Tom Brady had several high-profile run-ins with the NFL during his playing days.
He could find himself in trouble with the league once again.
And Tom Brady made a tough call that set him up for a big fight with the NFL.
Tom Brady has to walk the line criticizing officiating in the NFL
Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is no stranger to clashes with the NFL’s front office.
The NFL suspended him for four games during the 2016 season after the Deflategate scandal which the Patriots were accused of letting the air out of footballs to below league specifications for the January 2015 AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Brady is in his first season as the color commentator for Fox’s coverage of NFL games.
The NFL placed restrictions on how he can call games because he was approved to purchase a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.
A rule was put in place that he cannot criticize the officiating of a game he is broadcasting to avoid a conflict of interest being an owner and broadcaster.
Some of the NFL’s owners were not happy that Brady was a broadcaster while being a minority owner of a team.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback was a commentator for Fox’s coverage of the game between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions.
Lions safety Brian Branch was called for an illegal hit to defenseless receiver Packers receiver Bo Melton.
Melton takes a hard hit to the helmet here. Branch gets ejected for this hit #DETvsGB pic.twitter.com/avpuuL7MYY
— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) November 3, 2024
It appeared that Branch’s momentum carried him into Melton and that the hit was not intentional.
The referees tossed Branch out of the game in a controversial decision.
A review of the play from the NFL office in New York led to the ejection.
Brady thought the play deserved a penalty but did not throw Branch out of the game.
“I don’t love that call at all,” Brady said. “I mean, obviously that’s a penalty. But, to me, that has to be serious intent in a game like this.”
NFL faced a decision about Tom Brady’s criticism of ejection
Brady was critical of the NFL’s officiating with the Branch ejection which raised the question if he would be punished for it under the rules in place for him.
The NFL decided not to hand down a penalty to Brady this time.
Pro Football Talk reached out to the league to explain its decision not to punish him.
“The concern would be if Tom was egregiously critical of officiating or called into question the integrity of an official or the crew. That did not occur in this instance,” the NFL said in a statement.
What is considered “egregiously critical” is a standard that is clear in the league’s rules.
Some NFL commentators thought that Brady’s line should be black and white when it comes to being critical of the officials.
NFL owners and head coaches in the past have been fined for criticizing the officiating.
It remains to be seen what the line is for the NFL with Tom Brady’s commentary during games.
That will be one of the storylines for his time in the broadcast booth moving forward.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
