Tom Brady spoke too soon regarding the NFL's reluctance to call an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against him. For the first time in his NFL career, Brady was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty -- called against him at 44 years old (yes it took 22 seasons).
Brady received the penalty due to arguing with an official after Von Miller planted a hit that might have caused a bloody lip to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback during the Rams' wild 30-27 victory over the Bucs on Sunday. Miller hit Brady good, which caused him to scream at referee Shawn Hochuli because there was no flag for roughing the passer. Hochuli wasn't buying what Brady was selling and gave the flag to Brady instead.
Brady wasn't sent to the ground by Miller, but the helmet hit to his chin may have caused his lip to bleed. Naturally, Brady wasn't pleased with the no-call.
Unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Tom Brady after taking a shot from Von Miller, Brady bleeding on the lip after the shot#TBvsLAR pic.twitter.com/phH17TbTU2
— Ted Budd 🏀🏈 (@TedBuddy8) January 23, 2022
Following the game, Hochuli explained the conversation between himself and Brady that drew the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in a pool report provided by the Buccaneers.
"He got in my face in an aggressive manner and used abusive language," Hochuli said. "As for the hit, we did not think that it rose to the level of roughing the passer."
The irony with Brady getting an unsportsmanlike conduct call is that this past week he admitted the officials were lenient on such penalties toward him. During his "Let's Go!" podcast this week, Brady admitted he probably should get flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct more.
"I do know that [the officials] probably let me get away with a lot of unsportsmanlike conducts, talking smack to the other team and talking smack to the refs when I don't think I get the right call," Brady said. "I'm kind of a pain in their ass if you don't already know that."
Hochuli took notice of Brady's comments -- and was more than happy to oblige.
