Less than a decade after Tom Brady moved on from the New England Patriots , the team was back in the Super Bowl. Led by quarterback Drake Maye and head coach Mike Vrabel, they went up against the Seattle Seahawks .
But before the game, the legendary quarterback, who won six championships with the organization, claimed that he wasn't rooting for either team in the game. Now, one member of the squad has revealed how Brady's comments affected him.
The game wasn't competitive by any stretch of the imagination. At one point, the Seahawks were leading 19-0 before the Patriots put up some points on the board.
As a result, even the 29-13 final score wasn't an accurate representation of how one-sided the game had been.
But even after two decades with the franchise, Brady wasn't among the ones affected by the loss.
Before the game, he had made it clear that he "didn't have a dog in the fight."
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Now, as the Patriots prepare for a rematch against Seattle to open the 2026 NFL season, Robert Spillane has confessed that the comments reached the Patriots' locker room as well.
Speaking to WEEI Sports , he revealed how he personally felt about Brady's stance.
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"It irritated me, and it made me feel sad for him," the former undrafted free agent confessed. "Spending 20 years here. Obviously, went on to do amazing, great things. Not only on the football field, but in the community."
As a result, he was stunned by the response: "And to say that he had no care in the world? It irritated me. It made me feel sad for him. But at the end of the day, that was just my personal opinion. Everyone else has their own opinions in the locker room."
Starting his career with the Tennessee Titans , Spillane continued to expand his role with the Pittsburgh Steelers . But after two spectacular years with the Las Vegas Raiders , he joined the Patriots on a three-year contract worth $33 million in 2025.
Immediately becoming a vital piece of the defense, he ranked 35th on PFN's LB Impact Metric , the highest mark among all Patriots players at his position last season.
This year, as the Patriots try to repeat their success from last season and potentially take it a step further, he'll have a huge role to play for the team.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
