Tom Brady blasphemes about players, coaches and rules
Tom Brady is one of the greatest legends in NFL history. His seven Super Bowl victories have earned him a reputation as the best quarterback of all time. His word carries weight. But what he is now saying about the state of the league is unlikely to please the NFL.
For seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady, the NFL has become weaker since his retirement. "There's a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL, in my opinion," said the 46-year-old, who ended his active football career in February, on ESPN's "Stephen A. Smith Show".
"I don't see the excellence that I saw in the past," Brady went on to criticize: "The coaching is not as good as it used to be. I don't think the development of the young players is as good as it used to be. And I don't think the schemes are as good as they used to be."
Brady is also of the opinion that the rule changes to protect the professionals have had a negative impact on the game. A "lot of bad habits have been established in the sport," said the former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback.
He was referring in particular to hard tackles, which, unlike in the past, are punished immediately. Brady cited players such as Ray Lewis, Rodney Harrison and Ronnie Lott as examples "who influenced the game in a certain way - and every hit they would have made would have been a penalty today."
Brady therefore cited a kind of self-protection as a possible solution. "Offensive players have to protect themselves," said Brady, who played in the NFL between 2000 and 2023 and will become a TV pundit in 2024: "It's not the defensive player. But if someone hits you hard, then there's a penalty." That's a shame, explained the idol.
Source: www.ntv.de
