Not that it’s at all a rarity, but Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady got a call to go in his favor in last Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Grady Jarrett sacked Brady late in the fourth quarter on a key third down, but the Falcons defensive lineman was whistled for an atrocious roughing the passer penalty.
Brady’s been in the league long enough to see plenty of missed calls, and he views them as just a nature of the game. While discussing the play with reporters on Thursday, Brady opened up about the hard job referees have and believes he may have more Super Bowl rings if a call or two went his way.
“There’s a lot of things I see that are probably pretty challenging to officiate, they’re probably challenging to play defense with,” Brady told reporters, as transcribed by MassLive’s Chris Mason. “I don’t have all the answers to all those. I don’t think the referees are robots, I don’t think they’re trying to get it wrong, I don’t think they’re always going to get it right. I feel bad for a guy when they get called something that probably shouldn’t be that way. Sometimes you’ve just got to shake it off.
“I’ve lost Super Bowls because I thought they missed a call. You go, alright: You’re going to get some, you’re going to not get some. You hope they don’t come up but they come up. It’s sports.”
Brady didn’t get into specific details about what calls he was talking about from his three Super Bowl losses with the New England Patriots. The obvious one is no holding call on Eli Manning’s dropback before hurling the day downfield for David Tyree to complete the helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII.
There was also a controversial call in Super Bowl LII against the Philadelphia Eagles on Corey Clement’s 22-yard touchdown reception in the back of the end zone that held up under review.
It would have been great for Brady to detail what exact calls obviously still bother him, but maybe he might open up more about it once his playing career ends.
