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While he had plenty of success during his 20 years under center, Tom Brady isn’t the most popular guy around the NFL. In New England, the quarterback established himself as a hero; in the rest of the country, however, he came to represent an unpassable roadblock en route to the Lombardi Trophy. Although plenty of fanbases eventually grew sick of Brady, the Indianapolis Colts were burned by the quarterback more often than most.

Things have changed over the years—Brady finally left New England while Peyton Manning joined the Denver Broncos before calling it a career—but the rivalry still seems to be going strong. After a recent practice, the new Buccaneers quarterback couldn’t resist throwing some shade at the Indianapolis Colts.

Tom Brady’s legendary NFL career

If you aren’t a New England Patriots fan, you probably aren’t too fond of Tom Brady. No one, however, can argue with the quarterback’s resume.

While it seems like an eternity ago, Brady arrived in New England as a sixth-round pick in the 2000 NFL draft. He didn’t look like much—Drew Bledsoe thought he’d never be more than a backup—but, as we all know, that wasn’t to be. After Bledsoe went down injured, Brady took over as the Patriots starter; from there, the rest is history.

Before leaving New England earlier this year, Brady started 283 regular-season games for the Patriots. He won 219 of those, throwing for almost 75,000 yards and completing 541 touchdown passes; he also won six Super Bowls and claimed three MVP awards along the way.

Doing battle with the Indianapolis Colts

If you believe that Tom Brady was the best quarterback of the 2000s, Peyton Manning probably clocks in at number two. That status, combined with the success of both the Colts and the Patriots, made the men natural rivals.

During his time in the NFL, Manning developed into the prototypical quarterback. He was never the most athletic on the field, but he possessed an incredible mind for the game and a one-of-a-kind football brain. There was only one problem: playing in the AFC meant facing off against modern football’s top dog.

Unfortunately for the Colts, Brady proved to be an inescapable obstacle, as seemingly every season included a meeting with the Patriots. During the quarterback’s time in New England, he faced off against Indianapolis 20 times; according to Footballdb, New England won 15 of those meetings.

Tom Brady still can’t resist trolling the Indianapolis Colts

Since the height of the Patriots-Colts rivalry, things have changed a bit. The former club is entering their first season without Tom Brady; the latter lost Peyton Manning, then Andrew Luck, and aren’t the dominant force they once were. Some things, however, remain the same.

During a recent Buccaneers practice, the team piped in crowd noise in order to prepare for the upcoming campaign; even if fans aren’t allowed in stadiums, teams may be allowed to create some artificial atmosphere. When asked about the soundtrack, Brady couldn’t resist taking a shot at the Colts.

“I thought it was one of the Colts’ old tapes when they used to pump all that sound into the RCA Dome,” Brady said, according to a CBS Sports write-up “I was telling coach Clyde that he must have pulled that out of his basement for today’s practice. We had a great time with it.” For context, quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen used to work for Indianapolis, and the club was accused of piping additional crowd noise into the RCA Dome.

Barring an unlikely meeting in the Super Bowl, Tom Brady won’t face the Indianapolis Colts this season. That reality, however, didn’t stop him from throwing some shade at his old rivals.

Stats courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference

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Senior Writer, Programmer

Joe Kozlowski

Joe Kozlowski began his career as a sports journalist in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2019. He covers the NBA and soccer for Sportscasting, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he’s a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie.

Growing up loving Shaquille O’Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history — likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center — he’s continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives.

As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He’s barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe’s big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level.

Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope — both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.