“Goff’s 6 turnovers in three weeks is anything but mediocre!! >:(“ -barry sanders
I blame Tom for a lot of why the league is the way it is. Can’t touch the QB anymore
If he didn’t exist do you think the rules would’ve never changed?
I really think the QB rules wouldn’t be as crazy as they are. We have QBs putting up RB numbers and they aren’t allowed to be touched. Players are scared to hit them when they run, it’s ridiculous
I think you can insert any top QBs name there and say hes the reason why the league made rules to keep QBs safer. Dont think its fair to single out brady cause he had the gall to be an elite QB during the time where the league was growing massively with the rise of the all the new media platforms etc etc. The league would’ve made new rules with the existence of any elite QB playing
It is what it is. The sport is astronomically more entertaining when elite QBs are healthy and playing well, and available to play in big games during the reg season and then around for the playoffs. It isnt rocket science to understand why some rules were made to keep those dudes on the field.
I think Tom was specifically talking about qb play and making some extrapolations from that. he’s been talking about disliking changes (defenseless receiver, lifting of number regulations, etc) for years.
The game is changing. I’d like less ticky tack penalty but other wise I’m good. The people complaining about the game going “soft” are irritating.
It’s not that the game is going soft, it’s that it seems like every pass is a screen or checkdown. It’s boring as fuck to watch.
I disagree. Brady has made “game has gone soft” comments before, but I think these are literally about mediocrity. I think he sees it all connected. When hes says players don’t work on the fundamentals of protecting themselves anymore, hes implying there other fundamentals they also arent working on.
This is the 4th straight year scoring has gone down, and game threads here are filled with comments about shitty play. This a different complaint than “game gone soft.”
Players definitely don’t try and protect themselves. Look how Tua just fell over like a limp toddler several times in a row and now he probably can’t remember his middle.name anymore.
Not to mention the rules that protected the quarterback came into effect in the early 2000s, so Brady can’t really say “the game had gone soft” when he spent almost his entire career playing under the same rules.
If you ask me, I think we’re seeing the negative impact of how insane contracts for star players have gotten in comparison to the overall cap. You can’t have 2 players contributing 60+ million to the cap and expect a team to still be stellar IMO. Chiefs are a great example this year.
I don’t think contracts are a problem in what’s going on with play. The top end contracts got bloated, but almost all of the middle class is gone now and replaced with rookie contract and vet min guys.
Your last sentence is a recipe for shitty play though…
The Tuck Rule was fucking soft.
If not soft, than what would you call it? The rules are actively being changed to discourage and/or negate play styles similar to Ray Lewis, Rodney Harrison and Ronnie Lott (Brady’s words). Defense is being hamstrung and handicapped seemingly more and more every season.
I think the word “soft” in this context is so dumb. It lacks any nuance and basically just sounds like someone complaining they or other people can’t be a dick anymore.
Ok
Steel cage match at Wrestlemania XL.
It is happening in Philly so Gritty can get involved in any cheap finish required
Dude a mascot king of the mountain or whatever it’s called would be awesome
There’s no quarterback playing in the league right now where it’s like, “yeah, he’s gonna be the best someday”
Noone will ever play like TB, just like there will ever be a player better than Michael Jordan.
That being said Jordan Love will be the 3rd HoF QB consecutively coming out of Green Bay.
That being said Jordan Love will be the 3rd HoF QB consecutively coming out of Green Bay.
Which to me is amazing.
Lions fans just don’t see it that way, Tom.
Tom Brady has no valid opinion about mediocrity lmao. He was the most pampered and protected QB in the leagues history.
As great as Barry was, he doesn’t really have much credibility against a mind like brady who was a QB and had to analyze all assets of the game and elevated his teams. Not to mention the fact brady played until he was 45 while Barry retired early. Guys like Brady, Manning, etc are just on another level and agree with their takes when u look around the league.
As great as a potential GOAT RB was, he doesn’t really have much credibility because he didn’t really learn anything because he was just a runningback and Tom Brady was a quarterback. Not to mention Barry Sanders only played for 10 years in the NFL, so that means he was barely in the league. Only QBs like Brady, Manning etc with 18-20+ years of experience know anything about the NFL.
that’s what you sound like to me lol
Statistically speaking Brady is 100% right from the quarterbacks play for 2023. It’s been way down.
Strong disagree. Mac Jones-level talent was considered a solid, even good QB back in the late 2000s and early 2010s (see David Gerard, Rex Grossman, Jay Cutler, Chad Pennington, Alex Smith, etc).
Yeah, I think what’s going on here is three things. Having 4 all time great QBs play at once in Brady/Manning/Brees/Rodgers skews the perception of the overall level of play in those years. Second, there’s some truly awful QB play at the bottom levels.
Lastly, rule change shave made it so that you need an elite passing game to win, so a lot of guys who are good but not great can’t contend the way they could in the past. I think if you transplanted the current crop of QBs back 10-15 years ago you’d have half the league passing the Dalton line - it’s just that now the Dalton line is the cutoff for making the playoffs, not contending.
Don’t lump Rex in with those weak armed game managers.
Objectively he’s also right. This year has been full of incredibly sloppy play.
Offensive output and quality of QB play are not the same thing. Defenses also play a role in the equation. And specifically defenses adjusting to the schematic revolution of the past 5 years.
Not true at all.
It’s not at the record years of 2018 and 2020, but it’s still in line with everything and on par with the upward trend of this century.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/NFL/passing.htm
Ok but is it just Pickett killing the averages
My pops is a diehard Steelers fan (how the fuck did that happen?) and thinks Pickett is the shit for some reason. I’m gonna show him this comment to piss him off next time I see him. Thank you lol
The current crop of QBs is not at the Brady/Manning level in general. I know neither of those two guys were the athletes that some of the current top guys are, but I imagine Manning and Brady having aneurysms seeing the carelessness with which a lot of the league treats the ball.
stupid take. mahomes is literally the greatest qb to ever touch the turf
To 12 year olds sure
Grown men think that as well, atleast talent wise
whos better
Marino
Aight relax. Can’t make guarantees this early in his career.
you should try watching him play sometime
Mahomes, Hurts, Lamarr, even Tua and CJ Stroud. Herbert is very fun to watch. Even guys like Purdy and Geno are well worth the Sunday sit down. I think Brady was speaking more to lack of accountability due to rules that can create mediocrity. I also think mediocrity is the wrong word. The league has more talent than ever.
Are you taking Philip Rivers and Eli over the first three I named?
Not to mention Aaron Rodgers has played in both eras.
Why Rivers and Eli? They were pretty mediocre in their time. I absolutely would not take those you mentioned for someone like Brees or Big Ben, or Rivers in fact. Eli is a maybe as he was very inconsistent but seemed to come good when it mattered, like a reverse Lamar.
This is what happens when you get college qbs to play college systems instead of maturing to nfl offense
In general, these guys are such athletic freaks now, that they never learned to read a defense or really learned the game. They didn’t have to.
The QBs today only know the current way of playing (since 2004)…so it’s like playing on “Hard” mode. Brady, Manning etc., played on “Ultra Hard” mode to start their careers. Rules changes made it feel like “normal” mode.
Defensive players in today’s game are better than when Manning/Brady played because they play effectively even WITH all the handcuffs on defenders. They never had the old rules so there was no adjustment. The rule changes were from 19 years ago. Most top shelf defenders were somewhere between Pee Wee and middle school football at that point. Some guys were too young even for Pee Wee 19 years ago. All they know is modern ball so this feels normal for them.
TL;DR - old QBs had an advantage with the rule switch 19 years ago but modern QBs don’t have the advantage since modern defensive players only know one way to play
What rule switch 19 years ago?
Are you talking about illegal contact?
Charles Barkley says the same thing about the current state of the NBA. It’s just old retired guys jealous they can’t play anymore and nothing more.
Brady won his last ring less than 3 years ago. Equating him to Barkley who hasn’t played in like 20 years is wild lol.
I would take Mohomes over either. And how many more QBs would you need to be at that level?
Mahomes is just as good as Brady/manning
Mahomes is just as good as Brady/manning
Delusion and recency bias + media overhype + modern era NFL has gotten to you.
He has the talent but he hasn’t reached their mental understanding and go for the kill mentality they had yet.
Sounds more like Brady still trying to be relevant.
Yeah I kinda doubt Tom fucking Brady is ever gonna struggle for relevancy, big dawg.
true, he will only struggle for relevancy in his family
But what if that offensive output decline is driven by better defenses (and not just incompetent offenses)? Stats can’t settle this argument bc talent plays on both sides of the ball.
Common Brady L.
It shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone with the sheer physical traits required to play in the NFL these days. The height and build of a player are sometimes more important than their raw talent.
We’ve reached such a weird genetic requirement to play at the NFL level that we’re obviously going to have a lot of mediocrity mixed in with actual elite players.
It’s why elite players even exist. There’s plenty of people with raw talent, but maybe 5% of them hit the genetic thresholds required to ever play at the NFL level. When those guys actually get found, they’re special.
So yeah, it doesn’t surprise me at all why there’s a lot of straight-up bad (mediocre is just being nice) players in the NFL these days.
LOUD NOISES
I was in my early twenties watching the Lions play the Vikings in the thanksgiving game in 1995. Barry Sanders uniform came untucked. He was stuffing them back in while the announcers were blathering on. They kept the camera rolling and when Barry, my favorite player all-time, btw, had his uniform nice and tight, I watched his teammate take a can of nonstick cooking spray and lather his jersey and pants with it. The announcer started to make a comment but quickly shut his mouth. They cut away and into the dust bins of history it went.
Yugoslavian women literally use Tom Brady as a dildo.
Wait, what are we talking about?