The New England Patriots uncharacteristically hurt themselves Sunday night, committing seven penalties in a 37-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Both head coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady took issue with a few of those calls, though.
The first came on Baltimore's opening drive, when Shilique Calhoun was called for a killer neutral zone infraction penalty on a Ravens field goal attempt that gave the Ravens a first down and led to their opening touchdown.
Belichick seemed incensed by the call at the time and had an animated discussion with an official on the sideline. The following morning, Belichick was asked if his gripe was related to Ravens snapper Morgan Cox inducing Calhoun to jump by moving the ball slightly or bobbing his head.
"Doesn't matter what I think," Belichick said on a conference call, via ESPN's Mike Reiss. "It's the officials' game to call."
When asked if that's a tough play to call, Belichick responded:
"I think you should talk to the (NFL) officiating department and ask them exactly how they officiate the play and that would be the right answer for you."
When Belichick tells you ask the league, that's usually a good sign he's not happy about a situation.
As for Brady? The Patriots QB was similarly irked by his intentional grounding penalty on a play where wide receiver Phillip Dorsett made contact with Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith before cutting in the opposite direction of Brady's pass.
New England Patriots
Brady was a little more forthcoming than his coach when asked about the play Monday morning.
"Dorsett has) got a choice to go either way," Brady said on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show." "He ran down there and (Smith) drilled him at eight yards.
"So I said (to the ref), ‘Isn’t that illegal contact?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, no.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what you’re looking at.’ Or something like that."
Brady then joked about the friendly nature of his "conversation" with the official that looked anything but friendly in real time.
"It was very polite," Brady said. "It was like, ‘Excuse me mister, I thought there might have possibly been a penalty, actually by them."
Belichick and Brady both found ways to get their points across without getting in trouble for criticizing the refs. And we're guessing they're well aware of the myriad of other miscues that cost them in Sunday night's loss.
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