The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and quarterback Tom Brady were huge winners in the recent ESPY Awards, bringing home three awards. The Buccaneers were named Best Team while the 43-year-old Brady took home the Best Athlete in Men’s Sports and Best NFL Player trophies, per Luke Easterling of USA Today. The Buccaneers won the award months after clinching their first Super Bowl trophy since 2002 with a masterful 31-9 triumph over the then defending champion Kansas City Chiefs at their own home field, Raymond James Stadium, per Bucs Nation.

Bucs first NFL team to win Best Team since 2014

The Buccaneers became the first NFL team to win the award since the Seattle Seahawks in 2014 after beating Stanford Women’s Basketball, Baylor Men’s Basketball, Alabama Football, Oklahoma Softball, the Seattle Storm and the Los Angeles Dodgers for the trophy. Several Buccaneers, led by tight end Rob Gronkowski, were on hand to receive the award. “First day of practice I was just looking around and I was like, ‘Damn, we got a s— load of talent, baby,” Gronkowski said during his speech. Gronkowski said head coach Bruce Arians always told his players that nobody can beat them if they stick together. Gronkowski’s assessment was correct since the Buccaneers were loaded on offense (wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown and running backs Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette) and defense (Shaq Barrett, Devin White, Lavonte David, Vita Vea, Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh).

Brady, on his Instagram story, shared a photo of his teammates accepting the award and accompanied it with the words “So many great teams in sports this year but I think the ESPY voters got this one right!

Such as special group, and we’re not done yet.” The Buccaneers are eyeing to become the first NFL team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the 2003-04 New England Patriots next season.

Brady grateful to be even considered

Brady, for his part, became the first NFL player to win the Best Athlete award since former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees won it in 2010.

The veteran quarterback did not attend the event but he recorded an acceptance speech. “I am very honored to be chosen as Best Athlete in Men’s Sports,” Brady said in his recorded speech.

While saying he doesn’t play for individual awards or stats, Brady said he loves football and he loves that it’s a team sport. “Even be considered for this incredible award along with LeBron (James) and Tiger (Woods) and MJ (Michael Jordan) is really cool,” said Brady. The veteran quarterback was nominated along Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, Denver Nuggets center and reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid.

Brady also won the “Best NFL Player”, beating out fellow superstars Los Angeles Rams pass rusher Aaron Donald, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Tennessee Titans rusher Derrick Henry. Earlier, Hall of Fame basketball player Charles Barkley declared Brady as the greatest athlete of all time, and not just in football.
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