Tom Brady drew a controversial roughing the passer penalty during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' wild-card win over the Philadelphia Eagles. The play left plenty of fans and players noting Brady's "preferential treatment" from NFL referees.
The truth is, Brady doesn't get those calls too often. The former New England Patriots quarterback was the benefactor of only one other roughing the passer penalty all season.
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The topic got brought up on the latest episode of Brady's "Let's Go!" podcast with Jim Gray, and the 44-year-old shut down the notion that refs give him favorable calls.
"I always hear that to different degrees about getting penalties and so forth and roughing the passers," Brady told Gray. "I think that speaks to it, because they say that and I'm always in my mind going, 'I don't remember the last time I got a roughing the passer.' I think we should look that up. Over the last 10 years, who's got the most roughing the passer penalties? I hope it's not me, because then I just put my foot in my mouth. But I don't feel like I get them as people may think that I get them."
The answer to Brady's question is Matt Ryan. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback has drawn 50 roughing the passer penalties since 2011. Ryan Fitzpatrick is just behind him at 45, and the next highest total on the list is 32 for Green Bay Packers signal-caller Aaron Rodgers.
NBC and Pro Football Focus' Cris Collinsworth chimed in on Twitter and had Brady's back.
"Tom Brady NOT getting special treatment," he wrote. "You have the 4th-lowest rate of roughing the passer calls since 2015 at 3.9%!!"
Brady may have exonerated himself from the roughing the passer claims, but he admits there are some calls he often gets away with.
"I do know that they 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," he said. "I'm kind of a pain in their ass if you don't already know that."
NFL
We can expect Brady to continue his chirping when the Bucs host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round. Kickoff for that matchup is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.