Tom Brady Criticizes NFL Officiating: ‘It’s More Like Flag Football’

The former quarterback said he usually believes that referees’ calls “even themselves out over the period of the season”

Tom Brady. PHOTO: JULIO AGUILAR/GETTY

Tom Brady is discovering what it’s like to be an NFL fan in his first season since retiring. Most football fans know that includes faulting officials.

This week on his SiriusXM show, Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald, and Jim Gray, Brady, 46, called the NFL’s officials “more like flag football” on Tuesday.

“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,” he remarked. “Maybe football goes to flag football over a period of time.”

Brady specifically mentioned Sunday’s game between the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills, which the Giants lost when referees missed a flag in the dying seconds.

Brady: “It’s definitely a penalty,” on Giants’ Darren Waller. “There was obviously a holding, they just didn’t call it.”Former quarterback: “I think officials’ calls “balance themselves out over the course of the season,” but “it’s also terrible when you see a call like that…it’s extremely unjust.”

Tom Brady at Raymond James Stadium. 

MIKE EHRMANN/GETTY

“Why do they call it sometimes when they don’t?” Brady said. Always had an issue when they tossed a flag and nothing happened. There was no hold when they called a hold. I don’t understand how you flagged something you overlooked. I always assumed that if a ref didn’t call a hold, I didn’t witness it. Sometimes they let guys play.”

Brady termed the Waller play’s missed call “so obvious,” adding, “because it’s at the end of the game, you know, everyone wants it called, and you’d always love the refs to get it right.” The Giants lost to the Bills.

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Sports are like that, Brady added. “Refs make mistakes. Like players, they make mistakes. It’s not always the refs’ fault. Brady stated you can’t always trust refs.

He said “There’s always probably a middle ground in all of it that you’re hoping over the course of the season they balance themselves out and maybe you’re on the positive end of one of those calls.”

Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady #12 takes the field. Sebastian Wintermann/GettyThe former quarterback said football’s violence is expected.Football is a physical sport; this is physical. You toss a 15-yard flag for something that maybe didn’t have one 20 years ago. That greatly impacts the game “Brady said.Seven-time Super Bowl winner acknowledges “normal fans’ frustration” with officiating calls in football games. “Because watching gives you more context and this TV shows every replay. Nothing like that happens on the field.”

Tom Brady attends “80 for Brady” LA premiere. Jon Kopaloff/GETTY IMAGESPatriots legend Tom Brady says he’s already viewing NFL games from a broadcaster’s perspective ahead of his 2024 Fox Sports debut.”I’m absorbing it,” Brady said. “I’m trying to listen from a broadcaster’s perspective and how they’re calling the game, paying more attention to the broadcasting element and pageantry than the nuances and technicalities.”In May 2022, the former Bucs star said he was “excited” to broadcast.