Data proves Tom Brady roughing the passer call narrative is pure saltiness
The Twitter world and sports world are crying about how Tom Brady gets all the roughing the passer calls. Nice try because the data and history suggest otherwise.
Cry me a river, or run to Twitter and type out the tears. That seems to be the normal reaction when a penalty helps Tom Brady win.
Against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, a roughing the passer call on Grady Jarrett when he sacked Brady gave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers an automatic first down and ultimately helped avoid a furious comeback in a 21-15 win over Atlanta.
Naturally, the sports world flipped out and proceeded to run to Twitter, a podcast, or a microphone, to voice frustration on how Brady always gets the calls, the game is rigged, and so forth.
Here’s the bottom line. You’re wrong, and here’s why you’re wrong. The data shows otherwise.
The numbers are all out there, clearly displaying that Brady gets less roughing the passer calls, by percentage and total calls, than peer QBs.
— Jon Ledyard (@LedyardNFLDraft) October 9, 2022
Solely a matter of people wanting to evade facts for easy narrative.
Also, the roughing call on Jarrett was among worst of all time. https://t.co/Y5TWC1IndP
The roughing-the-passer call against Grady Jarrett on Sunday was the first such call drawn by Tom Brady this year. He drew one, total, in all of 2021. Since he came to Tampa in 2020, he ranks 16th among all QBs in RTP penalties. He has six.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) October 10, 2022
Ryan 17
Allen 16
Tannehill 15
Goff 13
https://twitter.com/PFF/status/1483836551503167488?s=20&t=FJRPWuNZQLV9RGI7rgRnmg
Was it a bad call? No doubt. But to sit there and cry and spew a false narrative? That seems relatively common in this day and age.
Tom Brady got bailed out by a bad call, but the narrative that he gets all the roughing-the-passer calls is preposterous blasphemy.
It seems relatively common, doesn’t it? Tom Brady wins, and the complaints start to fly that he gets preferential treatment. Yet, if memory serves, others have been given similar treatment and not much of a peep. How is that?
The answer is quite simple. Envy, jealousy, etc. All the ingredients of what the sports world has become. Yes, it was a bad call, but it doesn’t join the narrative as many would wish to believe. Also, the entire game against Atlanta wasn’t a good look for Tampa Bay regarding officiating.
Missed calls all over Bucs-Falcons on Sunday. Here's Falcons' first touchdown, and a pretty clear hold by Falcons TE Parker Hesse on Antoine Winfield to spring Avery Williams for an 8-yard score. They miss a lot. pic.twitter.com/ySfqMYvqH6
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) October 10, 2022
Here's the play where Vita Vea drew a 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer. Falcons guard Chris Lindstrom is pushing him toward Mariota on the play and Vea just runs into the quarterback after the throw. pic.twitter.com/sEXVFh2pQ7
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) October 10, 2022
That said, again, it was a bad call and hurt the Falcons. But it didn’t necessarily cost them the game. They still had to go down the field to win the game, and maybe they would have won or lost. We don’t know.
But don’t try to conjugate this narrative that Tom Brady gets all the calls. It’s weak, and frankly, it’s getting boring.