Tom Brady admits the Tuck Rule was BS

You read that headline correctly. Tom Brady – the GOAT – admits the Tuck Rule game may have been BS all along. He jokingly admits that he may have fumbled the football on that snowy field… that he should not have won his first Super Bowl back in 2002. Thank you, Tom. We have known this all along. But, thank you.

Brady released a TikTok this morning that stitched himself with singer Justin Bieber’s video. Bieber says, “New trend alert: Tell me something honest.” Brady then appears and admits, “The Tuck Rule game against the Raiders (looks right and left to make sure no one is watching) might have been a fumble.”

Brady whispered the “might have been a fumble” part which makes the Tiktok even funnier. I hated the GOAT for nearly two decades. I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but… I’ve developed a man crush on Brady ever since he started playing for Tampa Bay. Weird, I know, considering the Buccaneers are rivals to my favorite team, the New Orleans Saints.

I passionately hated Brady when he played quarterback for the New England Patriots. He appeared so smug. So unapproachable. So elitist. It’s possible my hatred for Tom started on January 19, 2002, after the so-called “Tuck Rule Game.” The Divisional Playoff game between the Patriots and Oakland Raiders was tied at 13 with less than two minutes to go in the 4^th quarter. With the field covered in snow, cornerback Charles Woodson blitzed from the right side and strip sacked Brady. Oakland recovered the fumble near midfield. A split second before Woodson’s hit, it appeared as though Brady attempted to pass the ball – made the motion – but never released the pass.

The referees reviewed the play and overruled the fumble call – instead calling it an incomplete pass. The Foxborough crowd celebrated the decision.

So what is the Tuck Rule? In 1999, a new NFL Rule stated: “When [an offensive player] is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck back into his body.”

The referees believe Brady had not fully tucked the ball back into this body, so by rule this was an incomplete pass. This play, along with Dez Bryant’s “non-catch” against the Packers are, in my opinion, the two most controversial calls in recent playoff history.

The Patriots continued the drive and it resulted in a game winning 45-yard field goal by Adam Vinitieri. A few weeks later, the Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. That was the first of Brady’s seven Super Bowl rings. On March 20, 2013, the NFL abolished the Tuck Rule by a 29-1 vote. The New England Patriots abstained from voting.

Brady is now making fun of the incident on Tiktok and I’m all about it. Ever since joining the Buccaneers, he has become more visible on social media and I like what I see. Brady is funny. He’s obviously loved by his teammates. Brady just seems like a guy that I’d love to have a beer with. Heck, the dude threw the Lombardi trophy from one boat to another, for crying out loud!

I’m happy to see Brady back for another season. He makes the NFL better. And, his honesty about the Tuck Rule game is low key twisting the knife on the Raiders franchise. I absolutely love it!

– Michael Jimenez