The extremely controversial “roughing the passer” penalty called for Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady during yesterday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons indicates to many that Brady has been getting special treatment from the NFL on Sundays.
But there was a time where you could actually hit Brady in the open field without a thousand yellow flags being thrown your way.
An old clip from early in Brady’s career has been going viral from a game against the Buffalo Bills, where Bills cornerback Nate Clements lays Brady out so hard that Brady’s helmet gets knocked off from the blow. No flag was thrown on the play.
“Hitting Tom brady like this in todays NFL might land you in prison,” the account user wrote. The clip has over 300,000 views, 10,000 likes and 2,000 retweets since yesterday.
There was no disagreement from any of the thousands of people who commented on it.
“You would seriously be suspended for the year at the very least. We should just give QBs flags and be done with it already,” one fan replied.
“He didn’t cry for a flag here neither,” another fan pointed out.
“Maaaan! You see he got up, applaud the stick and got back under center. Today, all players would be still on the ground and players on a knee with a tear forming,” wrote a third.
Times have changed though. They’ve just changed a little too far in the other direction for comfort.
There has to be a middle ground somewhere.