Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis has claimed that people would never have heard of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady if not for the tuck rule.
Brady rose to prominence in the 2001 season when he replaced Drew Bledsoe as the club's starting quarterback and led them into the playoffs.
In the divisional round they benefited from a crucial call against the Oakland Raiders when it appeared that Brady had fumbled the ball before claiming a 16-13 victory.
The former Ravens man feels that Brady's legacy, which has included three Super Bowl wins, would never have been created had the ruling been in favour on the Raiders that day.
"When we - the first time we created something called a tuck rule, it's the only reason we know - I'm just being honest - the only reason we know who Tom Brady is, because of a tuck rule," Lewis told Sirius XM Mad Dog Radio.
"There's no such thing as a tuck rule! If the ball is in your hand, and I knock it out your hand, whether it's going backwards, forwards, lateral, sideways, however it's coming out, that's a freaking fumble.
"They don't go to that championship game - they don't go to that championship game if that tuck rule, if that ball is not called a tuck! That's a fumble! Charles Woodson made that man clearly fumble the ball and they named it the tuck rule, something that we've never heard in today's game. So now you've got to ask yourself: When did the legacy really start?"
Brady can become the leading appearance maker in the Super Bowl if his side beat the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game to compete for the Vince Lombardi trophy for the sixth time in his career.
Simon Sinclair
