The field marshal of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tom Brady, took a beating, physically and metaphorically, in the Bucs’ loss to the Los Angeles Rams in a divisional game on January 23.
Brady, whose lip split on the play, believed Rams linebacker Von Miller should have been penalized for roughing the passer. He protested the uncalled foul and ended up receiving his first unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in his 22 years in the league.
After the game, referee Shawn Hochuli explained the decision through a report, according to Greg Auman, de The Athletic.
“He stood up to me very aggressively and used abusive language. Hit-wise, we didn’t feel like it was worth roughing the passer up,” Hochuli said, according to Auman.
Brady was not asked about the incident during his postgame news conference.
In a Jan. 18 episode of his “Let’s Go” podcast, he admitted that referees “let me get away with it” with conduct that could be considered infractions.
“I know that they will surely leave me [los oficiales] I get away with a lot of unsportsmanlike conduct, for speaking badly to the rivals and the referees, when I think that a foul was not called that corresponded to us”, Brady told the presenter, Jim Gray. “I must be unbearable for them, in case they didn’t know.”
Beyond the penalty, it was an expensive series
Brady recovered from the foul that cost him 15 yards with a 19-yard pass to running back Leonard Fournette for a first down with 10:25 left in the second quarter.
Down 17-3 at the Rams 27-yard line, it looked like the Bucs were going to cut the deficit to a score. Instead, Brady cooled off. He completed a short pass to Fournette followed by two incomplete passes to Tyler Johnson and Giovani Bernard. Then Bucs kicker Ryan Succop missed a 48-yard field goal that went wide to the right.
After two drives that ended in points, the Rams’ lead dropped to 27-3, necessitating a frantic comeback from Brady and the Bucs.
“It is the reality of this sport”, Brady told reporters after the match. “The last eight teams left standing are qualified, then the last four, followed by the last two. And it doesn’t feel good to lose any of those games. And I’ve lost at every stage.
“So in the end, there will only be one team that ends up being happy. It feels good to advance to the next round, and of course when you don’t — it doesn’t matter if it was last week or this week or next week or two weeks later — if you lose the match, it sucks to lose.”
Brady couldn’t match his Super Bowl performance that came back
When he was down 3-27 he was just one point shy of Brady’s biggest postseason comeback. He led the New England Patriots to overcome a deficit of 28 to 3 against the Atlanta Falcons in the 2017 Super Bowl.
“Today we had a great comeback,” Brady told reporters when asked if he had thought about that Super Bowl when the Bucs trailed the Rams 27-3. “Of course, it was a great effort.” The guys made big plays to get us back, and at that point there’s not much room for error. And the defense was brilliant.”
“We didn’t have a lot of guys in good shape, but we found a way to score points against a really good defense,” Brady added. “It’s very hard to lose a game when we come back like that.”
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