Kyle Van Noy had a smile on his face as he watched Tom Brady and Tyrann Mathieu fight verbally during the Super Bowl LV.
Van Noy, who played three and a half seasons with Brady in New England before joining the Miami Dolphins last season, said he loved seeing the 43-year-old quarterback speak ill of Mathieu as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to a 31-9 win about the Kansas City chiefs.
“I think that’s how (Brady) spends most of his time,” said Van Noy on Friday during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “… I think everyone has the same boring jokes like, ‘You’re old, you need to retire’, blah, blah, blah. I’m sure Tyrann probably said a few things to piss him off. It all started at the beginning of the game, you could say.
“I think the big point was when Tyrann took the choice and there was a flag and Tyrann didn’t know that there was a flag. I think he was talking a lot of money with Tom, and that took him because (Brady) scored for him and let him know. Me knowing what Tom is like, he did it in practice all the time, and I loved it. “
Van Noy has been the subject of small talk from Brady before.
“I’m going to tell you a quick story,” the linebacker told McAfee. “It was 2018. There were OTAs and (the tight end Rob Gronkowski), there were reports that he was traded. He came back, he and Tom in OTAs, and they gave us that thing, and they were letting everyone know about it. They were talking great nonsense to us, and we couldn’t answer (bad words) because it was like, you are hitting our ass and warning us.
“So I know how Tyrann felt. You have a little advantage over Tom. You want him to know. But he ended up laughing last, as he always does. “
Brady threw three touchdowns without interceptions against the Chiefs and posted his highest passer rating (125.8) in a Super Bowl, earning Super Bowl MVP honors for the fifth time in his career.
Van Noy said that QB’s battles with Mathieu evoked memories of the notoriously competitive Michael Jordan.
“It gives me the chills to think about it,” said Van Noy, “because it reminds me of Michael Jordan in his documentary, where he has the baseball bat and the cigar before the game and he says, ‘You can say a lot about a guy when they they can speak (expletive) when it is 0-0 or they are down. Any man can speak (expletive) when he is in front. ‘Ooh, I love it (expletive). “
It is still unclear exactly what Brady told Mathieu during his two post-whistle discussions, but he would have texted the All-Pro security guard after the game to apologize.
Miniature photo via Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports Images