Patriots, Robert Kraft take high road in thanking Tom Brady despite slight

Whatever happened in the New England Patriots‘ locker room, front office, and by the fire in Robert Kraft’s mansion back in 2020 clearly affected Tom Brady a lot.

So much so that, despite promises made to be “up (in New England) quite a bit” following his retirement, he took extra care not to mention the team, region, fans, coaches or ownership during his eight-slide retirement Instagram post launched on Tuesday morning.

Perhaps Brady has something special planned at the finale of “Man in the Arena,” ostensibly a love letter to his Patriots career.

But whatever’s yet to come will not change the fact that the fans who rooted for him for two decades (and beyond!), as well as the ownership group that supported him every step of the way got sideswiped in the official, initial farewell.

The Patriots, too classy for petty social media squabbles, launched their congratulatory Duck Boat post regardless, depicting a cartoon Brady riding off into the sunset with his Lombardi Trophies in tow — yes, all seven of them.

Patriots, Robert Kraft thank Tom Brady after he threw shade at them.

See, if the Patriots were petty, too, they could’ve smudged out the Bucs trophy. They did not handle their emotions that way.

Kudos to Robert Kraft, as well, who released a full statement on the legendary quarterback who forever changed his life, opening with the line, “Words cannot describe the feelings I have for Tom Brady.”

Kraft then proceeded to use many words to hopefully give us a clearer idea of the relationship.

There will be more tell-alls, exposés and literary journals dedicated to the theoretical erosion of Brady’s relationship with the region.

There will be endless ink spilled — probably from Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington — to figure out what exactly led to Brady’s bizarre omission.

There will certainly be questions lobbed Brady’s way! After all, he hosts a podcast with Jim Gray, and is very much going to be in the public eye during Super Bowl week.

And no, “he already thanked them two years ago” is not a valid excuse. Just look at the photo he chose to accompany his goodbye message, which is absolutely not a coincidence.

No, Brady is simply the most ruthless winner of all time, and winning an additional Super Bowl in Tampa apparently wasn’t enough for him to be declared the official “winner of the breakup” with the Patriots organization.

The fans deserved better, though, and they’ll hopefully be on their best behavior whenever Brady’s number is raised to the rafters at Patriot Place.

6 worst Patriots playoff losses under Bill Belichick

Bill Belichick has had his fair share of fantastic wins in the postseason. But even the most accomplished head coach of all-time has a few painful losses.