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Oct 11, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) throws in the pocket against the Dallas Cowboys as sun rays enter AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

Patriots Legend Tom Brady Reflects on Viral Cowboys Photo

Originally posted on New England Patriots on SI
By Ethan Hurwitz | Last updated Oct 16, 2025 4:00 PM ET

It happened two years before the former New England Patriots quarterback actually signed up for Instagram, but Tom Brady still recalls a photo from his playing days that was perfectly made for the social media app.

On his weekly "Story Time With Tom" segment on Fox Sports, the Patriots Hall of Famer spoke about the one time he played against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium during his 20-year career in New England. The early season matchup in 2015 eventually resulted in a 30-6 Patriots win, but also resulted in a now-viral photo that still gets thrown around as one of the best in NFL history.

"The one thing I remember about that, and this is kind of a controversial take, is the glare through the glass at a certain time of the day at a certain time of the year was definitely in our eyes, which made it a little harder to play through," Brady said. "But, the one thing that's insane, I got one of the greatest pictures from that game of us heading toward that end with the glass. One of the sickest pictures coming out, with God looking down on this game, protected by my offensive line and standing in the shadow of my own goalpost."

The way AT&T Stadium is set up, the beam from the sun often interjects onto the playing field through the large glass windows down one side of the end zone. While it's led to some questionable comments (Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb has spoken out about the glare at times), it gave Patriots fans a picture-perfect photograph from that elite 2015 squad.

"One of the sickest photos I ever remember from my playing days," Brady recalled.

The Patriots fought the sun in the win, which included highlight touchdowns from Julian Edelman (who caught four passes for 120 yards) and Dion Lewis (a triple juke catch and run out of the backfield). Brady threw for 275 yards and those two touchdowns (as well as a rushing score), even though during the pregame warmups, they decided to have some fun inside the stadium

"I was very excited to go down there because you get to play in this huge stadium with this massive screen above," Brady said. "We were trying to punt the ball and hit the screen in pregame."

That win against Cowboys backup quarterback Brandon Weeden was part of a 10-game winning streak to open the year, where the Patriots ran up scores like a pinball machine en route to fifth-straight AFC Championship appearance. While New England was bounced to the Denver Broncos in the title game, the then-defending Super Bowl champions were a juggernaut in the AFC that season.

"We were unbelievable at that point," Brady said. "We were so good."

So while the future Pro Football Hall of Famer will be back in Dallas — this time in the broadcast booth — his thoughts on playing through the tricky sun still remain the same for the quarterbacks on the field: Think about how cool your Instagram feed will look the next day.

"That's all you gotta think about, think about how it's going to look like on that one photo of you standing in the end zone, with the light shining through, in the backdrop," Brady said. "Listen, quarterbacks, just go in there and make it happen. How hard is that? I did it."

This article first appeared on New England Patriots on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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