This post has been updated with more of Brady’s comments from the WEEI interview.

When it comes to speaking out against domestic violence in the league, there’s some players who won’t blink.

Take, for example, Ravens receive Steve Smith who sent a profanity-laced tweet to Josh Brown after reports surfaced that the Giants kicker admitted to abusing his former wife.

Then there was Torrey Smith, a receiver on the 49ers, who urged the NFL to take the issue more seriously in a series of tweets.

But then on Monday, came the powerful figures in the league who could make a statement — and instead chose to push the topic away. Tom Brady told Boston radio station WEEI that while he thought domestic violence was “a terrible, terrible thing,” it’s the league’s responsibility to deal with Brown.

“I grew up with three sisters, and I was very fortunate to learn from a loving father and a loving mother how to treat and respect women,” Brady said. “I have a daughter of my own and domestic violence is a horrible issue. It’s a tragedy when it happens. Any type of abuse or bullying of people who can’t defend themselves or fight for themselves, I have no respect for that.”

But when asked about the league’s suspensions?

“I’m just going to stay in my lane,” Brady said. “Like I said, it’s up to them to decide whatever they want to do. I’m just going to try and stay out of any kind of my opinion. I certainly have opinions, I just don’t really care to share them.”

Meanwhile, Giants coach Ben McAdoo, said on Sunday that the Giants front office was handling the situation. “Again, we’re going to address all that when we get back,” McAdoo told reporters. “The front office, they’re handling everything right now, and they asked me to focus on the game, and that’s what I did.” He did, however, find time to tell the team he wasn’t going to turn his back on the kicker.

Sports figures certainly aren’t required to be role models or speak out on issues that affect something greater than sports — it’s easy to argue that both McAdoo and Brady’s jobs are to win games. But with those games that they’ve won and that position that they’re in, they have an opportunity to do something bigger — and when it comes to that opportunity to speak at greater length about domestic violence, they whiffed.

Brown’s case highlighted the league’s shortcomings when it comes to dealing with domestic violence — a problem that we as a society have had a number of shortcomings on as well. Brady may be trying to stay out of trouble with the league, but if a player like Smith can speak out then Brady and McAdoo can — and should — take a stronger stance on what the league is doing. And when given that opportunity this week, they failed to do that.

In one of his last tweets about Brown, Smith wrote “With all that I said I’m also a believer in not throwing people away…dude needs to get help…and men need to do more to change things.”

Brady and McAdoo are two who should listen.