In a moment of raw emotion and excitement, quarterback Tom Brady rushed to the stands after the Buccaneers’ NFC Championship win over the Packers — but it wasn’t for a signature Lambeau Leap.
The six-time Super Bowl champion and father-of-three wanted a hug from his son Jack, who was able to attend the frigid game in Green Bay.
“Can I say hi to my son?” asked Brady, who climbed the barrier to embrace his firstborn son.
Shortly after the touching moment went viral, Brady explained to Jim Gray of Westwood One Radio why that moment meant so much to him.
“Oh man, he’s such a trooper,” Brady said from the locker room after the game. “A good friend of mine, my friend Tom Wagner, was flying to the game and he said, ‘I wonder if Jack can come. We’ll be in and out the same day.’ And Jack was all in. He came and watched, sitting out in the freezing cold and was just so happy at the end. It just made — you can’t (ask for) any better for a dad than that.
“He’s a special kid. I love my family. Obviously, I love my team, and there’s just no greater feeling than to spend those moments with all of us together after a great win.”
Brady, 43, has one 13-year-old son, Jack, with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan, and two children — son Benjamin, 11, and daughter Vivian, 8 — with his wife, Gisele Bündchen. Brady and Bündchen have been married since 2009.
The three-time NFL MVP will advance to the Super Bowl for the tenth time in his 21-season career, and the first time as a member of the Buccaneers, whom he joined ahead of the 2020 NFL season. He started all 16 regular season games for Tampa Bay and completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 4,633 yards, 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Brady and the Buccaneers entered the NFC Championship Game as field goal-underdogs for the second week in a row. He completed 20 of 36 attempts for 280 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions and bested Aaron Rodgers and the Packers 31-26.
“It’s a great win for our team and I’m just so excited to win the game and to move on so it’s an incredible feeling,” Brady told Gray. “It feels incredible and obviously it’s a long journey to get to this point so it’s still pretty surreal. I don’t think it’s really set in quite yet. … On the road to beat Green Bay is a pretty amazing feeling.”
The Buccaneers will play the Chiefs in Super Bowl 2021 on Sunday, Feb. 7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, which will be the first time in NFL history a participating team will play the Super Bowl in their home stadium.