Tom Brady spent his entire career dodging defensive players, often getting upset if penalties weren't called when he got hit. Now he is coming to the defense of the defensive side of the ball, speaking specifically against the suspension of Pittsburgh Steelers safety Damontae Kazee.
Kazee is suspended for the rest of the 2023 NFL regular season and possibly the postseason, if the Steelers advance, following a helmet-to-helmet hit on Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.
Brady spoke out against the suspension, calling out quarterbacks to do a better job throwing the ball in areas where their pass catchers won't get injured.
Tom Brady on Damontae Kazee’s suspension:
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 18, 2023
“To put the blame on the defensive player all the time is just flat out wrong. … It’s not OK QBs to get your WRs hit because of your bad decisions!” https://t.co/1NS5iExWZ8 pic.twitter.com/xz20vUwB2u
"Nobody likes seeing players get hurt. But hard hits happen," Brady said on Instagram. "QBs should not be throwing the ball in areas where they are exposing their own teammates to these types of hits. Coaches need to coach better, QBs needs to read coverages and throw the ball to the right places and defenders should aim for the right hitting areas."
He continued, calling out all quarterbacks, but seemingly Gardner Minshew specifically in this case.
"To put the blame on the defense player all the time is just flat out wrong," the seven-time Super Bowl champion said. "Need better QB play!! It's not OK QBs to get your WRs hit because of your bad decisions!"
Former star defensive end JJ Watt appeared to agree with Brady, replying with a hands together emoji.
The league determined that Kazee has violated rules intended to protect players on a "repeated basis" and therefore "it is appropriate to impose substantially greater penalties."
NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan said to Kazee in a statement, "You had an unobstructed path to your opponent and the illegal contact could have been avoided. Your actions were flagrant, and as a result, you were disqualified from the game."
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Kazee was fined five times so far this season for other unnecessary roughness violations, totaling $59,030 in fines (Per ESPN's Brooke Pryor).
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin also came to the defense of Kazee, but did note that he can see why the penalty was put in place.
"Sometimes it's just professional football today, and how difficult it is to operate, but the National Football League is really clear, man. They put a hundred percent of the onus on the defender in those circumstances. It's unfortunate, but we understand it," Tomlin said.
Brady has been critical of the league since his second and final retirement last offseason.
He called out the NFL as a whole, saying previously this season, "I think there's a lot of bad football from what I watch. I watch a lot of bad football. Poor quality of football. That's what I see."