Watch: Referee protects Tom Brady from Eagles' Derek Barnett

Tom Brady and Derek Barnett were involved in a curious moment during the Thursday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Brady threw a deep pass to wide receiver Antonio Brown midway through the second quarter, only to have his throw intercepted by safety Anthony Harris. The Eagles defensive end Derek Barnett tried to block Brady from the play, which was underway some 40 yards away from where the quarterback was. This led to a slightly heated moment between the quarterback and the defender.

Referee tries to block Derek Barnett from shoving Tom Brady

When Barnett tried to block Brady during the return with a few shoves, two people jumped in to protect the quarterback: one of them, understandably, was Buccaneers center Ryan Jensen. One can always see offensive line players doing everything they can to protect their quarterback, even if they have to step off the line sometimes.

But the other person to protect Brady in the exchange was the referee close to the players. As Barnett continued to jostle, Brady tried to punch the defender away. At this point, the referee tried to break out the scuffle between the players. With the Eagles defense trying to return the interception, Barnett kept bumping into Brady until Ryan Jensen, joined by the referee, finally stepped in between the two.

NFL fans usually lose their patience with referees, saying that the league is always overprotective of quarterbacks. But to put your body on the line in front of a 300 lbs defensive end? That makes "overprotective" seem like an understatement.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Philadelphia Eagles

In the end, neither Brady nor Barnett made much of the incident. But the quarterback had the last laugh as he was kept clean for most of the day, with the defensive end amassing only a single quarterback hit on him.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a productive night, beating the Philadelphia Eagles 28-22 to remain on top of the NFC South standings. With a 5-1 record, the Buccaneers are still in the hunt for the NFC number one, which belongs to the Arizona Cardinals as of now.

Since the 2020 season, only the number one seed from each conference gets the bye week in the wild card round. The Buccaneers won the Super Bowl last year as the fifth seed in the NFC, but they would love to have an extra bye week in January.

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