Tom Brady Calls out NFL Officials: 'It's More Like Flag Football'

Tom Brady has a big problem with officiating in the NFL. Last week, Brady talked about officiating during the Buffalo Bills vs. New York Giants game on the Let's Go! podcast and thought there should have been a defensive holding penalty called on Buffalo's Taron Johnson for his coverage of Darren Waller. Had a flag been thrown, it would have given the Giants one more shot at the end zone, but the no-call led to them losing to the Bills 14-9. 

"It's definitely a penalty," Brady said, per CBS Sports. "There was obviously a holding, they just didn't call it." While Brady thinks a flag should have been thrown for that play the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback also believes that there are too many flags thrown during games. 

"Football is a physical sport, there's a physical element to all of this," Brady said. "You throw a 15-yard flag for something that, you know, 20 years ago maybe wouldn't have had a flag. That affects the game in a big way." According to NFLpenalties.com, there have been 1,598 yards of flags thrown through seven weeks. The league is on track for over 4,200 flags thrown, more than the 3,726 flags thrown in 2022 and the 3,909 thrown in 2021. 

"There's so many people that want it less and less physical, it's more like flag football, which is going to be in the Olympics in 2028," Brady said. "Maybe football goes to flag football over a period of time." Fans had some interesting responses to Brady's comments. 

One fan wrote on social media: "He leaves the NFL and now starts saying it's becoming flag football, if I recall he was the one fighting for safety of the QB when he was playing that made the NFL into flag football."

"Yet he complained every time he got hit or wanted a flag oh he's still the goat but did his share of complaining lol," another fan wrote. While fans believed Brady benefitted from penalties, he did get punished by the NFL for kicking Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman Grady Jarrett last season. Jarrett was called for a roughing the passer penalty against Brady, who was seen kicking Jarrett after celebrating what he thought was a sack. The NFL fined Brady $11,139 for the kick.