brady added. “I didn’t even know what to do with it.”
Safety Next for Brady?
Brady joked about catching the ball again someday but on defense next time with an Instagram story that highlighted the defense’s unique end zone celebration.
“Playing safety next year, so I can come to the end zone to row the imaginary boat,” Brady wrote.
The Bucs defense made two interceptions against the Eagles with linebacker Shaquil Barrett and safety Mike Edwards getting the takeaways. Rowing the boat in the end zone has been a tradition for a while with the Bucs.
It goes back at least as far back as 2018 when the Bucs did it during a win over the Cleveland Browns.
“We was just having fun,” Bucs linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul said in 2018. “I don’t know who started it, but I just saw one of the DBs sit down and start rowing the boat and I just joined in.”
#Bucs DE Jason Pierre-Paul on the defense’s row the boat celebration
It’s possible second-year safety Antoine Winfield Jr. could have reinforced the tradition. He came from a college program in Minnesota that had “Row the Boat” as its mantra since 2017.
Regardless of how it started or continued, Brady and the Bucs look to keep the playoff voyage going on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.