Before Super Bowl LX between the Seahawks and the Patriots, New England legend Tom Brady rankled his former team’s fans (and some current and former Patriots players), by declaring that he didn’t have a “dog in the fight.”

Former teammate and current Patriots coach Mike Vrabel wasn’t bothered by the remark.

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“Clearly Tom’s gone out of his way to make it known that he’s trying to, you know — he has a new job and a new role and, you know, it is really what it is,” Vrabel told WEEI on Friday. “Tom’s a friend, he’ll always be a friend. He was a former teammate, but, I mean, he’s made it clear, like, ‘I’m doing something new now.'”

Vrabel was also asked about another issue that emerged in recent weeks, due to Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald’s comment to Dan Patrick that Macdonald consulted with someone before the game who had “some conflict of interest.” Although Macdonald was not referring to Brady, Vrabel was asked whether he believes Brady talked to Macdonald before the game.

“Probably,” Vrabel said. “He hired his offensive coordinator. I mean, that’s not why we lost the game. Like, we talked to a lot of people, and, you know, there’s a lot of film, and it’s not why we lost the game. . . . I mean, I’m sure they talked.”

The connection to former Seatle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak always made it plausible that Brady would have tried to help the Seahawks. With Kubiak slated to take over the Raiders, it was better for the Raiders if Kubiak arrived as the coordinator of the offense of the team that won the most recent championship. And Vrabel understands that.

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Brady is an owner of the Raiders. He’s in competition with the Patriots. If anything, Brady did have a dog in the fight. The Seahawks and Kubiak winning provided an incremental benefit to the franchise Brady now partially owns.