Tom Brady Roast: Winners and losers from cathartic night for Patriots originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It turns out the best way to heal old wounds is to open them all up in front of a live primetime audience.
“The Roast of Tom Brady,” a live Netflix special in Los Angeles on Sunday night in which the former New England Patriots quarterback subjected himself to brutal insults from celebrities, comedians, ex-teammates and even his old boss. Bill Belichickhad the potential to get awkward quickly.
And while there was an awkward moment between Brady and comedian Jeff Ross, overall the event had a cathartic atmosphere, with Brady, Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft playfully taking in jokes about supposedly sensitive topics, including Brady’s divorce from Gisele Bundchen; Belichick’s divorce from his longtime girlfriend, Linda Holliday; whether Brady or Belichick deserves more credit for New England’s dynasty; and deflate.
A host of ex-Patriots players also joined in on the fun, with Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, Randy MossDrew Bledsoe and more taking turns roasting their former quarterback.
Since Brady turns everything into a competition, we’re splitting winners and losers from the three-hour chop-busting session.
Winner: Bill Belichick
The Bill Belichick Redemption Tour continues.
Expectations were low for the ex-Patriots coach, who is best known for his grunts and one-word answers at press conferences. But Belichick came to play and immediately dropped a one-liner by calling his performance in the Apple TV+ docuseries “The Dynasty.”
“I’m so honored to be here for the Roast of Tom Brady on Netflix. It is not to be confused with the Roast of Bill Belichick on the 10-part Apple TV series,” Belichick joked.
Belichick didn’t hold Brady back either, addressing their sometimes strained relationship by bringing up a reported sore point: Brady’s personal trainer, Alex Guerrero.
“People have said it: Tom and I clashed a lot,” Belichick said. “And in a way that was true. But it was hard to come up with Tom because he was so far up Alex Guerrero’s ass.”
Between Sunday’s roast and his appearance The Pat McAfee Show during the 2024 NFL Draft, Belichick is showing a much more likable side — which may make NFL fans forget that he failed to land a head coaching job this season.
Belichick largely kept his burns of former Patriots players off the field, with one notable exception: ex-Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola.
“Danny joined us in 2014 and got us 200 yards that year,” Belichick said. “And in 2016 he picked up another 250. Or to put it another way, what Randy (Moss) would call a decent first half.”
Amendola was fairly critical of Belichick in the Apple TV+ docuseries — “I could have had the kid from Foxborough High School tell you that you shouldn’t have let Tom Brady go,” Amendola said in one episode — so was Belichick. chance of a reply.
Amendola didn’t seem particularly amused by Belichick’s dig, so we’ll consider this a loss.
Winner: Rodney Harrison
Not only did Harrison avoid being roasted Sunday night, he even got a show of support from Belichick, who made another plea for the ex-Patriots safety to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“One of the best players I’ve ever coached,” Belichick said of Harrison. “He was a great, great football player. Great person. Great competitor. He’s not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and to me that might be the biggest joke of the night.”
Whether Harrison will ultimately get the nod is unclear — he was one of 28 semifinalists in 2023 — but there’s no doubt Belichick is in his corner.
Loser: Randy Moss
Moss is a dynamic character – he was excellent in “The Dynasty” – but his roast of Brady fell disappointingly flat. The Hall of Fame receiver mainly complained about not winning a ring during his three seasons in New England from 2007 to 2010 and made a passing reference to Deflategate, telling Brady, “Why the hell didn’t we cheat when I was there used to be? “
Moss’ performance was certainly not the worst of the evening, but expectations were higher here.
Winner: Nikki Glaser
Belichick and his former players had some pretty good stuff, but most of it paled in comparison Real comedians in the house – especially Nikki Glaser.
The comedian/actress/podcast host came out swinging on her set with some nasty comments about Brady’s divorce from Gisele Bundchen and rumors that Gisele is now dating her jiu-jitsu instructor.
“The only thing dumber than saying yes to this piece of meat is saying, ‘Hey honey, you should try jiu-jitsu,’” Glaser joked.
Glaser too made a number of jokes that we cannot repeat herebut she was undoubtedly one of the stars of the show.
Loser: Kim Kardashian
Why was Kardashian at Brady’s Roast, you ask? Apparently many attendees had the same question.
Kardashian was the only roaster which was loudly booed when she took the stage — to the point where host Kevin Hart had to tell the audience to stop — and didn’t really contribute much during her short set.
Winners: Patriots fans
The Patriots’ dynasty ended with a lot of drama and infighting. But on Sunday evening, key figures finally let down their guard.
Brady and Belichick both declared their mutual respect for each other after trading good-natured barbs. Belichick and Kraft took a photo together on stage (even though Belichick didn’t look particularly excited to be there). Brady addressed one of the several elephants in the room with a Deflategate joke.
Several topics that many Patriots fans thought would never be discussed publicly were aired by the dynasty’s key actors, who cut out the “middleman” and addressed some of their thornier issues head-on.
In a way, Sunday night felt like closure for New England fans, who can now focus on celebrating those six Super Bowls in 20 years instead of wondering how the dynasty fell apart.
