Tom Brady Complains About 'Ridiculous Penalties' Via Twitter During Thursday Night Football
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady: He's just like us!
The superstar quarterback sat down to enjoy some football on Thursday night, with the Titans and Jaguars kicking off Week 3 in Jacksonville. However, in a first half filled with yellow flags flying left and right (including a holding penalty on the very first snap of the night), Brady had seen enough.
The QB took to his Twitter account -- which is generally reserved for dad jokes and pump-up videos -- to vent about what he was seeing.
"Too many penalties. Just let us play!!!!" Brady tweeted, adding the #TENvsJAC hashtag to ensure the world knew which game he was referencing.
That tweet immediately gained some steam, and just minutes later, Kamalei Correa was penalized 15 yards for roughing the passer -- a penalty that appeared to be quite questionable.
That led to Brady firing off another tweet.
"I'm turning off this game I can't watch these ridiculous penalties anymore," Brady tweeted.
Some astute Twitter users noted that that tweet may have been sent with tongue planted firmly in cheek, as Brady has been the beneficiary of a decent number of roughing the passer penalties where the passer was not particularly roughed. On Thursday alone, Brady was at the center of an officiating discussing after a Dolphins linebacker told the media that a referee told him to stay off Brady during Sunday's game.
However, joking or not, Brady's commentary was quite popular -- even among enemies. Jets safety Jamal Adams, who's been complaining this week about a $21,000 fine for a roughing the passer penalty he committed vs the Browns on Monday night, seemed to appreciate someone of Brady's stature speaking out against the officiating in the NFL.
(Maybe that will lead to Adams going easy on Brady if he gets a chance to deliver a shot on Sunday afternoon.)
(Probably not.)
The tweet even made its way onto the TV broadcast, with play-by-play announcer Joe Buck telling Troy Aikman, "Over the last handful of minutes, we've lost a viewer."
After Buck informed Aikman of the tweet, Aikman said, "Hey, when Tom Brady speaks, there's a whole lot of people that listen. Maybe this will change things. We'll all be thanking Tom Brady."
Aikman added: "Tom Brady, one of the least controversial people that we have in our game. I mean, he is league royalty. And when he makes a statement like that, that should get somebody's attention. I agree, this is ridiculous -- again, this week."
Coincidentally, immediately after Buck and Aikman discussed Brady's tweet ... a penalty was called on Tennessee.
In total, there were 10 accepted penalties in the first half alone, plus three more penalties that were declined.
UPDATE: Brady spoke to reporters on Friday afternoon, and naturally, he was asked about his tweets.
Carl Cheffers will be the referee for Sunday's game. Expect Brady to inform Cheffers of that "pro-ref" stance before the game kicks off.
