Tom Brady shrugs off his Pro Bowl snub

Tom Brady is the master of using personal slights as fuel, but at least publicly, he’s not doing that over missing out on the Pro Bowl.

Brady was a high-profile absence from the Pro Bowl rosters announced Tuesday. A day later, he had no interest in arguing over it, simply saying team success mattered more to him. Brady said, via Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk:

"This year, there [were] a lot of great candidates at a lot of positions and a lot of teammates that I wish they would’ve made it. You’ve just got to keep trying to go out there and earn it. I think ultimately, for me, it’s about winning games. I think individual accolades have a certain place, [but] the most important thing for me has always been about winning football games. I wish we were 14-0 at this point, [but] we’re not — we haven’t deserved it. We haven’t played to that level yet, but hopefully we can play at a much higher level this Saturday.”

Brady downplaying a possible snub? It’s odd to see. After all, the guy has thrown for 3,886 yards and 32 touchdowns this season. He certainly had a Pro Bowl case. And we know it’s not because he’s mellowed out: He even roasted someone for slighting him just this week.

Of course, there’s nothing stopping Brady from using this to fuel him privately. It could be that simple.