Tom Brady

Tim Brown believes Tom Brady owes his career to the tuck rule

Published Feb. 2, 2017 4:25 p.m. ET

Nunzio Ingrassia

Tom Brady is days away from possibly becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to win five Super Bowls. But for Hall of Fame wideout and former Raider Tim Brown, the New England Patriots star should “thank the Oakland Raiders” every chance he gets.

Why would Brown say such a thing? He’s still bitter about the Raiders' loss to the Patriots during the 2001 playoffs in which Brady appeared to fumble late in the fourth quarter, which would have essentially sealed the win for Oakland. The play was reviewed and it was ruled that Brady, who began to throw and then tucked the ball into his body as he was hit, threw an incomplete pass instead of committing a fumble.

The Patriots kept possession, and Adam Vinatieri eventually kicked the game-winning field in overtime. New England eventually won its first Super Bowl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl_VvJTyMwo

Brown apparently still hasn’t gotten over the loss.

“I tell people all the time, if Tom Brady would just start out every interview saying, ‘I wanna thank the Oakland Raiders,’ I’d be happy and I’d let it go,” Brown said in an NFL Network interview, via the Washington Post. “But until that day happens, I’m not gonna let it go.”

Brown believes without that call, Brady, who started in place of the injured Drew Bledsoe that year, returns to the bench and his Hall of Fame career never occurs.

“Because think about this — if he loses that game, he’s a kid who lost a home game to a West Coast team in the snow,” Brown said. “So he’s not starting the next year. Because we were the Raiders, any other team, that game is over. Because it was the Raiders, it took them 12 minutes to come up with an answer.”

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