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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Richard Seymour is doing his best George Costanza......

Anyone else following this Richard Seymour saga? You just can’t make this stuff up! This situation is now is beyond bizarre.

At issue here is the fact that there has to be some type of mechanism in place to compel players who aren't happy with the fact that they've been traded to continue to honor the contracts they previously have signed. Otherwise, every player would have a de facto no-trade clause in his contract, allowing him to dig in his heels and refuse to move at no consequence, or possibly to show up for work -- George Costanza style -- at a place where he no longer is employed. How great would it be if he just showed up to work Sunday morning for the Patriots game. :)

On September 6, 2009 the Patriots traded the eight-year veteran defensive lineman Richard Seymour to the Oakland Raiders in exchange for a first-round draft choice in the 2011 NFL draft. In his eight years with the Patriots, Seymour played an important part in delivering six division championships, four conference titles and three Super Bowl championships to New England.

But Seymour doesn’t want to go…….

Why not you ask? We’ll I guess it’s because he feels they suck is the answer, and it seems that some others agree with Seymour……….On the Dan Patrick show the other day, Rodney Harrison, his old teammate, was asked about his thoughts on the Seymour trade. His answer - “If I had been traded to the Raiders, I would drive to Chicago in order to climb the Sears Tower and jump off!”

Ok, so Seymour doesn’t report to the Raiders and the Raiders send him a “5-day letter” - a letter telling him he had five days to report or be placed a suspended list which would allow the Raiders to retain his rights in 2010 for his 2009 salary of $3.7 million.

Now Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe reports that the NFL Players Union has filed a grievance contending that the Raiders lack the ability to threaten Seymour with placement on the reserve/left club list. The argument will be that the procedure does not apply to players who have been traded.

It remains to be seen whether the union proposes a different procedure, or whether the union believes that the team that is trying to trade the player has the ability to send the "five-day letter."

How ever this turns out, you can be sure that this will forever be known as the “Seymour rule.” How come my clients never get involved in this juicy stuff? – Keith A. Baker 

Keith A. Baker is a sports agent in Stamford, Connecticut. His goal is to offer a unique insight to the world of sports. Comments in his columns are for entertainment purposes only and do not reflect the views and opinions of his firm or his clients.

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