Tom Brady might have played his final NFL game last week when the Bucs lost at home to the Cowboys, 31-14, in a NFC wild-card game that was never really close to being a good game
Brady wasn’t at his best in that game and he seemed pretty frustrated for most of the night/season. Those frustrations might have been behind a dirty move that he tried to attempt on a Cowboys defender after what looked to be a fumble return that was later overturned.
In case you missed it, Brady tried to trip Dallas safety Malik Hooker in a 24-0 game but didn’t get flagged for this dirty move:
What is Tom Brady doing? pic.twitter.com/mIj1jEiWwv
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) January 17, 2023
Well, we learned this week that he’s been fined $16,444 by the NFL for the dirty move and he’s not pleased about that, saying on his podcast this week:
“I tried to tackle him with my right shoulder and missed him. And I wasn’t going to try to stick my arm out, so I was trying to get him on the ground. I tried to get him on the ground and I missed him. Completely!” Brady said. “I didn’t even hit him. I tried to trip him, but I didn’t!
“So I don’t know how you can get fined for something that didn’t even happen. Are they finding an intention? It’s like targeting and you missed the person you hit and they still call it targeting. I gotta figure out and understand why this is the case. This is why I wish out NFLPA was stronger.”
Yeah, the whole “I tried to trip him but failed!” defense is pretty lame. Just because Brady didn’t pull it off doesn’t mean he didn’t attempt to do it (which he admitted to!) and that should be what gets him punished. That really isn’t hard to explain or understand.
Also, it’s only $16K for a guy who has make truckloads of money in his career. Brady should have just kept quiet about this and paid the fine because this is a bad look for the 45-year-old QB, who might just want to call it quits.
Instead, Brady is appealing the fine, which makes all of this even more lame.
Just pay the fine, dude!
