WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrated their Super Bowl LV win with President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday.
Tampa Bay’s visit marked the first visit from a Super Bowl championship team to Pennsylvania Avenue in four years. Brady’s former team, the New England Patriots, made the trip in 2017 but Brady didn’t attend. He was, however, in attendance with his new team on Tuesday to celebrate the historic win.
“[They] stormed through the playoffs – winning on the road in Washington, New Orleans and Green Bay and capping it all off back home in Tampa to become the first team to win the Super Bowl on their home turf,” President Biden said.
He called the Bucs a “testament to the fact that it’s never too late to come together and achieve extraordinary things.” The president also pointed out some of the similar stats he shares with Bucs head coach Bruce Arians and quarterback Brady.
“A lot has been made about the fact that we have the oldest coach ever to win a Super Bowl and the oldest quarterback to win the Super Bowl. Well, I’ll tell you right now, you won’t hear any jokes about that from me,” Biden said. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with being the oldest guy to make it to the mountaintop.”
Brady, who has now won seven Super Bowl championships under four different presidents, also joked about their similarities.
“Not a lot of people think that we could have won,” Brady said. “In fact, I think about 40 percent of the people still don’t think we won. Do you understand that, Mr. President?”
President Biden joked back, “I understand that!”
Brady also joked that people called him “Sleepy Tom” after he forgot what down it was during a game against the Chicago Bears, asking “why would they do that to me?”
All joking aside, President Biden and the Buccaneers stressed how the team’s accomplishment came during no ordinary season.
“We had to beat the virus first, and you sacrificed more than any other team I’ve been around,” Coach Arians told his players.
“You created memories that helped folks make it through and believe that we could get back to normal again,” Biden added.
At the end of the celebration, the Buccaneers presented Biden with his own No. 46 jersey. In exchange, Biden gave the players a piece of advice ahead of their first practice, scheduled for Wednesday.
“Y’all who don’t have a [COVID] shot, man – get one, OK?” he said. “Get one, get one, get one.”
