Some football fans did a double take Saturday when news broke that longtime New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady was traded to another team.
The news riled up some Patriots’ diehards, who likely didn’t remember that Saturday was April Fools’ Day.
“Buffalo Bills acquire quarterback Tom Brady in trade with New England,” the NFL blog Cover 32 wrote in its headline, which was later picked up by Yahoo Sports.
“Making a trade that will have massive aftershocks on the league for years to come, the Buffalo Bills have picked up on the old adage of, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them,'” Cover 32 reported. “Announcing a shock press conference this morning, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott announced that the Bills had in fact acquired Tom Brady in a trade with the rival New England Patriots.”
The article even included a fake press conference from the Bills’ head coach, who dubbed the swap a “game-changing trade.”
“We have officially acquired Tom Brady in a trade with the New England Patriots. While we know there have been recent rumors about his impending retirement, we here with the Bills organization do hope he reconsiders and joins us to help bring the Bills some Super Bowl glory,” McDermott said in the faux statement.
In reality, Tom Brady is coming off a historic Super Bowl victory in which he rallied the Patriots to score 31 unanswered points to defeat the Atlanta Falcons. He has said he won’t be retiring anytime soon.
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