The “Brady Rule” is Making a Joke of the Quarterback Position

I get it. Carson Palmer got hit low in a playoff game and sat out for a long period of time. It sucked. Tom Brady got hit low and missed an entire season after leading the Patriots through an undefeated regular season the year before. It sucked. Nobody wants to see the star players of the NFL get injured, standing on the sidelines with no pads for long periods of time. I get it.

But that’s football. Injuries happen.

The personal fouls that were called against Baltimore’s defense on two hits (if you can even call them “hits”) on Tom Brady were horrendous and Ray Lewis had every right to make those statements after the game.

If you’re a football fan and don't know what I'm talking about, take a look for yourself.



Terrell Suggs was pushed well after Tom Brady released the ball, and fell into Brady’s legs. And the “Brady Rule” prohibits any hits on the knees or below of quarterbacks – whether the defender leads with his helmet or his shoulder.

However, Suggs barely grazed the leg of the golden boy of the NFL. In fact, there wasn’t even enough contact to make Brady go to the ground. Brady intentionally and successfully dodged Suggs, stayed on his feet and actually argued for a 15-yard penalty.

Are you kidding me?

The New England quarterback reacted in a way that a center in a professional basketball game argues for a charging foul (except there’s more contact on a charging foul in the NBA than there was on this play).

Of course, the roughing the passer call occurred on a critical third down and kept the drive alive. And of course, the Patriots converted that gift from the refs to seven points.

Earlier in the game, Baltimore defensive tackle Haloti Ngata was questionably penalized for roughing the passer and New England turned that into seven points as well.

Ray Lewis was absolutely right when he said, “it is embarrassing to the game.” The referees should be embarrassed. The NFL owners who lobbied for the “Brady Rule” should be embarrassed. And Tom Brady should be embarrassed (although I doubt he is).

The “Brady Rule” might as well include flags on the waist of the quarterback and eliminate contact on the QB all together. All the defender would have to do is pull the flag and that would count as a sack. Because if rules like this one keep being implemented, then the game is going to turn into something close to flag football.

When former Patriot and teammate of Tom Brady, Rodney Harrison, says that Brady should “take off the skirt,” you know that the penalty was a disgrace to the game of football. - Michael Klopman

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