Patriots quarterback Tom Brady knew Rodney Harrison was going to take a jab at him on NBC last night, according to Harrison.
“I was joking about it,” Harrison said to me in an early-morning phone call. “I called Tom before halftime and told him I was going to go after him a little bit so he knew about it. He was fine with it. I would never question his toughness. He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback and he’s one of my best friends. It was tongue-in-cheek.”
So there you go. And we’re now clear that Harrison was: (1) joking; and (2) thinks quarterbacks are overprotected. But what we’re not clear on is why Terrell Suggs, who wasn’t “blocked into Brady” at all as has been alleged, wound up careening at Brady’s knees.
Are quarterbacks well protected? Sure. But so are defensive players from cut blocks, chop blocks, leg whips, trips and all manner of infractions that can ruin their legs and their means of earning a living. And the defensive players often have a better chance to see their attacker and two hands to fend him off while a quarterback’s eyes and attention are down the field and he has a ball in his hands.
The “put a skirt on ‘em” and “let’s just play flag football” cries come unfailingly from defensive players who don’t know how much tougher it is to do what the quarterback does in accepting punishment than what they do in doling it out.
UPDATE: Brady, speaking on Boston’s WEEI this morning (via Albert Breer of Sporting News), returned fire, jokingly saying, “Rodney’s been fined more than any player in the history of the NFL so I can understand why he’s sensitive to cheap shots on the quarterback. Rodney’s like my brother, man. I love Rodney. There’s nothing he could ever say that could bother me.”