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Tom Brady’s new take on ‘Tuck Rule’ might make Patriots fans cry

By Mike Luciano

New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady (12) as he completes a pass against the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship Game, 01/19/2002. (Photo by Arthur Anderson/Getty Images)
New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady (12) as he completes a pass against the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship Game, 01/19/2002. (Photo by Arthur Anderson/Getty Images) /
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The New England Patriots got their run of unequaled 2000s dominance kicked off in that famous AFC Championship game against the then-Oakland Raiders. Tom Brady appeared to have given the game away due to a fumble forced by Charles Woodson, but the officials came right in to overrule that decision.

Brady’s arm was moving ever so slightly forward when Woodson connected, meaning that the fumble was ruled an incomplete pass. Brady used this second chance to push the Patriots to a Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, all while earning perpetual ire from Raiders fans. And so, the “Tuck Rule” was born.

That changed the course of football history and set the Patriots up as the league’s marquee franchise of the last two decades. While Brady has sworn up and down that the correct call was made in that game, he seemed to be a bit more willing to take the opposing view in a recently posted TikTok.

When tasked by Justin Bieber to “tell something honest,” Brady said that the infamous play in question “may have been a fumble.” Say it isn’t so! After all those years of arguing with Raiders fans about that game!

Even though Brady seems to be at least slightly aware that he got away with one here while joking around, that doesn’t change the fact he’s filled up his fingers with Super Bowl rings as a direct result of that game.

Patriots legend Tom Brady admitted the Tuck Rule was a fumble

While the Raiders made it to the Super Bowl in 2002, that fumble changed the trajectory of these franchises. The Raiders haven’t come out on top in a playoff game since Woodson left, while the Patriots ended up with six rings. What could have been if Woodson arrived a half-second later …

The official NFL Twitter account chimed in on the fun, tweeting that “[Brady] said it, not us” after TB12’s stunning half-admission of guilt. Woodson has to be seeing red after Brady was so calm in admitting that he got away with one before establishing himself as the best winner the game has ever seen.

Not only do Raiders fans have to watch replays of Woodson’s nullified clincher over and over again on Brady highlight reels, but now they have to hear the man himself admit that he got away with one. A dynasty, perhaps the greatest the game ever saw, was, by Brady’s own take 20+ years later, the result of a blown call.

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