'You F'ing B----!' Falcons Coach Arthur Smith Cusses Ref on Tom Brady Penalty in Loss to Bucs

The zebra-coddling of Tom Brady has long been sort of an "open secret'' in the NFL. Maybe it's subconscious on the part of referees and their protection of the 45-year-old legend. Or maybe it's respect and familiarity, as the QB has been at this a long, long time - long enough to truly develop relationships with officials.

But that doesn't make it fair to the other teams, like the Atlanta Falcons, who have to lose games in part because of it.

And when Falcons head coach Arthur Smith seemed to respond to a controversial roughing-the-passer penalty that protected Tampa Bay Bucs' QB Brady and helped seal Atlanta's 21-15 loss on Sunday?

"You f'ing b----!'' was that apparent evaluation from the coach.

Lip-reading is hard, and we don't want to misquote the coach. But he said something nasty in comments directed at ref Jerome Boger after a Grady Jarrett sack of Brady was somehow considered illegal.

The Falcons got screwed. Smith needed to say something to somebody.

Arthur Smith with some strong words for ... 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/vRXhomNxOB
— Justin Felder (@Justin_FOX5) October 9, 2022

You do not have to be a Falcons fan (or a Gisele hater) to agree that NFL penalties don't get much worse that this.

This may be the WORST roughing the passer penalty I’ve ever seen. Embarrassingly bad call. The Falcons got screwed.

(🎥: @TrainIsland)pic.twitter.com/KdvC0mi2KJ
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 9, 2022

The Falcons dropped to 2-3 on the year with Sunday's loss, while the Bucs improved to 3-2, making all of this a huge result in the NFC South race.

What did Boger say after the game in explanation?

"What I had was the defender grabbed the quarterback while he was still in the pocket and unnecessarily throwing him to the ground," Boger explained. "That is what I was making my decision based on."

Of course, none of that 'unnecessary'' stuff actually happened.

What did Smith say once he approached the media podium?

"I'm proud of our guys,'' he said, declining to directly address the call. "We don't ever think we're out of the fight."

Falcons HC Arthur Smith staying calm and not ripping refs…

“Control what you can control.. I have to figure out how I can coach those situations better” (🎥@AtlantaFalcons ) pic.twitter.com/1OsXDdhJH1
— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) October 9, 2022

And maybe that's fine. "You f'ing b----!'' will have to stand alone.

Get your HOTlanta Falcons game tickets from SI Tickets ... here!

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Falcons? Click Here.

Follow Falcon Report on Twitter.