Posted on 11/21/2023 10:41:24 AM PST by nickcarraway
Less than a year removed from his legendary playing career, Tom Brady evidently is not impressed with the current level of play in the NFL.
"I think there's a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL. I don't see the excellence that I saw in the past," Brady said during an appearance Monday on "The Stephen A. Smith Show."
Brady, who retired earlier this year after a record-setting 23-year career, cited numerous reasons for his evaluation of the game, including coaching and player development.
"I think the coaching isn't as good as it was," Brady said. "I don't think the development of young players is as good as it was. I don't think the schemes are as good as they were.
"The rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into the actual performance of the game. So I just think the product in my opinion is less than what it's been."
Scoring in the NFL has declined for the fourth consecutive season in 2023; teams are combining to score just 43.3 points per game, down from 43.8 last season and 45.9 in 2021. The league is on pace for its lowest-scoring season on average since 2009, when teams combined for 42.9 points per game.
One likely cause of the scoring decline is a high number of injuries to quarterbacks. Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins, Deshaun Watson and Anthony Richardson headline the growing list of franchise quarterbacks who have suffered season-ending injuries, while other stars at the position -- including Aaron Rodgers and Kyler Murray -- have missed significant time.
Brady acknowledged the physicality of the sport but bemoaned recent rule changes designed to protect players from injury.
"I look at a lot of players like Ray Lewis and Rodney Harrison and Ronnie Lott and guys that impacted the game in a certain way -- and every hit they would have made would have been a penalty [today]," Brady said. "You hear coaches complaining about their own player being tackled and not necessarily -- why don't they talk to their player about how to protect himself? ... We used to work on the fundamentals of those things all the time. Now they're trying to be regulated all the time.
Tom Brady, amid the continuing decline in NFL scoring, says incoming rookies "were better prepared when I came out than they are now," and added that the overall product on the field "is less than what it's been." Jeff Bottari/NBAE via Getty Images
"Offensive players need to protect themselves. It's not up to a defensive player to protect an offensive player. A defensive player needs to protect himself. ... I think a lot of the way that the rules have come into play have allowed this -- you can essentially play carefree and then if anyone hits you hard, there's a penalty."
Brady, 46, is the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards and touchdown passes. The seven-time Super Bowl champion and three-time league MVP said he doesn't think "the athletes have changed much" since he started his NFL career in 2000, pointing instead to development at the college level.
"I actually think college players were better prepared when I came out than they are now," he said. "Just because so many coaches are changing programs, and I would say there's not even a lot of college programs anymore. There's a lot of college teams, but not programs that are developing players.
"So as they get delivered to the NFL, they may be athletic, but they don't have much of the skills developed to be a professional. When I played at Michigan, I essentially played at a college program that was very similar to a pro environment. When I see these different players come in, they're not quite as prepared as they were, and I think the game has shown that over the last 12 to 13 years. I think things have slipped a little bit."
I wish he would have stayed with the bucs another year. He was still working magic.
I agree with Brady. The lackluster play design and play calls are pretty amazing. I feel like could go out there and design and call a game plan better than some of these yokels.
Maybe everybody has all the money they need or want.
It’s hard for players to have time to improve their techniques while attending their Bash Lighter Melanins meetings.
Chiefs could have won last night. Too many dropped catchable passes.
The NFL is no longer professionals. At every play, they chimp out as though that was the first time they made a play. It made the NFL unwatchable.
I am REALLY REALLY REALLY looking for 2 fecks to give...
....but I just can’t seem to find them for the woke, knee bending ‘nfl’
The biggest factor in the NFL’s slide into mediocrity has been the salary cap.
With the salary cap rules in place and the constant migration of players between teams as free agents, you have two things at work here:
1. There is no chemistry on an NFL team, and no continuity in development from one season to the next.
2. The typical playoff contender in the NFL might have one superstar, no more than a half-dozen players who are among the top 20% in the league at their positions, and the remainder of the roster filled with guys getting paid not much more than the league minimum.
The NFL and NFLPA have basically outlawed the development of teams like the Steelers of the 1970s, the 49ers of the 1980s, and the Dallas Cowboys of the early 1990s.
How can that be? With salaries almost at Congressional Bribe levels, why would the quality of play be mediocre? Oh. Never mind.
When you’re the GOAT, of course nobody will measure up. It will take decades before there is another Brady.
Yep, kinda makes it hared to have a "team" to cheer for, the roster changes annually almost.
And way too much money going to QBs who don't deserve it. The NY Giants gave Daniel Jones a four year $160 million contract ($80-90 million guaranteed) while the Browns gave Deshaun Watson a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract. Both are out for the season. but weren't lighting up the league before they went down.
Read the other day that Chuck Bednarik, salary was 17,000 a year. He had another job when the season ended to cover family expenses.
Well said.
That roster changed annually with the Patriots for 20 years.
Yet, as long as number 12 was the QB they had a chance to win it all almost every year.
Their very best offensive team was when they had Randy Moss as receiver and Edelman as slot receiver and Vinitari kicker.
Final record 18 wins, 1 loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl.
I forgot, they also had the best TE in the league. You might have heard of him by his nickname: GRONK.
There was a time when an NFL team would never start a rookie QB fresh out of college, no matter how talented he was. The model was to apprentice for a couple years at least. Now it’s sink or swim, and the results are at best mixed.
As for the officiating, less said the better. Despite making six figure salaries most of them have other jobs, so officiating is a part time gig. And it shows.
With all the respect that’s due to the NFL and in their defense... Tom Brady isn’t playing in the NFL anymore. So mediocracy is pretty much all they’ve got left.
For a while I thought Patrick Mahomes may be a threat to take away TB’s ‘G.O.A.T.’ mantel, but given his latest performances, I’d say that’s not a likely outcome.
When will we see his greatness again... Can you say ‘Not in our lifetimes’??? Tom could use a bit of humility, but I doubt that’s going to happen anytime soon either.
That’s also because all the big college programs now run NFL style offenses.
College Football has essentially become an NFL farm system.
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