What's next, forcefields? The "Brady Rule" comes to the forefront

This past Sunday's 27-21 win against the Baltimore Ravens was great for this Patriots fan to watch. There were tons of things that required nitroglycerin pills, but there were also things to be proud of. I won't go through the list of positives and negatives (I already droned on and on in my game recap), but some of the most controversial points were 2 roughing the passer calls against Tom Brady. With 3:35 left in the first quarter, DE Haloti Ngata's hand "grazed" Brady's helmet and he was called for 15 yards. The second was handed out to Terrell Suggs for being near Brady's knees.

First and foremost, whether or not you think the rule itself is bogus is irrelevant. It's a rule on the books, everyone knows about it, and it's up to the coaches to make sure players know how to play within the bounds of that rule. That's coaching and need I remind you, these guys make millions; if they can't keep track of the rules, they should find something else to do.

The thought that Brady gets preferential treatment is, at the same time, both correct and ludicrous. It's correct in that high paid players, especially quarterbacks, make this game exciting and no one can argue that Brady is one of the top players in the NFL. The game is simply not that fun to watch with players like Brady not playing it. Don't like it? Too bad. It's ludicrous because Brady get's blamed for this rule, hence everyone will raise a stink when it gets called around him. Vince Wilfork made a good, solid hit on Buffalo's Trent Edwards in Game #1. I was PO'd, but that's the way the game's being called. Deal with it.

Whether or not you agree with a rule means little. The application of the rule is what can be argued. Heck, we played horrible in our SB matchup against the Giants. However, call holding on Giants' offensive players when we had Manning in our grasp and he never makes that throw to Tyree. Oh well. Every team benefits from penalty calling at one time or another. It's the same logic that keeps the NFL's totally ludicrous overtime structure in place - it eventually goes your way.