Tom Brady Takes Us Inside His Argument With Referee During Patriots' Loss To Ravens
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- In this modern era of technology, there's no doubt that networks could amplify just about every conversation that takes place on a football field every week. (Sam Darnold can confirm.)
Yet due to FCC regulations, and an appeal to common decency, networks do whatever they can to try to prevent certain colorful language from players and coaches from reaching the living rooms of millions of viewers at home. This is understandable.
That scenario, though, leads to piqued curiosities around this great nation whenever a player appears to be getting a bit more animated than usual. Such was the case on Sunday night, when Tom Brady threw an incompletion in the middle of the second quarter. Brady thought that Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith committed a penalty for illegal contact, so he ran up the field to plead his case. Turns out, the officials did see a penalty, but it wasn't the one Brady wanted.
After a lengthy argument from Brady and an officials meeting, a flag flew, and Brady was called for intentional grounding. The only comment that aired on the broadcast was Brady shouting "that's terrible!" at referee Carl Cheffers after the announcement.
On Monday morning, during his weekly radio interview, Brady was asked what exactly he was saying during that exchange.
"Actually, [receiver Phillip Dorsett has] got a choice to go either way. He ran down there, and the guy drilled him at 8 yards," Brady explained. "So I said, 'Isn't that illegal contact?' And [the official] was like, 'Well, no.' And I was like, 'I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what you're looking at.' Or something like that."
Brady sarcastically assured the listeners that he was a proper gentleman throughout the discussion.
"It was very polite," Brady insisted. "It was like, 'Excuse me, mister. I thought that there might have possibly been a penalty, actually by them.' Which, when I looked at the film, you know, I don't know ... I thought they jammed him pretty good on that one. ... Sometimes you get 'em, sometimes you don't. But, yeah, that was a fun one. That was a fun one. I get pretty animated."
The 42-year-old Brady admitted that his temper can run a bit hot between the months of September and February.
"I'm more angry. I'm just an angry ... I'm angry during football season. It's kind of always at a boil, like just below a boil. It doesn't take me much to push me over the edge. That's kind of my football time of year," Brady said. "I think anything during football season that doesn't go our way makes me angry."
Fortunately for Brady, he's got kids around to help bring him from that boil back to a warm simmer.
"My daughter came in here just as she was getting ready for school, and she said, 'Dad, can I cuddle with you?' And I said, 'Get in here.' So that actually, for me, puts a lot of things in perspective," Brady said. "It's being healthy and coming out of football games, and even though it didn't go our way, we can learn from it and we can try to improve and be better. That was not our best. It's different if you play your best and you lose. If you don't feel you played your best and you lose, you feel like, man, if we can correct some things we'll be right in it. And that's a much better feeling."
