Tom Brady can still sling it but Team USA dominates flag football

Tom Brady started out like the GOAT of flag football before Team USA dominated the day. Brady fired a perfect touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs in the corner of the end zone on his first play in a competitive football game in more than 1,000 days. The 48-year-old, seven-time Super Bowl champion even showed unusual elusive skills by evading a sack on a free rush, stepped up and delivered a strike for the TD after replacing Jalen Hurts on fourth-and-goal on the opening drive of the game.

Brady followed up with another beautiful pass to his longtime buddy and former teammate Rob Gronkowski for the 2-point conversion, giving his team an 8-0 lead over the USA squad in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic. It was all downhill from there as Gronk went down with a hamstring injury, and Brady and his team of current and former NFL players coached by Sean Payton couldn’t keep up. Team USA crushed Brady’s Founders FFC 43-16 after dismantling Joe Burrow’s Wildcats FFC squad 39-16.

Burrow, Jayden Daniels, Saquon Barkley and the Wildcats then eliminated Brady, Hurts and the Founders from the round-robin tournament with a 34-26 victory. The Founders kept it closer in the championship game but Team USA pulled away 24-14. The national team couldn’t be stopped on offense in three games, scoring on every possession except a kneel-down at the end of one victory.

“My heart is really hurting right now,” Brady said between losses. Playing with a familiar scowl and intensity that helped him become the greatest quarterback in NFL history, Brady had a few other highlights despite his team’s dismal performance. He called his own version of the “Philly Special” and tossed a TD pass to Hurts against the national team.