TAMPA, Fla. — Immediately after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV Sunday, Bucs quarterback Tom Brady texted an apology to Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu for several on-field verbal altercations, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Brady apologized to Mathieu for losing his composure in the moment of the game, of which Mathieu said, “I’ve never really seen that side of him.”
During the game, Brady and Mathieu sparred multiple times. At one point, Brady even chased him down and got into his face.
Brady told Mathieu he’d watched him since his days at LSU, considered him a “class act” and a “great leader,” the source said. Brady said he wished he could have apologized in person, according to the source.
The source added that Brady said his outbursts in an emotional moment were in no way a reflection on his feeling towards Mathieu, whom he spoke highly of throughout the week leading up to the game.
Mathieu explained his side of the altercation saying in a since-deleted tweet that Brady started the verbal spat when he called the Chiefs safety “something I won’t repeat.”
“He’s clearly chasing me but I got flagged,” Mathieu said in another deleted tweet.