After former Super Bowl GOAT Tom Brady waded in to criticize the current “mediocre” play seen in the league, ex-NFL QB Alex Smith had some criticism of his own, but for Brady’s analysis, not for the NFL’s current condition.
During an appearance on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback scoffed at Brady’s claims that the hitting in the NFL is weak, the rules are too soft, the coaching is off, and the league’s play is filled with “mediocrity.”
Smith noted that Brady, who just retired in February, was still playing just last season, so he was in the same version of the league he is criticizing, Fox News reported.
Former NFL player and current NFL analyst Alex Smith looks on before the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field on November 14, 2022, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
“First off, he hasn’t been retired that long. He was just playing. He just won a Super Bowl in the current game – is he discounting that one?” Smith exclaimed, adding that Brady “played in the most uncompetitive division, I think, in NFL history.”
Smith discounted the AFC East when Brady played as a “cupcake division.”
“You got a ticket to the playoffs right away, talk about mediocre,” Smith said, rhetorically addressing Brady. “I completely disagree with this. I know he’s referencing the rule changes over the middle of the receiver, but in my opinion, I think that game has gotten better.”
Brady, though, dismissed today’s NFL during a visit on the Stephen A. Smith Show on Nov. 20.
“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. “I think the coaching isn’t as good as it was. I don’t think the development of young players is as good as it was. 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 think there’s a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL” – @TomBrady pic.twitter.com/xyZ1q3ztUg
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 21, 2023
Brady went on to say that hits that were celebrated in the past would get a player suspended today.
“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 explained. “You hear coaches complaining about their own player being tackled and… 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.”
He went on to say, “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 didn’t throw the ball to certain areas because I was afraid players were going to get knocked out. That’s the reality. I didn’t throw it to the middle when I played Ray Lewis because he’d knock them out of the game, and I couldn’t afford to lose a good player.”
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