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Tom Brady’s frustration with the officials in Detroit has found a defender in Stephen A. Smith.
Brady was calling the game for FOX when he ripped a fourth-quarter roughing-the-passer flag on Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Karl Brooks during the Detroit Lions’ 20-17 win in Week 7. The penalty came on the Lions’ game-winning drive.
Notably, veteran analyst Smith pushed back at the ones who found fault with Brady for calling out the officials on the air. He made his case on two fronts: Brady’s standing in the game and what Brady actually said about the call.
Stephen A. Smith Supports Tom Brady’s Criticism of NFL Officials
Smith started with the man doing the talking. “I get so freaking sick of this BS. We’re trying to act like certain people are not different. They are. He’s a seven-time champion.” From there, he walked back through Brady’s on-air breakdown of Brooks’ hit on Lions quarterback Jared Goff.
“Let’s go back to what the criticism actually was. He says, what? ‘Goff standing in the pocket. My goodness, what is that? There’s no way. Brooks on a tackle. He just kind of makes a great play. It’s a bang-bang play. He just rolls off his body. It’s a great throw by Goff. That’s definitely not roughing the passer.’ What the hell is wrong with that criticism? What the hell is wrong with it? What? Inquiring minds want to know.”
He also admitted the criticisms of Brady “make no sense” and wondered, “How is that even an issue?” Smith then turned the question back on Brady’s critics: “What the issue is, is that people are just jealous of Tom.”
The score was tied 17-17 when Detroit took over at its own 25 after Green Bay’s Trey Smack missed a go-ahead field goal attempt. With 2:45 to go, Goff connected with tight end Sam LaPorta for 18 yards, and the roughing flag on Brooks moved the ball another 15.
On the broadcast, Brady made his view of the flag clear: “My goodness. What is that? … There’s no way! … It’s definitely not roughing the passer.”
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He had company on the FOX broadcast too. Rules analyst Dean Blandino agreed with Brady’s read. “It wasn’t late. They might have said head/neck area. But this is not head/neck area. His head is up. That’s teach-tape tackle. That’s not roughing the passer.”
It was one of several second-half calls Brady questioned. He had already objected to a third-quarter roughing call on Packers defender Brenton Cox Jr., an intentional-grounding penalty on Jordan Love and a fourth-quarter unnecessary-roughness penalty on Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes.
Brady was not alone in his frustration.
Packers safety Xavier McKinney took aim at the officiating crew when he spoke to reporters after the loss. “It’s annoying even talking about it because these are critical drives throughout the game, and we might have a drive where we’re getting stops but you’re calling penalties, and it’s like, this is not a penalty,” he said.
With no discipline of Brady publicly announced and analysts backing his criticism, the NFL legend is likely to continue sharing his honest opinions from the broadcast booth.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/people-just-jealous-even-issue-053643312.html
