49ers’ Dr. Greenlaw asks Tom Brady to autograph the football he intercepted – NBC Chicago

Greenlaw as a ‘fangirl’ asking Brady to autograph football originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

SANTA CLARA — After the 49ers’ 35-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, Dr. Greenlaw let out her inner fanboy when she met quarterback Tom Brady.

Midway through the third quarter, Greenlaw intercepted a pass that Brady had intended for Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans. The linebacker held on to the ball and, after the game, took it to midfield and asked the future Hall of Fame quarterback to autograph it.

“Man, the worst thing he can say to me is no,” Greenlaw said. “I’ve always been told, if you don’t ask, you’ll never know. He’s a good guy to be able to sign that ball after he throws them. It’s a lot of time. I appreciate it. He is the greatest. It’s the goat.

But it almost didn’t happen. Greenlaw felt bad for Brady after the 49ers beating that included two interceptions, his own and one to Tashaun Gipson. The linebacker nearly lost his temper, but he had Fred Warner’s backing with him.

“I went in like a little fangirl,” Greenlaw said. “I tried to calm him down and make him feel better, ‘Man, you’re the greatest of all time.’ But he is. He really is. I was like, ‘Man, you don’t even have to sign the balls.'”

Warner, of course, wasn’t going to let his teammate off the hook. The All-Pro admitted he also got hit by Brady.

“Yeah, we had a little time there,” Warner said. “Me and Dre ran to him. Dre had his balloon with him and Gips and asked him to sign the balloons. I had to run over there with him just to make sure Tom was going to sign them.

“It was a cool moment. Tom is a stand up guy. He told us how much he respects our game too. He’s the goat, seriously.

Warner was a bit disappointed that he didn’t intercept one of Brady’s passes as well, thus not being able to get a unique memento from the game. The funniest part of this interaction might be that the linebacking duo had a sharpie with them for the autograph.

“We did it,” Warner said. “We came prepared. We walked up to him, ‘Hey Tom, can you sign the balls for us?’ Like some five year olds, it was great.