It appears Tim Brown is taking the Tuck Rule Game to his grave.
We’re talking, of course, about the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff between the Patriots and Oakland Raiders, which New England won, thanks to a Tom Brady fumble that was controversially overturned after video review. Brown and his Raiders teammates obviously disagreed with the call, and the former Oakland wide receiver has admitted he still gets upset over the result.
Well, Brown took that frustration to a whole different level Wednesday. Appearing on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Wednesday, the Hall of Famer dropped this scorcher of a take: That Brady wouldn’t have kept his starting quarterback job without the Tuck Rule.
“I tell people all the time, if Tom Brady would just start out every interview saying ‘I wanna thank the Oakland Raiders,’ I’d be happy and I’d let it go,” Brown said, via NFL.com. “But until that day happens, I’m not gonna let it go.
“Because, think about this — if he loses that game, he’s a kid who lost a home game to a West Coast team in the snow. So, he’s not starting the next year. Because we were the Raiders, any other team, that game is over. Because it was the Raiders, it took them 12 minutes to come up with an answer.”
Sure, Tim.
Nevermind that Brady went 10-3 as a starter in 2001 to earn the starting job over Drew Bledsoe, or that he led the Patriots to a Super Bowl title two seasons later on his way to becoming one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. In Brown’s alternate universe, Brady wouldn’t have become the man he was today if that fumble wasn’t overturned.
Of course, Brown might have been playing for the camera a bit with this take, but it’s clear he isn’t quite over a game that happened 16 years ago.
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
