There was holding on that play. It's beyond me that it wasn't called though.
There's holding on every other play in the NFL. That's why the referees have to determine those things.
Dismiss everyone in the NFL that says otherwise. All former teammates, rivals, fellow QB's, current and former coaches in the league, current and former GM's....they are all wrong.
All the people you mention are either those who create the hype or buy into it. They've all got their reasons for the Brady-worship, and even the ones who want to disagree don't because of the potential for backlash.
Brady is like a deity and if you watch the NFL and you don't already believe then you will be preached at until you do and criticized if you stand up against it.
BY THE WAY...
I'm not the only person who says these things.
Here is an article which expresses several of the same sentiments I have. And
here is another article on the same site but by a different author who analyzes a variety of statistics and comes to the same conclusion as the first - that Brady is over rated.
In a
poll conducted by Sporting News of NFL players, Brady WAS named - twice - as being thought of as the most over rated player in the NFL. While he's no Tim Tebow, that still shows that not all NFL players are drinking the Brady flavored Kool Aid. Similarly, Brady was ranked as the
Number 9 most over rated player in a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players.
Here is the Boston Globe confirming the report on Brady's rank in the Sports' Ilustrated poll.