Two controversial roughing the passer calls during Week 5 of the 2022 NFL season gave fans and analysts a lot to talk about this week. Tom Brady addressed the topic on Thursday, since the Buccaneers were benefited from a bad call.
With more than two minutes leftin the fourth quarter, a roughing the passer call on Falcons‘ Grady Jarrett against the Bucs quarterback pushed Atlanta 15 yards back. Tampa Bay was third-and-five at the opponents’ 47-yard line, so the first down eventually helped them secure the win.
Otherwise, they would have lost 10 yards and therefore had no option but to punt, giving the Falcons enough time to attempt a comeback. Brady, however, said the officials making mistakes is part of the game.
Tom Brady understands missed calls are part of the game
“No one wants any missed calls,” Brady said Thursday, via ProFootballTalk. “There’s a lot of things I see that are probably pretty challenging to officiate, probably pretty challenging to play defense with, so I don’t have the answers to all those. I don’t think the referees are robots, I don’t think they’re trying to get it wrong, I don’t think they’re always gonna get it right. I feel bad for a guy when they get called something that probably shouldn’t be that way. Sometimes you’ve just got to shake it of.
“I’ve lost Super Bowls because I thought they missed a call. You’re going to get some, you’re going to not get some. You hope they don’t come up but they come up. It’s sports.It’s just the way sports are. I miss throws, refs miss calls, we try to do the best we can do,” Brady added and joked,“When they don’t go your way you just complain to the refs, like I do.”
Unfortunately, mistakes happen in sports. Players, coaches, and officials are all human beings who will sometimes make the wrong decision, even if they don’t intend to. At the same time, it’s also right to hold the refs to a high standard. Otherwise, the game wouldn’t be the same.