Tom Brady rips officiating, direction of NFL

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Oct 18, 2023 9:15 AM ET

Quarterback Tom Brady sounds happy to stay retired, for good, this time around but doesn't love what he's seen from referees throughout the first half of the 2023 NFL season.

"Football is a physical sport, there's a physical element to all of this," Brady explained during the latest edition of his "Let's Go!" SiriusXM show and podcast, per Zach Bachar of Bleacher Report. "You throw a 15-yard flag for something that, you know, 20 years ago maybe wouldn't have had a flag. That affects the game in a big way."

Roughing the passer penalties generate discussions among fans and analysts, alike, each season. Most recently, the New York Giants found themselves on the wrong end of such a decision during their 14-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night:

The Giants and their fans were then left fuming when tight end Darren Waller seemed to draw a defensive penalty inside the Buffalo end zone on what turned out to be the final play of the game.

Waller didn't receive the call, but Brady insisted during the podcast that the moment in question was "definitely a penalty" and that the Giants should've had at least one more chance to score a walk-off touchdown on an untimed down:

"There was obviously a holding, they just didn't call it," Brady added.

Brady didn't shy away from speaking out against the league's enforcement of certain rules across the final seasons of his Hall of Fame career. However, he also claimed this past February that he didn't "get caught up too much on one call" after Philadelphia Eagles cornerback James Bradberry was penalized for defensive holding against then-Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster late in Super Bowl LVII.

Brady is a seven-time Super Bowl champion widely viewed as the G.O.A.T. and remains on track to serve as Fox's lead NFL analyst beginning next year. He could also eventually become a limited partner of the Las Vegas Raiders as soon as before this season ends. Thus, one would think those inside the league's office would take notice whenever the 46-year-old offers noteworthy criticisms of the NFL's handling of the sport.

"There's so many people that want it less and less physical, it's more like flag football," Brady continued during the program. "Maybe football goes to flag football over a period of time."

Some have wondered if Brady the broadcaster will speak openly and honestly about players he faced as recently as this past January. Ideally, his latest comments will prove to be a preview of what's to come once he starts working for Fox in 2024.

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