Raiders Think One of Brady's Rings Was Tucked Away
Quarterback Tom Brady is retiring after 22 seasons and taking a record seven Super Bowl rings with him, but fans of Raider Nation will tell you he should have only six.
Of course, we’re talking about the infamous “Tuck Rule Game” during the 2001 NFL playoffs.
The Raiders held a 13-10 lead over the New England Patriots, who had yet to win a Super Bowl, with less than two minutes remaining in an American Football Conference divisional playoff game during a snowstorm at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Brady went back to pass and had his arm cocked to throw the ball, but was pulling in down when he was hit by blitzing Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson and fumbled, with linebacker Gre Biekert recovering for the Raiders.
The game was essentially over because the Patriots had no timeouts left and all quarterback Rich Gannon of the Raiders had to do was take a knee on three straight plays and the clock would run out.
Brady knew the game was over, picking himself up off the frozen turf and jogging to the sideline with his head down without saying a word.
Even former star quarterback Phil Simms in the television booth said it was a fumble after watching the replay. The Raiders were celebrating while not one of the Patriots, including Coach Bill Belichick, was appealing to the officials that it was an incomplete pass.
However, someone in the press box who has never been identified told Referee Walt Coleman to go look at the tape. After several minutes, Coleman returned to the field and announced that it was an incomplete pass.
Coleman cited Rule 3, Section 21, Article 2, Note 2 in the NFL Rule Book, which read: “Any intentional forward movement of (the passer’s) arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball toward his body that makes it an incomplete pass.”
For the record, that rule—which came to be known as The Tuck Rule—is no longer in the NFL Rule Book, and the Raiders and their fans have always wondered how it could have been an incomplete pass when Brady had no intention of throwing the ball at the moment he was hit by Woodson and fumbled.
In fact, newspapers the next day showed pictures with Brady having both hands on the ball an instant before he was hit by Woodson, which was hard to see on the game film because things happened so quickly.
“It’s B.S,” said Woodson, who maintains to this day that it was a fumble. “I thought it was a B.S. call. It never should have been overturned. Unbelievable that Coleman could sit there and look at it several times and still get the call wrong.”
Brady didn’t seem to know what to say to reporters immediately after the game in the locker room and seemed surprised that it was an issue.
Finally, he spoke but wasn't unconvincing.
“Uh, uh …” Brady stammered at first. “You know, he hit me. I wasn’t sure. … Yeah, I was throwing the ball. How do you like that? Damn right. Damn right.”
The Patriots got the ball back and Adam Vinatieri kicked a 45-yard field goal to tie the game, 13-13, and send it to overtime before adding a 23-yarder to give the Patriots a 16-13 victory in sudden death.
New England went on to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-17 in the AFC Championship before beating the St. Louis Rams, 20-17, in Super Bowl XXXIV to give Brady the first of his seven rings.
For years, Brady either wouldn’t talk about “The Tuck Play,” or admit that he fumbled.
However, in 2019, he appeared on ESPN’s “Peyton’s Places,” hosted by another great quarterback, Peyton Manning.
“The Tuck Rule game, was it a fumble?” Manning asked.
Responded Brady: “Oh, yeah. I thought (the) game’s over. For the record, I was pulling (the ball) down.”
But Brady didn’t offer to give back the ring he doesn’t deserve.
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