Bucs and Brady brutally trolled by former teammate after defeat

Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers were eliminated from the NFL postseason in the most dramatic circumstances imaginable late on Sunday when Matt Gay fired a last-second field goal through the posts for the LA Rams, securing a 30-27 win and sucking the air out of the Bucs' Raymond James Stadium in the process. 

This all came after Brady, the evergreen quarterback now in his 45th year on this planet, had appeared to author another of his legendary comebacks when he levelled the score late on to overcome a deficit of 27-3 early in the third quarter. 

It wasn't to be, though, and Gay's walk-off score secured the Rams a spot in the NFC Championship game for the first time since 2018 - but if the manner of the defeat was a tough one to take for Tampa Bay, perhaps not so for one of their former players.

Antonio Brown, the precociously talented wide receiver (and current free agent), was cast aside by head coach Bruce Arians earlier this month after a bizarre tantrum on the sideline in his team's game against the New York Jets when, apparently dissatisfied with his usage in the game, he opted to strip off his uniform and theatrically make his way back to the locker room.

Brown's histrionics came to much bemusement and reportedly may have cost him as much as $1 million in contract bonuses but it certainly seems that the controversial star has no regrets - nor any love lost to his former team after he appeared to revel in the Bucs' misery on social media. 

The image uploaded by Brown came just minutes after their playoff elimination and showed him holding up a (photoshopped) sign saying 'Bucs eliminated', all while making light of his recent storming off the pitch. 

And as you might have expected, it didn't go down so well.

"This why you’ll never play another down in the league," said one fan in response to Brown's goading.

"Hold up… dude literally tore of his jersey and ran off the field. That’s not a tantrum, that’s behaving like a damn child," said another.

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A third, meanwhile, offered a version of the image they said was more appropriate: Brown holding up a sign reading, "I'm unemployed."

Brown has consistently been one of the NFL's most controversial characters in recent seasons. 

He was formerly regarded by many as the best wide receiver in the National Football League during his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers but his latter career became bogged down by repeated scandals. 

In 2019 he threatened to retire from the sport after becoming upset at new health and safety protocols in relation to protective helmets, as well as being forced to miss time when he signed a big-money deal with the Oakland Raiders when he injured himself while receiving cryotherapy.

He was also the recipient of sexual assault allegations (which he denied) which led to the New England Patriots terminating his contract after just one game with the team.

It remains uncertain, unlikely even, that Brown, now aged 33, will ever get a new contract in the NFL but if he does, one wonders if his recent trend of making enemies wherever he goes will keep pace with his undoubted talent.