Tom Brady Grabbed, Taunted by Lions' Willie Young, Who Quickly Gets Benched in Preseason Game (GIF)

Um, don’t poke the Brady.

The Patriots had plenty to worry about in their 40-9 preseason loss to the Lions on Thursday night, but one thing they surely weren’t worrying about was the fierce play of Lions defensive end Willie Young. The fourth-year player put a nice rush on Tom Brady in the second quarter before seemingly forgetting a few key facts — like, that it was the preseason and that the player was Brady and that he’s Willie Young — before grabbing Brady by his jersey, pulling him around and wagging his finger in his face.

The silly show of sudden intensity had immediate effects. Detroit was given a personal foul penalty, which erased a 3rd-and-10, and the Lions benched Young for the rest of the game.

“They didn’t throw Willie out of the game, but he didn’t play the rest of the game,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz explained afterward, according to mlive.com.

Detroit is notorious for bad penalty calls, and it appears Schwartz was trying to nip that habit in the bud early this year.

The Lions were all over Brady throughout the game, and other players were able to knock him off his mark, too. But none were as over-the-top — again, in a preseason game — as Young, who elicited a “what the heck?” response from Brady after going overboard on his little shirt grab and finger wag.

Check it out in the GIF below, courtesy of The Big Lead.

Tom Brady