Bernard Pollard Thinks Tom Brady’s Slide Deserves a Fine
By Josh Hill
The Baltimore Ravens soundly defeated the New England Patriots on Sunday to advance to their first Super Bowl since winning it all in 2001. Ravens linebacker Bernard Pollard was in high school when that happened, but while he can’t speak on what it’s like to return to the Super Bowl –like Ray Lewis is– he is speaking on what he thought about Tom Brady’s slide-kick at the end of the first half on Sunday.
If you ask Pollard, Brady deserves a fine.
“When you slide . . . everything is on the ground. He knew what he was doing,” Pollard said on Monday. “It has to go both ways. Hopefully the NFL will do something about it.”
The slide-kick in question occurred towards the end of the first half of Sunday’s AFC Championship game. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady scrambled and slid, but when he went to the ground he did a pseudo-karate kick that upended Ravens safety Ed Reed. Reed immediately appealed that the kick was dirty and Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was still arguing about it as he left the field at halftime.
[GIF: Tom Brady Slides-Kicks Ravens Safety Ed Reed in AFC Championship Game]
While the Ravens — and any person that sees the replay after hearing the Ravens cry about — are saying the kick was intentional, it’s really impossible to tell. It’s the classic case of if you play a record backwards by yourself, it’s gibberish but as soon as someone tells you what the gibberish is hearing you instantly hear those words.
Tom Brady’s slide to the virgin eye is just a slide but once someone tells you he’s kicking intentionally it looks like an intentional kick. Only Brady knows the real story which means we’ll never know it. What we do know is this: Brady’s slide didn’t hurt anyone, it’s not going to warrant a fine and the Ravens are playing in the Super Bowl on February 3rd.
So really, Pollard has nothing to complain about. But it doesn’t matter what Pollard or the NFL thinks, as the only opinion that is truly noteworthy is that of the fan. So was Brady’s kick intentionally or incidental?
You be the judge.