Filed Under » Wes Welker

Tom Brady's cellphone lit up early this morning with a series of text message notifications. By the time he removed his silk Prada sleep mask and checked his phone, he had 11 texts from Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

"They were all just pictures of him throwing short passes to Wes [Welker]," said Brady. "Little five, six, seven-yard crossing patterns. It was tough to see. What a terrible way to start the day."

Brady's wife, model Gisele Bundchen, said Manning twisting the knife about acquiring the services of his rival's best receiver was even crueler because "Tommy had only been asleep for about an hour. He had been up crying all night about not being able to play with Wesley anymore. I tried to tell him that Wesley is terrible and can't catch, but you know how boys are with their friends."

Each photo Manning sent got more provocative. The first photo was just the quarterback and his new possession receiver shaking hands. The last one was of a 10-yard completion on a crossing pattern in the end zone, both players smiling and shirtless, with the caption: "2013-14 SUPER BOWL CHAMPS!"

"That really hurt Tommy, because he and Wesley always liked to pretend that they won Super Bowls," said Bundchen. "They never did together, of course, but what imaginations!"

The New England Patriots held their annual holiday party last night and the talk of the franchise this morning is the scene at the center of the dance floor late in the evening in which Tom Brady and Wes Welker were all hands and tongues.

"That's always the risk at a holiday party," said Patriots owner Robert Kraft. "There's free alcohol and everyone is blowing off the stress of the year. This isn't the first time it's happened and it won't be the last. Tom and Wes will just have to talk to HR to make sure everything was consensual and then we'll go from there."

While Brady and Welker's grope-fest is the topic du jour around the team water cooler, no one on the team says their actions were much of a surprise.

"Those two have worked closely together for years and no one can deny they have amazing chemistry," said linebacker Jerod Mayo. "Things happen. I know sometimes I've briefly thought about doing it with my position coach or a defensive linemen. It's natural in a work environment. I just hope Tom and Wes can move on from it and what happened doesn't make the workplace environment awkward for everyone."