Tom Brady finally made it.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback had never scored a first quarter touchdown in a Super Bowl until Sunday night’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium.
Brady found the Buccaneers’ tight end, Rob Gronkowski, in an 8-yard touchdown pass with 37 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Brady and Gronkowski played together in four Super Bowls – Gronk lost the Super Bowl LI due to injury – in nine seasons as teammates in the New England Patriots from 2010 to 2018. Brady’s Patriots teams never scored a touchdown in the first quarter in nine trips to the Super Bowl.
Several of Brady and Gronkowski’s former Patriots teammates had an animated reaction on Twitter to the touchdown. Here is a summary of those tweets:
Another Boston sports legend, former Red Sox star David Ortiz, was also thrilled by Gronkowski’s touchdown.
UPDATE (Sunday, February 7 at 7:55 pm Eastern Time): Gronkowski picked up another Brady tank destroyer in the second quarter, and the Patriots players again took to Twitter to react.
A Brady win would give him seven Super Bowl titles in 10 appearances – more than any player or team in NFL history.