Prior to the expletive-laden verbal undressing, Brady's pass attempt for wide receiver Tiquan Underwood was intercepted by cornerback Josh Wilson. When Brady got to the bench, he told Underwood to make a more aggressive play on the ball, which was a fair point to make.
O'Brien told Brady to shut up and that he needed to make a better throw. That caused Brady to go berserk, and the pair got in each other's faces. Quarterback Brian Hoyer and wide receivers coach Chad O'Shea had to physically remove O'Brien from the situation.
"We're both pretty emotional guys," Brady said. "That's what I deserve. [If] you make bad plays, you're supposed to get yelled at by your coaches. It's certainly not the first time and probably won't be the last. You can't do it in that situation. It was just a stupid play by me."
The animated argument lasted about a minute before the two sides cooled off. Brady and O'Brien shared a few more civilized conversations prior to the end of the game, and they hugged once the victory was in the bag.
"I think this is a real competitive game, and we've got a lot of competitive players on this team," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. "I'm glad we have them."
Brady made sure to take responsibility for the whole thing.
"I threw a pretty bad interception, so [O'Brien] wasn't happy about that," Brady said. "There were probably a long line of coaches and players that were pretty pissed at me after that, but Billy got to me first. He let me have it. I deserved it.
"I made a terrible play. He let me know I made a terrible play. It's football. It's a game of emotion."
