Fans don’t necessarily remember random regular-season NFL games, but the last time the New England Patriots played the Carolina Panthers was a little different.
The Patriots lost that game 24-20 on Nov. 18, 2013, after Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly appeared to interfere with tight end Rob Gronkowski as he tried to catch the winning touchdown pass in the final seconds. The refs threw a flag but ended up picking it back up and saying there was no penalty.
Tom Brady was visibly angry at referee Clete Blakeman, and the Patriots quarterback said Wednesday, as the team prepares to take on Carolina in Week 4, that he’d like to apologize for it.
“I wasn’t very positive,” Brady told reporters at Gillette Stadium. “I don’t think I said very nice things to him, so I’d like to apologize to him. But yeah, that was a little unfortunate. I wish we had gotten that call. That would’ve been a good call. That would have been a fun next play; I’ll tell you that. With one play left in the game, but oh well.”
The call was made more controversial later that season, as the Patriots would have had home-field advantage over the Denver Broncos in the playoffs had they won. Instead, they lost in the divisional round in Denver.
Kuechly said in a conference call earlier Wednesday that he believes the call was blown, and Brady was pretty amused by it.
“Oh man, let’s replay that one, too, and see what happens,” Brady said. “I wish we could do that. Yeah, that was a tough game. I think that speaks a lot to their team, that particular game. It was a hard-nosed, hard-fought game. We had to earn every yard and it came down to the end.”
The Patriots will have a chance at revenge Sunday in a 1 p.m. ET game at Gillette Stadium.
Thumbnail photo via Jeremy Brevard/USA TODAY Sports Images
