It has been said for years that Tom Brady receives favorable treatment from NFL officials, but we can’t remember him ever admitting it. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers star was surprisingly honest when the topic arose this week.
Brady and the Bucs benefited from a questionable roughing the passer call (video here) early in their wild-card win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Many people immediately chalked the flag up to Brady receiving preferential treatment. However, it should be noted that roughing the passer was only called once on a Brady hit during the regular season.
During the latest episode of his “Let’s Go!” podcast with Jim Gray, Brady discussed the perception that he gets more calls than other players. He said that is not true with roughing the passer, but he surprisingly admitted that he may get away with more taunting and unsportsmanlike conduct than his peers.
“I do know that they probably let me get away with a lot of unsportsmanlike conducts,” Brady said. “You know, talking smack to the other team and talking smack to the refs when I don’t think I get the right call. I’m kind of a pain in their a– if you don’t already know that.”
Brady is right about that. There have been numerous occasions where he is seen screaming the face of an official. Other players might not get away with it, but Brady usually does. That is undoubtedly a product of how many years he has played and how much he has accomplished.
We even saw Brady on the right side of an unsportsmanlike conduct call in the Super Bowl last year, so at least he acknowledges it.
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