‘LFG’: Bruce Arians, Buccaneers players, and Gisele react to Tom Brady’s return to Tampa

Tom Brady shocked the football world once again on Sunday.

Just six weeks after he announced he would no longer make “the competitive commitment” to play football anymore, Brady announced that he is returning for a 23rd season in the NFL. He also announced that he will be staying with the Buccaneers, who he’s played for the last two seasons.

Brady’s return to football, and the Buccaneers in particular, comes as a bit of a surprise. There was speculation that Brady was looking to play elsewhere if he returned to the NFL, with one report suggesting that the “honeymoon” was over between Brady and the Buccaneers.

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians, who was defiant that Brady wouldn’t play anywhere else if he returned, celebrated the news on Sunday.

“Total excitement,” Arians told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. He also texted “LFG” to CBS Sports’s Josina Anderson when asked about the news.

“We are really excited!” Arians texted Tampa Bay Times Buccaneers reporter Rick Stroud.

Hours after the announcement, Arians and Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht each released statements.

“Tom Brady loves to play football as much as anyone I have ever been around,” Arians said. “As Tom said, his place right now is on the football field. He is still playing at a championship level and was as productive as anyone in the league last season. We are ecstatic that he decided to continue playing and working toward winning another championship.”

“We are thrilled that Tom has decided to come back this season,” Licht wrote in his own statement. “We said we would leave all options open for him should he reconsider his retirement and today’s announcement is something we have been preparing for in recent days. Bruce and I have had plenty of conversations with Tom recently that led us to believe there was a realistic chance he would want to come back. Tom is the greatest quarterback of all time who is still playing at an elite level. With this decision now made, we will continue to move forward with our offseason plans to reload this roster for another championship run.”

Brady’s top pass catchers in Tampa chimed in. Mike Evans, who’s caught 31 touchdown passes from Brady in the regular season and playoffs, tweeted “LFG!”

Chris Godwin, who was recently franchise tagged by the Buccaneers, simply tweeted “😎”.

Part of the reason why Brady announced he was retiring in February was to spend more time with his family. Now that he’s returning to football, Brady appears to have the blessing to play from his wife, Gisele Bundchen.

“Here we go again!” she wrote in a comment replying to Brady’s Instagram post announcing his return. “Let’s go lovvvey! Let’s go Bucs!”

NBC Sports Boston Patriots insider Tom E. Curran reported that “Everyone close [to Brady] is said to be ‘very good’ with [his decision to return].”

A couple of people who are definitely very good with Brady’s decision to return are Buccaneers teammates Donovan Smith and Antoine Winfield Jr. Smith. Smith replied to the post on Instagram, writing “LFG🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥” and Winfield Jr. wrote “Letssssss gooooo.”

Starting right tackle Tristan Wirfs was also excited, tweeting out a gif of Will Ferrell’s character from the movie “Old School.”

Some people took a more self-deprecating approach to Brady’s announcement. Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who gave up what was thought to be Brady’s last ever touchdown pass, tweeted “THANK YOU!”

The Carolina Panthers’ Twitter account tweeted a gif of Mr. Krabs from the hit kids show “SpongeBob Squarepants,” with the character twitching his eye.

Another NFC South rival of the Buccaneers tweeted a gif of confusion.

The New York Jets replied to their own tweet from the day Brady announced his retirement, which read “this better be real,” with “guess not.”

The Buccaneers’ Twitter account got to celebrate, though, writing “Tampa Tom is back 😎🌴”