Tom Brady Defends His Actions That Drew First Unsportsmanlike Conduct Penalty of His Career vs. Rams

Tom Brady speaks out about the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he was flagged for vs. the Rams on Sunday.

Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady admitted last week on his Let's Go! podcast with Jim Gray that NFL officials let him get away with more, giving him favorable treatment on called penalties.

“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.”

Perhaps in looking back, Brady may wish he wouldn't have gone public with that statement as Sunday's Divisional Round matchup in which the Rams defeated the Bucs 30-27, the officials took action following a play Brady disagreed with.

Brady was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty, the first of his 22-year career.

Brady was hit in the facemask at the end of a pass play by Rams edge rusher Von Miller in the second quarter, leaving him with a bloody lip. After Miller wasn’t flagged on the play, Brady voiced his case to the officiating crew – specifically to Shawn Hochuli – who then proceeded to throw the flag, except he wound up penalizing Brady.

Per the pool report following the game, Hochuli said Brady “got in my face in an aggressive manner and used abusive language."

The penalty that put the Bucs back 15 yards had no impact on the game. Brady connected with running back Leonard Fournette on the next play, picking up the yardage lost.

Brady spoke about the penalty on his Let's Go! podcast, defending the conversations he encountered with the NFL officials.

“I obviously felt like I got hit on the chin, and I felt like he missed, in the end, a clear penalty," Brady said. "So, I screamed at him to throw the flag, and he did. But I guess I need to be more specific with who he needs to throw the flag on. So I’ve got a nice bruise under my chin. It's part of football, and we overcame it.

“It is the first time in 22 years to get flagged. That was pretty comical to me.”

Although Hochuli stated that Brady used abusive language toward him, he denied that claim.

“The referees have a difficult job but at the same time, the players have a difficult job, too,” Brady said. “If I feel like they miss a call, I want to let the guy know. And I’ve done that literally a thousand times over the course of my career and never got called. And in this instance, before I could realize it, the flag was thrown. And I was looking at the guy like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I didn’t cuss, I didn’t do any of those things.”

Brady now enters an offseason full of uncertainty, not committing whether or not he'll return to the Bucs next season or retire from the NFL. 

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