Brady reflects on the current state of the NFL and what it has become... Mediocre. He is right, of course, and just confirms what we all have been witnessing. I hope Brady brings this honesty to the booth in 2024.
During a recent appearance on “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” Tom Brady shredded the current state of the game and how it’s lacking “the excellence that I saw in the past.”
“I think there’s a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL,” Brady said. “I don’t see the excellence that I saw in the past.”
When pressed to elaborate by Smith, 56, the former Patriots and Buccaneers quarterback, 46, pointed to 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.”
“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,” Brady said.
Tom Brady - (
New Window )
The Madden series was the canary in the coal mine. 9am games on Yahoo is another example of a crazy reach that no one wants. Why is the officiating so bad year after year?
They don't care bc right now we're all spending money. It'll continue to get worse and cost them in the long run.
Brady is right on the product, the coaching and player development.
Those hits led to physical problems that are unacceptable today, both because of societal standards and the microscope of online coverage of sports. I remember reading an account of one of Terrell Davis’ games where he was fighting off hits to the head, this was in the late 90s, and it’s unthinkable that the coaches involved would have survived with their careers in the present environment. Things have changed and the game needs to evolve.
I think the problem is that the league isn’t serious enough about confronting long term physical damage to its players.
I also don’t believe Brady is correct about coaching. If anything, I bet the disappearance of long term coaching advantages have been decreased by league wide leveling up in the quality of coaching. The situation is similar to why batters no longer hit .400 in the MLB. Are the batters worse? Absolutely not, they are facing more consistent pitching.
Brady is right on the product, the coaching and player development.
The best way to decrease injuries is slowing the game at the point of contact, but speeding up the game when moving the ball downfield.
Rules I'd like to see implemented:
1) Incidental contact to the quarterback's head and neck not be a foul
2) Defense required to have 3 set lineman on all plays, and movement after being set a penalty like it is for the offense
3) Chucking completely legal before five yards and no illegal contact called before 10 yards
4) Conversely picking legal within 5 yards for the offense
5) Pass interference be a 15 yard or spot foul, whatever is less
Like Tom mentioned, you see it with the lack of player development too. If anything it seems like a lot of guys actually regress after their rookie years.
You’ve got offenses like NY that look like they all met each other for the first time in the lobby before the game.
Funny he doesn't mention that?...
He's basically the sole reason you can't even breathe on the QB today.
How can players say this with a straight face when they've negotiated for fewer and fewer training camp practices and practices with pads?
2. The college game is dictating the style of offense the NFL is implementing. Again, with rookies expected to product right away we have the RPO and the Read Option as the go to offense for young players. The pro style offense is deteriorating.
3. Blocking and tackling are just plain bad. NFLPA is only making this worse with restricting contact during the week.
4. Roster rules. Why does the 3rd QB need to be an emergency QB? Why can't the head coach rotate his QB's in an out as he pleases? Why only dress 48 for a game? If they are on the team they should be able to enter the game. You wonder why the injuries are at an all time high? It has everything to with guys playing with injuries and continuing to play.
Basic blocking, tackling, and route running deteriorate, and coaches may be prevented from installing as sophisticated schemes as they used to because they don't have time to perfect them.
Another possibility is that Brady was accustomed to seeing the Patriots' attention to detail, and the rest of the league doesn't measure up. The Patriots' borderline-illegal-but-they-never-get-called-for-it goal line pick & rub route packages are still far superior to anything the Giants have ever attempted. First-and-goal should provide a near-automatic TD, and I shudder to think what our % success rate has been, even with excellent running QBs in DJ and TT.
The worst outcome for the game is teams reverting to more a conservative, run-focused, lower scoring approach.
This might be sound appealing to the group who longs for the past. But the flip side of that smash mouth doesn't exist. So we'll be left with a boring version of the former game.
As an extreme example, the 49ers haven't lost a game this or last season when Trent Willams plays. They're under .500 when he doesn't.
Players need to develop and then become cohesive; walls take time and care to build but are easily and quickly knocked down. The D will always be advantaged with green OLs.
The NFL though is moving in the wrong direction - emphasizing expansion while now seeing the damage of the last CBA in terms of less scoring more injuries, especially at QB. They want more teams and more stars; I don't think anyone foresaw how badly the last CBA lessened and diluted a product which was already moving that way with player development and increasingly pro-offense rules enforcement.
Not sure if or how that gets fixed.
What do you think of the Rams/Patriots Super Bowl a few years back?
That didn't have a score until later in the 3rd quarter I think.
But I agree, those are usually the best games.
The way the Chiefs/Eagles game started out this week was really cool to see.
5) Pass interference be a 15 yard or spot foul, whatever is less
I like this a lot, but as a starting point for discussion, as I am not sure it doesn't open up favoritism to the defense much the same way these cheap PI calls make it easy on offense to get free 40 yard plays here and there.
Defensive holding as 5 yard penalty, good. Automatic first down? I'm not sure. Would maybe have to be dependent on circumstance.
I think the penalty has been around a long time, but back in the old days with more freedom for press coverage, there was far less risk of a WR running away free from a DB to necessitate the hold.
Until we go back to those rules, kinda hard to deal with this one.
Pretty soon it will be no cursing at the quarterback,or mean faces.
I realize hitting is part of football, but I think there could be a way more intelligent application of rules, which needs to be combined with changes to tackling. Not going to pretend I have the expertise to go into the details here but one thing I am perplexed by is the continued use of the “kill shot” tackle, which seems to injure team mates more often than opponents.
And part of the problem is that the NFL rulebook is now a miasma of vague interpretive decisions. The league really needs a fresh approach that both protects players and lets officials clearly identify when a foul has been committed. Right now half the players are really injured and fans are constantly complaining about inconsistent reffing. Failure on both fronts.
The game lends itself to more penalties or more decision making by the refs. Hence, the refs look worse. In addition, the game is disrupted more frequently thx to said legislation and reviews and whatever madness the NFL wants. That too hurts the product.
Every single TD scored is now a wait and see moment. It used to be wham bam thank you mam. Now it's reviewed and hold on--let's take a break and then when we come back...ANOTHER break.
I just cannot watch these games live anymore. The endless, loud and obnoxious commercials make me hate humanity more and more. The night games are torture now.
We're not going back to the good old days so forget it. Money talks. Someone made the great point here that once a product caters towards profit more than product, the goose has been killed. We're still gonna lap this shit up.
Reminds me that every profitable single thing in this country is worse than what it used to be except for TVs. They cost less and look better--and even new TVs don't last 1/2 as long as the TVs from the 80s lasted.
This is how it works now. Blame greed.
Let's be honest here, the shittier the player has it, the better the fan experience is. The more money players make, the worse the fan experience is. When players were making shit, the games were cheaper. The more the game is legislated to protect against player injury the worse the fans have it.
As long as owners are allowed to make insane profits, and who can stop them, the fans will suffer. The only people with a chance to negotiate is the player. And they have. Fans can't negotiate shit unless they simply stop going to the game. We had our shot. We cave every time.
One rule change I might make is to make offensive holding a 5-yard penalty on running plays, but kept as a 10-yard penalty on pass plays. This would be consistent with the fact that teams generally average roughly 3.5-4.0 yards per run play and 6.5-7.5 yards per pass play and also consistent with the fact that when RBs are stuffed it generally means no-gain or a loss of a couple yards and when QBs are sacked it's usually for a loss of 5 to 10 yards (so the penalty better fits the crime).
Those hits led to physical problems that are unacceptable today, both because of societal standards and the microscope of online coverage of sports. I remember reading an account of one of Terrell Davis’ games where he was fighting off hits to the head, this was in the late 90s, and it’s unthinkable that the coaches involved would have survived with their careers in the present environment. Things have changed and the game needs to evolve.
I think the problem is that the league isn’t serious enough about confronting long term physical damage to its players.
I also don’t believe Brady is correct about coaching. If anything, I bet the disappearance of long term coaching advantages have been decreased by league wide leveling up in the quality of coaching. The situation is similar to why batters no longer hit .400 in the MLB. Are the batters worse? Absolutely not, they are facing more consistent pitching.
In regards to your comment above: "I also don't believe Brady is correct about coaching"...
How do you think Dabs, Rivera, McCarthy and Siriani compare to Parcells, Gibbs, Tom Landry, Buddy Ryan, Jimmy Johnson, Tom Coughlin, Andy Reid, Dick Vermiel?
I had this same thought.
I just think his comment holds water... that's all. Those are just some of the Great Coaches in the NFC East in my lifetime. I don't think his comment is controversial at all. In fact I fully agree with him.
He was part of a product he felt declining around him. It's OK for him to say so.
It's true -- we see it. Even so, what older dude doesn't think his ______ sucks compared to the old days?
Those hits led to physical problems that are unacceptable today, both because of societal standards and the microscope of online coverage of sports. I remember reading an account of one of Terrell Davis’ games where he was fighting off hits to the head, this was in the late 90s, and it’s unthinkable that the coaches involved would have survived with their careers in the present environment. Things have changed and the game needs to evolve.
I think the problem is that the league isn’t serious enough about confronting long term physical damage to its players.
I also don’t believe Brady is correct about coaching. If anything, I bet the disappearance of long term coaching advantages have been decreased by league wide leveling up in the quality of coaching. The situation is similar to why batters no longer hit .400 in the MLB. Are the batters worse? Absolutely not, they are facing more consistent pitching.
Actually batters have changed their approach to the game and stopped worrying about strikeouts. If anything, the pitching has gotten more diluted and is worse.
Coaches have also changed their approach. At one time, the emphasis was on simple t-formation offenses well-executed. Players were drilled time and time again on fundamentals. Now, coaches use multiple formations, multiple personnel situational packages, motion and the shotgun formation. Defenses rarely blitzed, and when they did it was a linebacker and once in a while the free safety. Now, corners blitz, linemen drop into coverage, etc etc.
It is difficult to get all that coordinated and functioning properly. You are going to get errors and penalties. The level of play is going to at least seem to deteriorate.
Player safety is a desirable goal but there is no way to make a game that calls for people hitting each other with their bodies 100% safe.
I mean the NFL and players can't talk about player safety when they cut a pre-season game and add another regular season game. Players have a hard time staying healthy for 16 let alone 17 games.
Sure if you are a QB no big deal going to 17 games but what about the rest of the players? How about running backs? If I were a running back I would not be happy going to 17 games. And then you keep the roster size the same even knowing there will be more injuries.
I am starting to see more similarities between the NFL and flag football.
Heck, even 42. Is Jay Alfords sack a 15 yarder and first down now? Also I remember Gibril Wilson and Kawika Mitchell lighting up Brady on a few plays including the “touching of the helmet” which as one poster pointed out as needing to be taken away.
You’ve got offenses like NY that look like they all met each other for the first time in the lobby before the game.
This line was so perfect it made me laugh out loud.