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Tom Brady Makes Admission About His On-Field Behavior: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Tom Brady opens up about 'talking smack' to opponents and refs

Jimmy Traina

1. Say what you want about Tom Brady, but you can’t say the greatest quarterback of all time isn’t self-aware.

During his weekly SiriusXM radio show, Brady made an admission about his fiery on-field behavior and his relationship with the refs.

“They probably let me get away with a lot of unsportsmanlike conducts, talking smack to the other team and talking smack to the refs when I don’t think I get the right call,” Brady said. “I’m kind of a pain in their ass, in case you don’t already know that.”

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The seven-time Super Bowl champion confessed after first explaining that he doesn’t get nearly as many roughing-the-passer calls that NFL fans may think he does.

Brady’s co-host, Jim Gray, pointed out that the roughing penalty called on Philadelphia in the Bucs' wild-card win on Saturday was just the second roughing-the-passer call that Brady has gotten all season.

“Yeah, I always hear that to different degrees about getting penalties and so forth and roughing the passers,” said Brady. “I think that speaks to it, because they say that and always in my mind going, ‘I don’t remember the last time I got a roughing-the-passer.’ I think we should look that up, over the last 10 years, whatever, who’s got the most roughing-the-passer penalties. I hope it’s not me because then I just put my foot in my mouth. I don’t feel like I get them as much as people may think that I get them.”

Brady’s theory wasn’t far off. He has gotten the 10th-most roughing-the-passer calls since 2010.

And as for Brady talking smack to the other team and the refs, here are some of his greatest hits:

2. Speaking of Brady, ESPN released a trailer Wednesday morning for an upcoming 30 for 30, The Tuck Rule, and it looks like it will be a good watch.

3. Troy Aikman had a right to be annoyed that a game that would normally air on Fox was given to CBS because the Niners-Cowboys wild-card game generated 41.5 million viewers for CBS, with a peak of 50.2 million viewers. It was the most-watched wild-card game in seven years. 

Out of that 41.5 million, 1.3 million watched the game on Nickelodeon. Last year's Bears-Saints wild-card game drew 2.1 million for Nickelodeon.

Here are the viewership numbers for the other wild-card games, excluding Cardinals-Rams, which aired on Monday night.

Sunday: Eagles-Buccaneers, 30.4 million
Sunday: Steelers-Chiefs, 28.9 million
Saturday: Raiders-Bengals, 27.7 million
Saturday: Pats-Bills, 26.4 million

4. I don't want to say what percentage of this I was responsible for, but sports betting in New York is off to a blazing start.

5. The Rock took to Instagram to explain the full story about the T. rex that was in the background of his appearance on the ManningCast on Monday night.

6. A brand-new SI Media Podcast dropped this morning, and this week's show features an interview with Richard Deitsch, who previously hosted the show. Deitsch, who now works for The Athletic, discussed the state of podcasts, what makes a good podcast and what makes a good host. We also talked about sports media news items, including the disappointing ratings for the college football national title game and the NFL's being set up for a monster postseason when it comes to viewership.

In the weekly "Traina Thoughts" segment of the podcast, Sal Licata, from WFAN and SNY TV in New York, discusses the NFL wild-card matchups, sports betting coming to New York, Cobra Kai and much more

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 76th birthday to Dolly Parton. This would absolutely not fly for one split second on late night television today.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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