There was no receiver there and he threw it away because he was about to take a sack.

It was an excellent call.

That call is never made when a QB throws the ball out of the endzone when he doesn't have a play. Chris Collingsworth called it right when he said that call is never made for throws down field.

says, "he was just throwing that one away", I'll wait for a flag. It never happens. NEVER happens. Down field throws never get called for intentional grounding. And it happens many times with no receiver around.

Intentional grounding was one rule that never should have been tampered with. Refs and everyone knew it when they saw it. And I'm not saying that Brady didn't intentionally ground the ball. I'm just saying refs don't call IG on down filed plays. Collingsworth, like him or hate him, was right with his initial response, which he never cared to say again.

If he were out of the pocket, there would have been no penalty.

That was a clear intentional grounding.

Also, a lot of those plays on the other end of the field involve a QB who is (a) outside the tackle box or (b) not under direct pressure (but throwing it away because QBs are much less likely to hold onto the ball when it may involve getting knocked out of field goal range or changing a high-percentage TD drive into a low-percentage TD drive).

"Intentional grounding was one rule that never should have been tampered with. Refs and everyone knew it when they saw it. And I'm not saying that Brady didn't intentionally ground the ball. I'm just saying refs don't call IG on down filed plays. Collingsworth, like him or hate him, was right with his initial response, which he never cared to say again. "

By the rule, it was pretty clearly intentional grounding.

I didn't interpret Collinsworth as saying that it shouldn't have been called--in fact, he later explained exactly why the play did constitute intentional grounding. I just interpreted it as that situation was rare. One of the reason that situation is rare is that throwing the ball to center field is not usually a safe way of throwing it away.

He always tries to bail out the QBs with some lame excuse

It was big time intentional grounding.

Hell---Brady didn't even object to the call.

Brady was under pressure in the tackle box and threw it away to avoid a loss of yardage.

it could be called a lot more than it is. I've seen both these quarterbacks get away with more than a few in the careers. So whether one thinks it was the correct call depends a lot on how strictly one thinks the rule should be interpreted, which in this case matters a lot on which team one was cheering for. EIther way, it's not the reason the Pats lost, not that you're implying it is.

life by not only calling it, but also calling it on the first play from scrimmage by the Pats and Brady in the endzone, no less. This would be like some umpire deciding in the 7th game of the World Series that the phantom tags at second base during double plays needs to be addressed by calling a player safe at second because a legal tag on the base was missed.

And really, it has nothing to do with the Pats losing or weather or not this is intentional grounding. The whole issue as that a ball thrown long down filed is NEVER called for intentional grounding. I'm racking my brain trying to remember ever seeing it. So next time a team is on the 20 yard line and drops back, is under pressure and tosses the ball over the uprights into the stands and the announcer says he was "just throwing that away", I'd like to see a flag thrown.

Or maybe, an interview with the ref and ask if he has ever made that call for a penalty. I'd just like to hear him say no.

that's why you are racking your brain trying to remember it happening.

Like I said---Brady didn't raise a peep about it because he knew he did it.