Why doesn’t Ryan Fitzpatrick like Tom Brady and what did he have to say about him?

The former Dolphins QB had some choice words for the man they call the GOAT. Apparently, not everyone is a fan of Buccaneers signal caller and indeed, he made that clear.

What’s the background to Ryan Fitzpatrick’s beef with Tom Brady?

If there is one thing that was made clear by former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, it’s that he and Tom Brady aren’t exactly the best of friends. Speaking during a recent appearance, Fitzpatrick unloaded when the topic of the seven-time Super Bowl winner came up. Indeed, what was specifically mentioned, was Brady’s comments from June 2021 when he referred to an unnamed quarterback as a “mother---ker.” Brady’s statement was in response to his free agency and the idea that one team had opted to maintain their QB rather than acquire Brady. “I was thinking, you’re sticking with that mother---ker. Are you serious?” Said Brady at the time.

While many believed that Brady was speaking about Derek Carr, that notion seems to be lost on Fitzpatrick who is seemingly convinced that TB12 was speaking about him. “It had to be me,” Fitzpatrick said. Is there any merit to his belief? Possibly. Fans will likely recall that Brady and the Dolphins did in fact have contact and what’s more, is that Dolphins coach Brian Flores made it clear that he didn’t want Brady. To that end the franchise eventually went with Fitzpatrick and Tua Tagovailoa who arrived just a month after Brady agreed to terms with the Bucs.

What did Ryan Fitzpatrick have to say about Tom Brady?

So convinced was Fitzpatrick about the bad blood between himself and Brady, that even when told that Brady respects him, he pushed back immediately. “No. Zero respect,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’d never shake my hand.” Following that declaration, Fitzpatrick went on to explain why he does not like the Bucs man in the middle.

“Man, I’ve told this story before, but he just pisses me off,” Fitzpatrick said Brady. “[I’m] in Buffalo...playing New England, they’re kicking our ass every single year, they’re beating us. We finally, in 2011, knocked them off. It was right at the beginning of the season. We had this great start and he threw five interceptions in the game, which was just wonderful to see every single one of them. Just wonderful to see.” Fitzpatrick then explained, that following what turned out to be 34-31 win for Buffalo that night, Brady didn’t arrive for the postgame handshake and simply ran “straight off” the field. “Like, no handshake, no quarterback middle of the field, ‘Where are the cameras? OK, hey, stay healthy buddy.’ Pat me on the head and let me go. Just ran straight off,” Fitzpatrick said. “It just bothered me so much because there was no respect there. Every time I played him after that, I was like ‘All right, let’s make this dude respect me.’”

Ryan Fitpatrick finally got a handshake from Tom Brady

Though it’s clear the pair won’t be having beers together anytime soon, it would appear that Fitzpatrick’s feud with Brady was cooled somewhat back in 2019 when he finally got a handshake from Brady. What would have made it sweeter would surely have been the context of it as well. Needing a win to secure a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the playoffs, the Bucs’ charge was brought to a surprising end by a Fitzpatrick led Dolphins who won 27-24. It was Fitzpatrick’s last game against Brady.

“The last one was especially sweet because it was the ‘Tank For Tua’ year,” Fitzpatrick said. “It was start out 0-7, ‘Is this the worst football team of all time?’ They beat us [43-0] at the beginning of the season. They needed to beat us to get home-field advantage and it was his last regular-season game as a Patriot, and we go and we score at the end of the game and beat them.” Following the game, Fitzpatrick noted that there was indeed a handshake between the two. “I probably initiated it,” he said.