Tom Brady SLAMS NFL Over Teammate's Suspension: 'Ridiculous'

On Sunday, September 18, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans and Saints defensive back Marshon Lattimore were ejected from the game after getting into an altercation on the field.

Evans came off the sideline and shoved Lattimore after words were exchanged between the Saints defensive back and some Bucs players, including quarterback Tom Brady. The shove from Evans sparked a brawl between the two teams.

Both Evans and Lattimore were immediatly ejected from the game, but after evaluating further, the NFL decided to suspend Mike Evans for one game due to his history of altercations on the field.

Though he did not put his hands on anyone else, Tom Brady was still involved in the brawl on Sunday afternoon between the Bucs and the Saints. As someone who was close to the action, the 45-year-old thinks the NFL went hard on Evans' punishment.

"I don't think it deserved any type of suspension," Brady said on his "Let's Go" podcast. "I think that's ridiculous."

Brady went on to explain up what went down on the field Sunday afternoon, slamming the NFL's decision to suspend his teammate. The NFL quarterback even went as far as saying he was a fan of Evans' actions.

"In the end, I appreciate Mike having my back," Brady said. "I know he'll learn from it. And he knows that we all have his back."

The 45-year-old quarterback did own up and took some of the blame for the brawl, admitting if he hadn't made a big deal about the call on the field, the fight probably would have never happened.

On Sunday, September 18, things got heated between players on both the Bucs and Saints. After a call did not go Brady's way, Saints defensive back Marshon Lattimore started running his mouth to the quarterback. Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back, Leonard Fournette, was close to the altercation on the field when it happened, even standing up for Brady and shoving Lattimore back a bit.

Once Evans saw Lattimore running his mouth, he came off the bench from the sideline and ran up to Lattimore, shoving him to the ground, sparking a brawl between the two teams.

One of the reasons the NFL decided to suspend Mike Evans for one game following the brawl was because of his history. In 2017, the wide receiver blindsided Lattimore on the Buccaneers’ sideline. Evans was not ejected from that game, but he did receive a one-game suspension.

In a letter to wide receiver Mike Evans, NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan wrote, "After a play had ended, you were walking toward your sidelines. When you noticed your teammates engaged in a confrontation with Saints' players, you ran toward that area on the field and violently threw your body into and struck an unsuspecting opponent who was part of that confrontation. You knocked your opponent to the ground and a melee ensued involving players from both teams. Your aggressive conduct could have caused serious injury to your opponent and clearly does not reflect the high standards of sportsmanship expected of a professional."