OK, At This Point Tom Brady Is Just Trolling Us With The Whole High Five Thing, Right?

After they crushed the Indianapolis Colts 43-22 on Saturday night—a win that propels the New England Patriots a tad closer to a possible Super Bowl appearance—it was cause for celebration.

But in what’s become either a tradition, or a way to troll the media, Tom Brady was once again left out of the party, hung out to dry and all alone. This photo of the Patriots embracing in the locker room at Gillette Stadium was posted to the team’s Facebook page on Saturday evening not long after the game wrapped up:

Photo via Facebook

We said it once, and we’ll say it again: Brady just can’t catch a break when looking for a little recognition following a win. He has tried, and tried again, but he is continuously left standing their like a dolt, waving his hand every which way, without any of his teammates giving him “daps” for his achievements—and we aren’t the only ones that have noticed.

Under the photo posted to the Patriots’ Facebook page on Saturday, the comments began piling onto the thread, with a list of fans begging the same question: “Is Brady seriously still trying to get a high five??”

Perplexed by the continuous lack of high-fives, we started to ponder that ourselves. So, what’s the reasoning behind all of this? Some possible explanations:

1. ‘No Hands Are Worth Enough to Touch His Hand’: This is the theory of one fan who posted a comment on the Facebook page. Maybe Brady’s hand is filled with so much talent that the other teammates just aren’t worthy of even coming close to touching it. Think about it. Brady became the first quarterback in the history of the NFL to reach 6,000 postseason passing yards on Saturday. He also boasts 11 division titles as a starting quarterback, and clinched his 18th postseason victory against the Colts. The list goes on. So don’t touch his hand.

2. He’s Messing With Us: It almost seems too obvious at this point. It has happened way too many times to be an accident. We aren’t the first ones to think this is just a giant troll-job, either. NFL Sports writer Will Brinson wrote on Saturday that Brady doesn’t exactly lack points in the “cool department.” This is true. “Surely if he wants to land a high five he can pull one off. Which leads me to believe that the only way we keep seeing Brady whiff on getting some love from his boys is because he’s doing it on purpose just to mess with us,” he wrote. It’s possible. After the first high-five snub gained so much media attention back in the regular season, Brady may have made a pact with teammates to keep it going, just to see how crazy the media would get about it. And it’s working. “Surely the guys are doing it on purpose now,” one fan lamented on Facebook.

3. It’s Become a Superstition: After the first few times that players denied Brady a high-five after game-winning moments this season, and the media brought attention to it, maybe the team adapted it as their latest superstition to help them continue winning games. Imagine the conversation in the locker room: “Nobody give Brady a high-five. Don’t curse the team.” Sports greats have been know to carry on odd traditions throughout the season to get them a championship win. Just look at the Red Sox this year. They toted around a Native American wooden statue, and kept scraggly beards on their faces in order to push their luck forward full throttle. Sounds odd, sure, but not when a title’s on the line.

4. They Don’t Like Him: OK, nah, this one seems impossible. Everybody likes Brady.

There are still two more chances for Brady to get the recognition he deserves, with the AFC Championship on the line next weekend, and, if all goes well (and nobody high fives Brady), a possible Super Bowl appearance in February. Maybe then the quarterback will explain what all this nonsense has been about.