Although the rest of the NFL has started to pile on in interviews and on Twitter, one of its most prominent faces declined when offered the chance to mouth-off on the subject of the league's replacement officials.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady spoke to WEEI on Tuesday and insisted that he tries not to pay attention to the officials.
"I feel like these guys are doing the best they can do, to tell you the truth," Brady said. "They are going to miss calls and so forth, but part of my job is not to worry about officials. I hate talking about them, I have never talked about the officials. The reason we lost our particular game wasn't because of the officials. I wouldn't say that I could blame them, that's the easy way out."
Brady said he hadn't seen Monday night's controversial finish, but he had heard about it.
"I don't know what happened last night, I didn't see it," he said. "I feel bad if there were bad calls."
Still, he maintained that the officiating so far this season has not changed the way he plays.
"I haven't yet to talk about the officials to our offense when I'm out on the field," Brady said. "When you're in the course of a game, it feels very much like a normal game . . . for us it feels like it's always balanced out over the course of a game. They always miss calls. They get some right and they get some wrong, and these guys are getting some right and getting some wrong."
New England Patriots
As for other players? Well, that's a different story. Brady said he's seen a bit more scuffling between teams this season, which might be explained by the presence of the replacement officials.
"I've seen more shoving and pushing, more stuff like that going on before and after plays than there would normally be and maybe guys are taking advantage of it," Brady said. "But from my standpoint, for me, it's been business as usual and that's the way our offense has been."