Photo: Christian Petersen
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady responded to two of his former opponents turned media personalities amid his uncharacteristic rushing performance during Sunday's 33-27 overtime win against the Buffalo Bills.
During the game's live broadcast, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current CBS Sports color commentator Tony Romo referred to Brady as "slow."
Peyton Manning, who was Brady's biggest rival during his own Hall of Fame NFL career, was recently named as a "Ratings Adjuster" for EA Sports 'Madden NFL 22' as part of the video game's advertising campaign, which showed Manning adjust Brady's 'Madden' rating from 99 to 44 overall.
Brady addressed both former quarterbacks in a video shared on his verified social media accounts, which he captioned, "Tony and Peyton hating from the booth! Come on guys...@EAMaddenNFL."
Brady said he was rewatching the broadcast of the game in the video, which then cuts to Romo's critique of him being "slow."
The video cuts back to Brady who, with a confused look on his face, questioned whether Romo was watching before the video then cuts to clips of him running for first downs to Disturbed's Down with the Sickness.
Brady, who is featured on the 'Madden 22' cover alongside Patrick Mahomes, then said, "Hey, EA, tell Peyton to jack my speed rating back up," as a graphic shows a 93 edited over his 71 speed rating.
The 44-year-old quarterback recorded an uncharacteristic 16 rushing yards on seven rushing attempts, which included a late second-quarter touchdown run.
Brady even managed to lower his shoulder and bounce off of a would-be tackle to extend the football past the first down marker on 3rd and 2 during the first quarter, a play that kept Tampa Bay's offensive drive alive, but apparently, his head coach, Bruce Arians, wasn't too fond of.
"That's enough of that s***," Arians reportedly told Brady after the play, according to Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud.
That didn't stop Brady from once again running the football on a second and goal touchdown to give the Buccaneers a 24-7 lead (after an ensuing PAT) with just over a minute left before halftime.
Brady did also have a passing performance that was much more characteristic of his legendary 22-year NFL career.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion connected with Breshad Perriman for his 700th career touchdown pass, which served as the game-winner in sudden death overtime with just over five minutes remaining.
Earlier in the game, Brady completed a long pass to Mike Evans in the second quarter to record his 7,143 career completion, breaking the NFL completion record previously held by Drew Brees.
Brady now stands alone as the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards (82,975), touchdowns (615) and completions, having broken the all-time passing yards record previously held by Brees during his return to Gillette Stadium in the Bucs' 19-17 win against the New England Patriots -- the team Brady played for during his first 20 NFL seasons -- in October.
Brady finished Sunday's game with 363 yards and two touchdowns on 31 of 46 passing.
Buffalo faced a 17-3 at halftime but forced overtime after outscoring the Buccaneers 24-3 in the second half.
Tampa Bay currently ranks second in the NFC standings, 0.5 games behind the Arizona Cardinals -- who will face the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night -- for first place in the conference.
The Buccaneers have won nine consecutive games at Raymond James Stadium, which dates back to Week 14 of the 2020 NFL season and includes their 31-9 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.
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