Stephen A. Smith calls out Tom Brady following controversial penalty

ESPN personality, Stephen A. Smith, had some harsh comments toward the Buccaneers’ quarterback following Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.

There was plenty of controversy surrounding the roughing the passer call last week in the NFL and that included a penalty thrown on Atlanta Falcons’ defensive lineman Grady Jarrett when he sacked Buccaneers’ quarterback, Tom Brady, for a big loss in third down giving Tampa Bay an automatic first down with about 3 minutes left in the game.

READ MORE: Tom Brady has funny response to roughing the passer penalty

The penalty pretty much killed any chance for Atlanta to try and drive the field and win the game and was subject to criticism not only by the Falcons, but by the league as a whole.

While Tom Brady tried to downplay the significance of the penalty many around the league have spoken out about it including media personalities, such as Stephen A. Smith.

During his show on ESPN, “First Take”, Smith had some strong comments towards the Bucs’ QB.

“I’m not going to lie to you, and some people are gonna look at me and say I’m utterly crazy for saying this: I’m pretty damn ashamed of Tom Brady, too,” Smith said Monday on ESPN. “Tom Brady looked at the ref and was looking for a call. ‘Where’s the call?’ I know, win at all costs. But, damn, talk about taking the competitive fervor out of the mix. Win fairly. What are you looking at the referee for? You’re Tom Brady, you’re a seven-time champion. You know what kind of things you’ve endured throughout these years in the league. What the hell are you looking at the official to make a call on that play?”

It is widely known across the NFL that Brady gets calls that not many other players receive, however, this was a league wide problem during week 5 that included at least three other similar calls. For Smith to just focus on Tom Brady is a bit of a stretch as this has become an issue across the league as they try and protect quarterbacks after Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa went down with a serious concussion.

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