Three years ago Tom Brady was taken out at the knee and lost for the season, and the NFL responded by cracking down on low hits to quarterbacks in what some called the “Tom Brady Rule.” This week a player has been fined for violating the Tom Brady Rule, by hitting Tom Brady.
The NFL fined Chargers defensive tackle Antonio Garay $15,000 for hitting Brady below the knee, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Brady wasn’t hurt on the play, and he said that’s because he has worn a brace on his left knee ever since he returned from that season-ending knee injury in 2008.
“I’m glad I had a knee brace on,” Brady said on WEEI. “Those are scary, man, when you’ve been through those ones before. He got me in a good spot, and I’m glad the knee brace took the brunt of the force. Why I never wore a knee brace before, I have no idea. Why every quarterback doesn’t wear one on their left knee, I have no idea. It’s just so unprotected.”
Even though the league has made protecting quarterbacks against low hits a point of emphasis, referee Walt Anderson apparently didn’t get the memo, because there was no penalty on Garay on the play. But Brady said he doesn’t like people calling the low-hit rule the Tom Brady Rule.
“I think that’s the Carson Palmer Rule,” Brady said. “I’ve got another one that the Raiders like to remind me about — the Tuck Rule.”