In a recent interview with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen, Dolphins’ linebacker Jerry Porter said that Tom Brady has an extra advantage every week because he has his own set of rules.
“No question,” said Porter, the Miami Dolphins’ quotable linebacker, who meets Brady’s New England Patriots on Sunday. “When a guy can tell a ref when to throw a flag, and he gets it, he’s got his own rules. They made the rule that you don’t go at the legs for Tom, so when he feels that someone is going at his legs, he just points to the ref and he gets a flag. So I can honestly say that he gets his own rules.”
Earlier this week, Porter said he has a “natural hate” for the Patriots, even bringing up the infamous spying charges leveled against New England from the 2007 season. The Patriots were fined $250,000 plus a No. 1 draft pick, and head coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 for videotaping signals from New York Jets coaches from the sidelines.
“I still don’t care for New England,” Porter said. “The hate’s been there for a while, especially after all the cheating they did back in the day.
… They can sweep it under the rug if they want to, but just like anybody else that’s cheating that gets caught, you put an asterisk by it. But nobody puts an asterisk by those championships.”
Porter has opened his mouth so many times about opposing teams and players that there is no shock value in what he said above. And actually, I agree with him that Brady is protected like a China doll – as our most quarterbacks in the NFL.
Some of the penalties levied on defenders this year from hits on quarterbacks have been ridiculous, both in the pros and on the college level. It’s getting to the point now where quarterbacks should just wear flags. It’s one thing if the defender clearly took a shot at a quarterback after the ball was released. But it’s quite another when a defender is going all out and the refs expect him to stop in midair to avoid hitting the quarterback.
In their latest ‘toon, Bang! Cartoons tackles the ever-growing issue the NFL has with trying to protect its quarterbacks, namely the Patriots’ Tom Brady.
It was amazing to watch the Patriots play the Chargers on Sunday night. New England is a completely different team without Tom Brady under center. And while that’s not an earth-shattering revelation, it’s something that shouldn’t be downplayed as much as it has at this point in the season.
This was a team that went 16-0 last year and outside of a few close calls, it steamrolled opponents on a weekly basis. Had they beaten the Giants in the Super Bowl, an argument could have been made that the 2007 New England Patriots were the greatest team in NFL history.
But as evidence by San Diego’s 30-10 rout on Sunday night, the Patriots are falling incredibly fast from their high perch. Even at 3-2, they’re not true postseason contenders. Not with Matt Cassel under center. And that’s not a knock on Cassel per se – it’s just reality. He’s an inexperienced player trying to lead an experienced team that is so used to having their quarterback know where he’s going to throw on every play and relying on him to make plays when things go haywire.
Without Brady, teams don’t fear the Patriots like they did last year. They don’t respect they’re swagger anymore and with each loss, you know Randy Moss is itching closer and closer to tanking it. It appears that not even Bill Belichick can save this team and it’s hard to hold that against him considering he doesn’t have his quarterback.
New England’s players and coaches have done a nice job trying to convince everybody that they’re fine without Brady – that they can win just as they did last year. But with Denver, Indianapolis, Buffalo and the Jets coming up over the next month and a half, the Patriots have a tough road to stay in the playoff hunt. Save for a Matt Cassel breakout performance, this team is in major trouble. And it’s amazing how fast a team can fall from grace after losing just one player. Even if that player is Tom Brady.
Irrelevant side note that means nothing: It was funny to hear Al Michaels essentially make a reference to gambling at the end of the game. The Patriots called a timeout so that they could run one more play in the red zone with two seconds remaining and while the game was already in the books with the Chargers up 30-10, Michaels noted that, “there are a few people very interested in this play here.”
Michaels said that because the over/under on the game was 45. Had the Patriots scored a touchdown, the total would have gone over. The only reason why his comments were interesting because the media is usually so hush-hush about the world of gambling. Maybe Al had some T.J. Duckett’s riding on the under? Al…you dog you.
