Bernard Pollard Unhappy With Tom Brady For Attempting to Kick Ed Reed
By Josh Sanchez
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady made a mistake that cost his team to add some points to the scoreboard at the up of the first-half of the AFC Championship game, but it is the technique of Brady’s slide that is being called in to question.
A the end of the second quarter, Brady slid cleats up at Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed. While we can’t know exactly what Brady’s intent was during the slide, it appeared that he was attempting to put his cleats directly on Reed’s knee. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured during the play, but many people noticed the questionable player.
One of those players was Ravens safety Bernard Pollard, who has hurt a few Patriots players in his days in the NFL. Pollard questioned the way Brady slid into his teammate and hopes that some people will take notice.
“You’ve got to keep them legs down,” Pollard said, per CSNNE.com. “You’ve go to keep the legs down. We all know and understand what’s going on there. And as a quarterback, when you go to slide, we’re taught … we can’t do anything. When you come sliding, and your leg is up in the air trying to kick somebody, that’s bull crap.”
Here is a GIF of the play from GIF.mocksession.com:
When you watch the GIF, it looks like Brady is clearly look at Reed’s legs and tries to kick him on the knee. If he would have connected, it could have been an ugly injury. If you have any doubts that Brady was intentionally going for a kick, the GIF clears it up when you see Brady’s leg twitch and extend once Reed is within kicking distance.
This appears to be a more obvious attempt at a cheap shot than when Ndakumong Suh kicked Matt Schaub in the groin earlier this year. Suh was fined $30,000 for his kick and Brady should receive an equal or greater fine.
How did you view the slide? Was Brady just a victim of poor sliding technique or was he intentionally looking to deliver a kick to Reed. You know where I stand, so now let’s here your opinions. The comments section is open and ready to hear from you all.
Was Brady’s slide fair or foul?