Rodney Harrison isn’t the only one concerned about Tom Brady’s well-being.
Harrison said Wednesday he’s worried about the New England Patriots quarterback “taking a cheap shot” from the Miami Dolphins in Thursday night’s game at Gillette Stadium. ESPN’s Skip Bayless echoed the former Patriots safety’s sentiments, to some extent, Thursday morning on “First Take.”
“I’ll admit this on national TV, I do have some ulterior motive here, I want to plant the seeds in the referees’ heads (Thursday night) to be on the lookout,” Bayless said at the end of a spirited discussion with co-host Stephen A. Smith about whether the Dolphins might take liberties with Brady.
Neither Bayless nor Smith went so far as to say they expect the Dolphins to cross the line, although they’re both well-aware of Ndamukong Suh’s tendency to go too far. But they fully expect the Dolphins’ pass rush to go after Brady, albeit within the rules, as Miami’s culture has changed dramatically under interim head coach Dan Campbell since Joe Philbin’s firing.
“Yeah, (the Patriots) should be worried,” Bayless said. “Obviously, as maybe the world’s leading Tom Brady fan, I’ll be the first to admit, I am concerned about this game. I’m not in any way, shape or form trying to suggest that this is going to be any sort of Bounty Bowl or Bounty Game, that the Dolphins would have any kind of incentives for their players to knock Tom Brady out of the game. But we know that once Dan Campbell took over, that the culture has changed, as he said, and I’m pretty sure that Dan Campbell and his coaches are making it very clear to his pass rushers, starting with Mr. Suh, that it would behoove them to rough up Tom Brady. And I’m sure they wouldn’t at all mind if they did knock him out of this big division game.”
The entire conversation can be seen below.
Thumbnail photo via Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports Images
