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‘I tried to trip him, but I didn’t!’: Bucs’ Tom Brady appeals NFL’s $16,444 fine for attempted slide tackle on Cowboys’ Malik Hooker in playoff loss, arguing he ‘didn’t hit the deep
Tom Brady will not pay his $16,444 fine for an attempted trip without a fight.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback decided to appeal the penalty issued by the NFL after he attempted to slide Dallas Cowboys safety tackle Malik Hooker following a fumble in a season-ending playoff loss. Monday.
Brady’s reason for the appeal: He didn’t even touch Hooker.
“I tried to put him down with my right shoulder and missed,” Brady said during his weekly interview. SiriusXM Podcasts. And I wasn’t going to try to get my arm out, so I was trying to throw it to the ground. I tried to throw it to the ground and lost it. Completely… I didn’t even hit him. I tried to trip him, but I didn’t.
The hefty fine came after the 45-year-old Brady attempted to ‘slide’ against Cowboys safety Malik Hooker.
Brady’s reckless play was deemed “dirty” by NFL fans after the Bucs’ first-round playoff exit.
Brady, a 23-year member of the NFL Players Association, put some of our responsibility on the union.
“So I don’t know how you can get fined for something that didn’t even happen,” he said. Are you finding an intention? It’s like aiming and you missed the person you hit and they still call it aiming. I have to find out and understand why this is the case.
“That’s why I wish the NFLPA was stronger.”
The most famous member of the syndicate remains without committing for the next season. He will become a free agent on March 16 at 1 p.m. a playoff loss to the Cowboys.
Brady was on the defensive Monday when asked by co-host Jim Gray about his future plans.
‘If I knew what I would do [expletive] do, I would have (expletive) done it already,’ he said. I am taking it one day at a time.
Tom Brady suffered his first losing season in 23 years in 2022 and divorced his wife
The 45-year-old said he has been spending time with his children since the loss.
“I did a lot of things with my kids and my family, trying to catch up like football players probably do at the end of a long season,” said Brady, who divorced his wife Gisele Bundchen in October.
There is a lot of decompression. I know we use that word a lot, but there’s a real hard landing element to all of this and doing it for as long as I have, there’s no soft landing either. It ends and it’s over. As much as you’d love for something to be a little smoother coming out, it’s just not the reality.
In addition to a possible return to the Buccaneers, Brady is rumored to be attracting interest from the Miami Dolphins, Las Vegas Raiders and San Francisco 49ers.