Tom Brady mocks his own relationship with NFL referees

Tom Brady the broadcaster might defend NFL officials for trying their best, but that wasn’t always the case for Tom Brady the player.

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith Schuster was flagged for offensive pass interference late in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIX to wipe a touchdown off the board. It was a largely irrelevant penalty, the Chiefs got their touchdown back two plays later and it occurred while they were already trailing the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 40-6.

The penalty certainly didn’t have the importance that the one Schuster benefited from in Super Bowl LVII had. But it still became a noteworthy moment during the Super Bowl LIX broadcast Sunday night because the call garnered praise from Tom Brady.

“You agree with the call!” play-by-play voice Kevin Burkhardt said with surprise.

“Normally I would be yelling at the referee, I was pretty much known for that,” Brady said with a chuckle before asking rules analyst Mike Pereira about their past interactions on the field. “Mike, how does it feel when a referee is getting yelled at, it only happened to me once or twice. Do those guys get offended at all?”

“It just depends who does it,” Pereira said. “Some people we ignore. They end up in a booth somewhere calling a Super Bowl, but when they’re playing, we end up ignoring.”

Brady is much kinder to the refs as a broadcaster. He strongly defended NFL officials last week from accusations that they’ve given the Chiefs preferential treatment, insisting the “refs are out there trying to do their very best.” Maybe Brady had an epiphany in retirement, or maybe he’s just trying to follow the restrictions placed on him by the NFL, which prohibits him from criticizing the officials because of his minority ownership with the Las Vegas Raiders.