LSU Football: The Tyrann Mathieu situation with Tom Brady is officially over

The media didn’t do former LSU football defensive back Tyrann Mathieu any favors during/immediately after Super Bowl LV.

Mathieu was painted as the “bad guy” after a couple of on-field altercations with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.

At one point, Mathieu drew an unsportsmanlike penalty for offering a retort to Brady’s aggressive approach on the field.

Unfortunately for Mathieu, the national media made the Honey Badger out to be the aggressor.

A Yahoo Sports headline, for example, read “Tyrann Mathieu decided to get in Tom Brady’s face right after Brady threw a touchdown”

A better head would’ve read “Tom Brady decided to get in Tyrann Mathieu’s face right after throwing a touchdown”.

Tom Brady apologizes to Tyrann Mathieu

Brady can’t help the way he’s covered by the media. He’s the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, so it’s understandable that he gets the benefit of the doubt.

But in this instance, I feel like the national media was a little too quick to villainize Mathieu, who did what any other football player in his situation would do — he stood up for himself.

This line of thinking was justified by a report that surfaced on Monday.

According to ESPN’s Jenna Laine, Brady texted a “lengthy apology” to Mathieu after the game.

In the apology, Brady noted that he’s watched Mathieu since his days at LSU and called the standout defensive back an “incredible leader, champion and class act”.

According to Laine, Brady also said he’d like to apologize to Mathieu in person at some point in the future.

Good on Brady for apologizing.

But the national media needs to do better when it comes to covering athletes. The treatment Mathieu received from some media personalities wasn’t fair. That’s something that needs to change moving forward.