James Bradberry of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrates against the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium on Feb. 12, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
James Bradberry of the Philadelphia Eagles is called for holding against JuJu Smith-Schuster of the Kansas City Chiefs during the Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Regardless, the ire was on the referees and even Brady agreed it was "easier not to call" the foul.
"Well it's always, I think, easier not to call it," he explained on the "Let’s Go!" podcast. "The hard one is when you do call it because there's a lot of scrutiny with that call. And I think the point is at least from a receiver/(defensive back) standpoint, if you're not gonna cover him, let's say, within the letter of the law and you're gonna tug at him, you can impede the receiver from where he wants to go and create an almost impossible throw-and-catch by the quarterback. And at the same time on the other side of the ball, if the receiver pushes off, there's really nothing the [defensive back] can do in order to make the play. So it's such a hard situation ‘cause you don't know how the game's being called all day long. …
NFL GREAT RICHARD SHERMAN RIPS HOLDING PENALTY ON JAMES BRADBERRY IN CRUCIAL SUPER BOWL MOMENT
Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady calls a play against the New Orleans Saints at Raymond James Stadium on Dec. 19, 2021, in Tampa, Florida. (Kim Klement-USA Today Sports)
"So, you know, those plays come up all the time. In every part of the game they could be called. So the fact that it just comes down to that one moment, I'm sure there were lots of other holds that were let go. There was probably a few that they called and in the end you just have to, you know, the ref is trying to do the best that he could do. So I don't get caught up too much on one call. I think I've been in sports long enough where I realize there's a lot of things that impact the game and one referee’s call, yeah it's important but, you know, the referees are doing the best they could do and they're not robots either."
Head official Carl Cheffers was asked about the penalty after the game.
"It was a clear case of a jersey grab that caused restriction," he explained, via the pool report.
Tom Brady of the Buccaneers discusses a play with referees during the Atlanta Falcons game at Raymond James Stadium on Oct. 9, 2022, in Tampa, Florida. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
"There was no debate. Just making sure what he had, and once he told us what he had, we went about our business."