Immediately following the Buccaneers' loss to the Rams in the NFC divisional round Sunday, Tom Brady did not want to discuss the first unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he was called for in his career.
Referee Shaun Hochuli said the quarterback used abusive language when he argued there should have been a flag on the Rams' Von Miller when he hit Brady in the chin on a play in the first half.
A few days later on his Let's Go! podcast, Brady gave his side of what happened.
“If I feel like they miss a call, I want to let the guy know,” he said. “And I’ve done that literally a thousand times over the course of my career and never got called. In this instance, before I could realize it, the flag was thrown. And I was looking at the guy like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I didn’t cuss, I didn’t do any of those things."
Brady added: “I obviously felt like I got hit on the chin, and I felt like he missed in the end a clear penalty. So I screamed at him to throw the flag, and he did. But I guess I need to be more specific with who he needs to throw the flag on. So I’ve got a nice bruise under my chin. ... It is the first time in 22 years to get flagged. That was pretty comical to me.”
The 44-year-old is now contemplating his future, as he potentially could retire after 22 NFL seasons.