The Ravens’ Bernard Pollard makes his living as a hard-hitting safety, occasionally injuring players. But Patriots quarterback Tom Brady doing the same thing? That’s what Pollard thinks after an incident on Sunday.
In the final minute of the first half of the AFC Championship Game in Foxborough won by the Ravens 28-13, Brady scrambled with the ball before making a feet-first slide. Ravens safety Ed Reed was in the area, and jumped over Brady to avoid hitting him. Brady raised his right leg and kicked Reed, which Pollard claims the quarterback did in order to try to injure Reed.
“You’ve got to keep them legs down. You’ve got to keep the legs down. We all know and understand what’s going on there,” Pollard told Comcast Sports New England. “And as a quarterback, when you go to slide, we’re taught … we can’t do anything. When you come sliding, and your leg is up in the air trying to kick somebody, that’s bullcrap.”
The NFL probably won’t fine Brady for the play, as it wasn’t blatant even if Brady had been trying to hurt Reed. Pollard’s point was that Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh was fined $30,000 for kicking Texans quarterback Matt Schaub on Thanksgiving Day, in a play that looked similar to the one on Sunday.
Brady and Pollard have a history. In 2008, while a member of the Chiefs, Pollard hit Brady in the first game of the season. The quarterback injured his knee on the play and missed the rest of the season. Last season, Pollard hit Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski during the AFC Championship Game, and the All-Pro tight end was all but invisible in the Super Bowl. And on Sunday, Pollard laid a hit on Patriots running back Stevan Ridley, who fumbled and left the game with a head injury.