Monday will be a night Tom Brady wants to forget, but the internet certainly won’t anytime soon.
During the second half of the Buccaneers’ wild-card matchup against the Cowboys, Tampa Bay wide receiver Chris Godwin appeared to fumble the ball, with Dallas safety Malik Hooker swooping in for the recovery. As the play unfolded, the Buccaneers quarterback can be seen sliding on the field in what seemed to be an attempt to trip the defender.
Brady’s actions caused an uproar on Twitter, with many calling out the 23-year veteran over the “dirty play.”
“Dirty Play By Tom Brady,” former Cowboys wideout Jesse Holley wrote, while one user remarked, “Tom Brady slide tackle?! Wtf are you doing Tom?!”
Another viewer remarked how Brady “tried to slide kick like he’s playing soccer,” whereas Charles McDonald of Yahoo Sports posted, “Might catch a fine for that one.”
The Buccaneers caught a break, however, as Godwin was ruled down prior to the fumble.
Although Brady, 45, and the Buccaneers eventually put points on the board in the second half, the Cowboys came out on top, 31-14, and will now face the 49ers in the divisional round Sunday in San Francisco.
In what might have been Brady’s final game as a Buccaneer, the quarterback completed 35 of 66 attempts for 351 yards, two touchdowns and one interception that occurred in the red zone.
Brady said postgame that he tried to throw the ball out of the end zone on the pick, which came with the Buccaneers trailing 6-0 early in the second quarter.
“I was trying to throw it out and obviously didn’t get enough on it,” Brady said. “It certainly didn’t help our cause.”
With questions continuing to swirl about his future, Brady said, “It’ll just be one day at a time, truth.”
It’s been a challenging year for Brady, who not only endured a rollercoaster of a regular season with the 8-9 Buccaneers, but also saw the end of his 13-year marriage to Gisele Bündchen, with the two announcing their divorce in October.
