Tom Brady is prohibited from criticizing NFL officials, but he insists that any conspiracy theory accusing them of favoring the Kansas City Chiefs is fake news.
Throughout their run to their third consecutive Super Bowl, the Chiefs have been accused of receiving preferential treatment from the referees.
Some have chalked it up to bad officiating, but other conspiracy theorists have gone so far as to accuse the NFL of fixing games to ensure Taylor Swift is at Super Bowl LIX.
Ahead of calling Super Bowl LIX for Fox, Tom Brady joined Fox & Friends Friday morning to preview the Chiefs’ matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. Aside from a few hits with Colin Cowherd, this was one of the few interviews Brady did this entire season.
And during his Fox & Friends appearance, the seven-time Super Bowl champion strongly debunked any conspiracy theories around the refs.
“I think it’s just all BS. It’s just a bunch of noise,” Brady said. “These refs have very challenging jobs to do. I’m very happy Twitter didn’t exist during the Tuck Rule Game in 2001, let me say that. I would’ve been on the wrong end on a lot of those. But these refs are out there trying to do their very best.
“They got to make decisions in a split second and they’re gonna call what they see and these guys are some of the most professional people on the field. They just want to do a good job like everyone else. And look, sometimes the calls go your way, sometimes they don’t. In the end, over the course of a 140-play game on both sides of the ball, the players have plenty of opportunities to go out there and make an impact in the game, winning or losing and that’s what I’m excited to see on Sunday night.”
At the start of the NFL season, Brady’s first in the booth for Fox, the NFL placed him under a unique set of restrictions as a broadcaster because of his minority ownership with the Las Vegas Raiders. One of those restrictions was prohibiting Brady from criticizing the officials.
Tom Brady did, however, go on to criticize calls during the season without any public pushback from the league. But obviously, he wouldn’t pour gasoline on any referee or Chiefs favoritism conspiracies two days before calling Super Bowl LIX. And if his relationship with the league weren’t enough to ensure Brady would defend the officials, the years of favoritism he was accused of receiving throughout his career certainly should.
