Asked about Josh Allen, Tom Brady recalled how big hits have impacted his own career in WEEI interview

Though the Patriots moved to 4-0 on Sunday with a 16-10 win against the Bills, Tom Brady was far from happy about the performance of his part of the team.

“It’s just not a great day by our offense and we just didn’t play the way we’re capable,” said Brady in his weekly interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” The 42-year-old quarterback was especially displeased with his first interception of the season, which came at the 2-yard line following a 16-play drive.

“Turning the ball over in the red area, always costs your team points,” noted Brady.

One of the turning points in the game came when Bills quarterback Josh Allen was put into concussion protocol following a hit by Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones. The hit was originally flagged as an illegal “helmet-to-helmet” strike, but the penalty was cancelled out due to an earlier flag on the Bills for holding (thus the two calls offset).

Jones was not ejected from the game, nor will he reportedly face a suspension.

Bills safety Micah Hyde said that the officiating would’ve approached it differently had Brady been the one to get hit.

“That’s the first thing that came out of my mouth on the sideline,” Hyde said. “If one of us did that to [Tom Brady], we wouldn’t have been in the game anymore. There’s no way. There’s no way we would continue to play in that game.”

Brady was asked about the comment during his WEEI interview.

“I saw the play happen,” said Brady. “You never like to see anyone get hurt out there. Football is a contact sport. It’s part of football. The reality is my career started when Drew [Bledsoe] got hit on the sideline. Drew was running for a first down, and those defensive players, I think they’re very fast and very physical.”

Looking back on his time playing in Buffalo, Brady referenced an earlier hit from former Bills cornerback Nate Clements that caused his helmet to pop off.

“Actually I had a play like that up in Buffalo earlier in my career, where I was scrambling up the right side and tried to hold onto the ball,” Brady explained. “I tried to slide late and they hit me and my helmet flew about 10 yards away. It kind of riled up their whole sideline. I remember the next day Coach Belichick said to me — I’ll never forget this — he said, ‘Hey Brady, if you want to have a career in this league, when you’re running like that, you either throw the ball away or you slide.’ So I’ll never forget Coach Belichick telling me that. I’ve kind of taken to that.

“A lot of quarterbacks who do run, you’re trying to make yards and it’s great,” Brady continued. “At the same time, you’re susceptible to big hits. Again, whether that’s flagged or not, or whether that’s a penalty, a lot of the rules have changed over the years. But from a quarterback standpoint, I feel like it’s always better to try to be available to the team and try to take risk-reward and so forth. Again, nobody likes to see anybody get hurt out there. From my own experience, I try to do the best I can to avoid any big shots like that.”