This NFL season marks the first in decades that quarterback Tom Brady is watching from the couch rather than competing every week. As a viewer rather than a participant now, Brady is not loving everything he is seeing on the field, specifically from the officials.
Brady discuss his opinions on the state of NFL officiating on his most recent "Let's Go" podcast.
While speaking with fellow host Jim Gray and Larry Fitzgerald, Brady reviewed the controversial ending of the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants.
At the end of the game, many, including Brady, believe a defensive holding penalty should have been called on Buffalo's Taron Johnson for his coverage of Darren Waller. A flag thrown would have given the Giants one more shot at the end zone. Instead, New York was one yard shy of an upset and lost 14-9 against Buffalo.
Here is a look at the play:
"It's definitely a penalty," Brady says. "There was obviously a holding, they just didn't call it."
While Brady wishes there was some laundry thrown on the field in that instance, he thinks in general the officials are throwing too many flags.
"Football is a physical sport, there's a physical element to all of this," the future Hall of Famer 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 1,402 flags thrown through six weeks, including declined penalties and offsetting penalties, meaning the league is on track for 4,206 flags thrown. In 2022 there were 3,726 flags thrown and in 2021 there were 3,909.
On Monday night, there were 20 combined penalties in the Cowboys' win over the Chargers.
The seven time Super Bowl champion compared what he is seeing on the field now to flag football and even said that is where the league could be heading.
"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."
This is far from the first time players have criticized the referees. Many calls or no calls would have changed the outcome of games have been scrutinized and called out by fans, coaches and players.
This season one of the biggest officiating mistakes was a missed unnecessary roughness call on Atlanta Falcons fullback Keith Smith. Despite no flag being thrown at the time of the play, he was fined $87,418 for the hit against Detroit Lions running back Zonovan Knight.