Over the weekend, Tom Brady criticized the referees during his Fox NFL broadcast, which appeared to violate the unique rules he must follow as both a broadcaster and a league owner. But it does not sound like the league felt his comments were worth punishment.
During Sunday’s broadcast of the game between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, Tom Brady criticized the decision to eject Lions defensive back Brian Branch from the game after he was flagged for unnecessary roughness for a hit on Packers receiver Bo Melton.
“I don’t love that call at all,” Brady said during the broadcast. “Obviously it’s a penalty, but to me, there has to be serious intent in a game like this.”
It certainly seemed like Brady was criticizing the referees – which he is explicitly prohibited from doing – but the NFL has since confirmed to the Sports Business Journal that Brady will not be punished for his comments.
NFL Chief Spokesman Brian McCarthy told SBJ that as long as Brady is not “egregiously critical” of the referees, he would not be punished.
“The concern would be if Tom was egregiously critical of officiating or called into question the integrity of an official or the crew,” McCarthy told SBJ today. “That did not occur in this instance.”
This adds a little bit of clarification going forward as to what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to the rules Brady is expected to follow.
Until this clarification from McCarthy, the known rules that Brady must follow had only been an unqualified prohibition on criticism of officials or other clubs.
This clarification certainly eases the restrictions on Brady a little bit and makes his job a little easier going forward.
Still, Brady will have to be mindful to avoid being “egregiously critical.”
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