5 times Tom Brady benefitted from controversial refereeing decisions

Tom Brady will go down as the greatest NFL player of all time when he finally decides to call it quits. That doesn't mean, however, that he hasn't had plenty of favorable decisions from referees during his storied career.

Brady might be the owner of seven Super Bowl rings, but some argue that his success has been massively aided by the officials. There are many examples of times when the referees have come to Brady's aid and helped him out when he was in a tough spot, and here are five of the most high profile.

#1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21-15 Atlanta Falcons (2022)

The most recent example of Brady benefitting from a questionable referee call came during the Buccaneers' matchup against the Atlanta Falcons.

Falcons defensive end Grady Jarrett sacked Brady on a third-down play, but the official Jerome Boger called it roughing the passer, much to the dismay of Atlanta. This gave Brady an automatic first down and allowed Tampa Bay to effectively run out the clock to win the game.

Afterward, Boger said to reporters: “What I had was a defender grabbed the quarterback while he was still in the pocket and unnecessarily throwing him to the ground. That is what I was making my decision based upon."

This very well might be the worst roughing the passer call in NFL history https://t.co/DBejlYpd9N

#2 Pittsburgh Steelers 24-27 New England Patriots (2017)

AFC Championship - Pittsburgh Steelers v New England Patriots

Another controversial decision that went Tom Brady's way came back in 2017 when he was still with the New England Patriots. The Pats faced off against the Steelers, who were vying for a playoff bye with New England. Ben Roethlisberger threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to tight end Jessie James with just 28 seconds remaining.

However, the officials decided that it wasn't a catch, as James lost control of the football after the play. This brought up similarities to Dez Bryant's 'catch' that wasn't a catch a few years earlier. Brady was the beneficiary as Roethisberger threw an interception two plays later to seal the game for New England.