Was Brady’s emotionality a good thing? NAY: His exuberance was irrational

Why couldn’t Tom Brady just hand the ball to the ref after scoring a touchdown?Brady’s unbottling of his emotions at Heinz Field on Sunday was a disgrace, an embarrassment to every Patriots fan watching. The consummate professional for much of his 10 years in Foxborough, Brady let it all slide on Sunday – and as Bill Shakespeare would say, “oh, what a fall was there.”The descent plummeted to its lowest point in the third quarter, after Brady shook off Troy Polamalu for a quarterback sneak into the end zone with the Pats up 17-3. Brady slammed the ball to the ground harder than a construction worker’s jackhammer, and he thoughtfully did it right in front of the Pittsburgh fans who thought they were just there to watch a football game, not get humiliated by a misbehaving millionaire.But at least the good people of Pittsburgh weren’t alone in getting targeted for a quarterback’s ire. Brady singled out his own teammates for mistakes on the playing field. The sins he listed included: “Getting the ball down on the four-yard line and they call us for a chop-block, then not making plays on the next drive, and just not executing great.” One wonders if his teammates were as hard on him after his two interceptions in the loss to the Jets back in September.What is most galling about Brady’s bravado is that it is contagious. In the fourth quarter, after James Sanders picked off Ben Roethlisberger and returned it 32 yards into the end zone, the Patriots drew a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration. To underscore the fact that tempestuousness doesn’t get you anywhere, the Pats then went for two and missed out when Brandon Tate couldn’t catch Brady’s conversion pass.Unfortunately, we live in an age when the penalties for excessive emotionality are outweighed by the rewards. Maybe Brady was channeling his inner Steve Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who quit his job with a tirade before disembarking from an airplane, beers in hand, this summer. Maybe Brady was thinking of an article from The New York Times earlier this year in which author Benedict Carey argued that it’s healthy to let off steam once in a while. Or maybe the lyrics from the Dierks Bentley country song went through the QB’s shaggy-maned head instead: “What was I thinking?”Let’s hope it’s the last ? for if any organization in the National Football League symbolizes the maxim “Pride goeth before a fall,” it’s the Patriots. We’re not that far removed from the poisoned perfection of 2007, when the Pats preened over their 16-0 regular season while fending off reports of the Spygate scandal (they would, of course, suffer comeuppance in terms of penalties from the league and in a Super Bowl loss to the Giants). And this year’s Pats were projected to be far, far less intimidating than the 2007 edition.Asked about Brady’s spike on Sunday, Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor said, “We can’t worry about what they do. We can only control what we do.” True enough ? but Pats fans should worry about the bad example Brady set on Sunday, and hope that he can control his emotions next time around against the Colts.Rich Tenorio is The Item’s sports copy editor.