Brady: 'I don’t think I’ve ever been so visibly pissed off'
November 30, 2015, 10:45 am
by Phil Perry
Given the way Sunday night's game played out, it was understandable as to why Tom Brady was so irked after the fact.
The Patriots had a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. They had big pickups negated by penalties they didn't agree with. They lost Rob Gronkowski, who had to be carted off due to an injury. They didn't get a pass-interference penalty they thought they deserved when Brandon LaFell ran deep down the field during the first play of overtime. Then the Broncos ended the game with a long touchdown run.
"How it all played out," Brady told WEEI's Dennis and Callahan Show, "I guess I was just pretty pissed off at, obviously, the final outcome, just how the last 20 minutes of the game played out."
The 30-24 loss to the Broncos on Sunday night was New England's first defeat of the season, dropping their record to 10-1. They still maintain the top seed in the AFC, but that didn't do much to take away any of the sting the morning after.
"It was a very hard loss," Brady said. "I don’t think I’ve ever been so visibly pissed off after a loss. And I think everyone felt the same way. Hopefully we can use it as motivation going forward. Like I said, there’s things that we could have done better. And it’s certainly not to leave it up to a call here or a call there or one player. There’s things across the board that we need to do a better job of and we can do a better job of. And that’s what the focus is going to be this week."
As much as Brady didn't want to blame the officiating, it was clear during his weekly radio back-and-forth that he was confused by how the game was officiated -- particularly as it related to the pass interference penalties for which Rob Gronkowski was flagged.
"Sometimes we’re getting [the calls] and sometimes we don’t," Brady said. "We didn’t get any last night. I don’t know why or why not. You think they’re looking at it, and they probably are. Sometimes officials miss it, too. I totally understand that. They’re not — I don’t know. I have no clue."
Gronkowski was called for two offensive pass interference penalties on Sunday night. The first was wiped away by an offsetting penalty called on the Broncos. The second negated a third-and-five conversion, and the Patriots were forced to punt two plays later.
"They just feel like there’s a push-off," Brady said. "It’s obviously different than what I thought, because I’m looking at it, too. But they’re the ones with the flags, and they blow [the whistle]. You hate to see it come down to stuff like that. But there were a lot of plays last night that just didn’t necessarily end up the way that we would had hoped, and there was a lot of things we could have done better.
"I’m certainly not going to sit here and blame the officiating. Some days you get the calls, some days you don’t. We’re going to have to figure out what we need to do better going forward so we don’t get them, and then obviously the things that we can control, which is our play and our execution, do a better job there."
Brady said he’s not sure how Gronkowski will be able to avoid contact with a defensive player in his path.
On Gronkowski, Brady added: "There’s nothing he can do other than the alternative is just to run up-field and make no contact and let them contact you. Then they can obviously contact you within five yards of the line of scrimmage, but now you’re talking offensively you can’t contact anybody within five yards of the line of scrimmage. I don’t fully understand it. Like I said, I know our coaches have talked to the league quite a bit about it. Like I said, it’s just one of those things when we’re not getting the [call], and certainly Rob’s not, because as you guys can see it doesn’t look like he’s doing a lot of pushing."
Poster Comment:
"Sting" was the name of a band.