Dave Portnoy has seemingly accused Tom Brady of helping the Seattle Seahawks beat his former team, the New England Patriots, in this year’s Super Bowl.
During an interview this week, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald was asked to reveal who he reached out to for advice before the NFL’s biggest game back in February.
While he ruled out Bill Belichick and Kyle Shanahan and revealed he did talk to new New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh, Macdonald then said he ‘probably can’t mention one guy that really helped us out that had some conflict of interest’.
When pressed by host Dan Patrick about who it was, Macdonald refused to say but his revelation caused a stir on social media and led fans to speculate about the mystery person’s identity.
Many believe it is Brady, who won six of his seven Super Bowl titles with the Patriots, and Portnoy took to X on Friday to hit out at the former quarterback without naming him directly.
In reply to the clip of Macdonald’s revelation, the Barstool Sports chief wrote: ‘If this doesn’t p*** you off as a Patriots fan you are dead on this inside.
Dave Portnoy has accused Tom Brady of helping the Seahawks beat his former Patriots
‘I’m not going to say who they are saying gave a ton of advice to the Seahawks before the Super Bowl but the guy has a statue in front of our stadium. What a joke’.
In August 2025, the Patriots unveiled a six ton, 17ft statue of Brady outside the team’s Gillette Stadium. He was the first player in franchise history to get a statue.
A three-time NFL MVP, five-time Super Bowl MVP and seven-time NFL champion – he won one after leaving for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Brady retired in 2023 as the league’s most-decorated player ever.
The Patriots inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 2024, waiving the usual four-year waiting period, and retired his No. 12.
Brady is now a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders and is about to enter the third year of his $375 million, 10-year deal with Fox as the network’s top NFL color analyst.
It has not been confirmed whether Brady is the person referenced by Macdonald but he was at Levi’s Stadium to watch the Super Bowl on February 8.
Weeks after the Seahawks’ crushing 29-13 win, which saw their defense completely destroy Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, Macdonald revealed Brady messaged him following the game.
‘Tom Brady texted me. That was cool,’ he said. ‘I did tell him, “Hey, thanks for stealing our [offensive coordinator]”, referring to Brady and the Raiders naming Klint Kubiak as their new coach weeks later.
Macdonald revealed after the Super Bowl that Brady messaged to congratulate him
Brady won six Super Bowls with the Patriots and is the first player to have a statue built
While he didn’t confirm exactly what Brady wrote, Rich Eisen asked if it read along the lines of ‘way to go’. Macondald replied: ‘Yeah’.
Brady also angered Patriots fans in the days before the game when he refused to declare his support for his former team, instead insisting he didn’t ‘have a dog in the fight in this one’.
He added: ‘May the best team win, and in terms of the Patriots, this is a new chapter in New England, and I’m glad everyone’s embraced the Mike Vrabel regime.
‘All the amazing players that have worked so hard to get their club to this position. We did it for 20 years. There was a little bit of a hiatus in there, but the Patriots are back, and it’s a very exciting time for everyone in New England.’
