Brady not impressed with the quality of the league today

[sb1]

Brady bemoans NFL product: 'A lot of mediocrity'

Tom Brady says he thinks there is "a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL" and that the "product in my opinion is less than what it's been."

www.espn.com

He makes some interesting points.

I actually think college players were better prepared when I came out than they are now...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.

He'd never say so but I wonder if this is a veiled criticism of his old team and their current QB.

 

[1960Pats]

Brady bemoans NFL product: 'A lot of mediocrity'

Tom Brady says he thinks there is "a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL" and that the "product in my opinion is less than what it's been."

www.espn.com

He makes some interesting points.




He'd never say so but I wonder if this is a veiled criticism of his old team and their current QB.

Brady has no reason to be critical of Mac Jones but he does have reasons to be critical of the team.

I know exactly why the level of play has dropped off in the NYFL. College coaches started coaching to win games and keep their jobs instead of coaching to train QBs for the NYFL, and now the league is flooded with below average QBs. And in the case of the Pats they may not have a QB at all. That's also on the team and not the players.

From what I've been watching of the NYFL lately, Brady is spot on when he calls it mediocre because it is. I watched less than an hour of football on Thanksgiving and I didn't miss it at all. The games are actually annoying to watch at times.

 

[1960Pats]

Does this mean that Brady isn't going to be Mr Vanilla with a mic in his hand, as many people thought?

 

[Kdo5]

Refreshing to see that Tom has an opinion.

 

[PATS16N0]

 

[VectorPrime]

He’s right. The problem is there’s no practice in the offseason anymore. Avoiding sub concussive head injuries is very important and avoiding that in OTAs and Training Camp is good. But they’ve gone WAY too far in just having so few days to do ANYTHING. Even if it’s another 15 days of unpadded practices in May that’s better for getting in shape and in rhythm than nothing at all. And go back to two a days in training camp but the second practice has to be no hitting. Thats fine, it at least gets players on the field and working on technique.

 

[Tunescribe]

When you have quarterbacks completing 70 percent of their passes over the course of a season, you know the league is out of whack. Ten starting quarterbacks are at 68 percent completion rate or higher. Ten years ago, three quarterbacks were over 68 percent and none at 70 percent.

Heck, in 2013 Brady had 60.5-percent completions and the team went 12-4. The NFL is just too unbalanced rules-wise favoring passing over running the ball and offense over defense. Also, special teams play is being legislated out of the game. Things need to be rebalanced giving the three phases equal weight.

 

[Real fan 02]

Brady bemoans NFL product: 'A lot of mediocrity'

Tom Brady says he thinks there is "a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL" and that the "product in my opinion is less than what it's been."

www.espn.com

He makes some interesting points.




He'd never say so but I wonder if this is a veiled criticism of his old team and their current QB.

Agreed! Brady is a smart, articulate guy he's never going to publicly say what he truly feels about his team.

 

[aluminum seats]

Most games suck. Lousy product this year

 

[Guts]

Brady still moves the needle.
His comments have been in every sports talk show lol

Alex Smith is a dumb muths****er though
Look at the 2nd slide 1st for context

 

[1960Pats]

When you have quarterbacks completing 70 percent of their passes over the course of a season, you know the league is out of whack. Ten starting quarterbacks are at 68 percent completion rate or higher. Ten years ago, three quarterbacks were over 68 percent and none at 70 percent.

Heck, in 2013 Brady had 60.5-percent completions and the team went 12-4. The NFL is just too unbalanced rules-wise favoring passing over running the ball and offense over defense. Also, special teams play is being legislated out of the game. Things need to be rebalanced giving the three phases equal weight.

Sadly, I don't see how football as we know it is ever coming back.

I love the running game. Even when Brady was here I complained when they got pass-happy. IMHO the best offense is one that's balanced, even when the runs aren't always successful.

And WTF is going on with kickoffs? I say move the kickers back and bring back the return game. It's one of the most exciting plays in the game and it's going, going, gone.

Things don't look good but maybe the owners will wake up and bring it all back. That's really all we can hope for now.

 

[Pats1971]

Brady has no reason to be critical of Mac Jones but he does have reasons to be critical of the team.

I know exactly why the level of play has dropped off in the NYFL. College coaches started coaching to win games and keep their jobs instead of coaching to train QBs for the NYFL, and now the league is flooded with below average QBs. And in the case of the Pats they may not have a QB at all. That's also on the team and not the players.

From what I've been watching of the NYFL lately, Brady is spot on when he calls it mediocre because it is. I watched less than an hour of football on Thanksgiving and I didn't miss it at all. The games are actually annoying to watch at times.

Someone who has never watched an NFl game in their life could watch Mac Jones and know he sucks, so I am pretty sure Brady does too

 

[1960Pats]

Brady still moves the needle.
His comments have been in every sports talk show lol

Alex Smith is a dumb muths****er though
Look at the 2nd slide 1st for context

I had to come back here because I saw something related to this from two ex-players, who both agreed with Brady. It was Jeff Saturday and Troy Aikman, but the Aikman comment was funny as hell. He said that to Brady everything looks mediocre.

 

[*ChungFu*]

Jeez TB is singing my song. Where are the Bob Newharts on the site to diagnose his bandwagonitis?

 

[jmt57]

I was disappointed to see that Alex Smith felt compelled to change the subject matter and trot out the old tired and thoroughly debunked myth that Brady and the Patriots benefitted by playing in the AFC East.

First off, that is totally irrelevant to the discussion; secondly it is simply not true. With the exception of 2007 (when the division was a collective eight games under .500 - thanks mostly to the 1-15 Dolphins), the AFC East as a whole usually had a winning record. The Pats record outside the division and outside the conference were quite similar over the years. Typically the NFC West and AFC South were the underachievers.

Alex Smith offers strong rebuke of Tom Brady's claims about NFL mediocrity

Tom Brady and Alex Smith have opposing views on the current state of the NFL, with Brady believing it's mediocre and Smith believing it's better than ever.

awfulannouncing.com

And then, my biggest complaint with this, and no offense to you guys (Randy Moss and Tedy Bruschi), he played in the most uncompetitive division, I think, in NFL history.”​

​

“I mean, you come out of training camp in the biggest cupcake division, you got a ticket to the playoffs right away,” said Smith. “Like, talk about mediocre.”​

Thankfully others chose to look up the facts - that completely disprove Alex Smith's hot lukewarm take.

As pointed out by Robert Harding on X, in eight of those years, the AFC East had at least one other playoff team.​

​

In the interest of being fair, NFL on CBS analyst Jay Feely pointed out Brady’s record vs. non-AFCE opponents, 195-73.​

Why Alex Smith is so butthurt and full of salty tears is a mystery to me.


AFC East cumulative records through the years:

2001: 21-19 (3 playoff teams)
2002: 23-17 (no teams w/a losing record)(NFCN & NFCW: only 1 winning team each; NFCN 14 games under .500)
2003: 24-16 (10-6 Miami misses playoffs on a tiebreaker; AFCE has best record among the 8 divisions)
2004: 25-15 (3 teams w/winning record; AFCE has 2nd best record, 1 win behind AFCN; NFC has just 4 winning teams)
2005: 16-24 (Miami is 2nd at 9-7; in NFCW the Rams, Cardinals and SF went a combined 15-33)
2006: 23-17 (2 playoff teams; best division record again; in NFC 3 teams make playoffs w/ record of 9-7 or 8-8)
2007: 16-24 (NFCS has worst division; Bucs finish 1st at 9-7, and division as a whole is 10 games under .500)
2008: 26-14 (3 teams w/winning records, tied for best division; NFCW is the worst at a combined 20 games under .500)
2009: 20-20 (2 playoff teams; NFC West is again the worst, with an abysmal 12-28 record outside their division)
2010: 24-16 (2 playoff teams; tied w/NFCS for best division)
2011: 21-19 (AFCE has nobody below 6-10; AFCS is 12 under, best team in NFCE is 9-7 and best in AFCW is 8-8)
2012: 19-21 (AFC West is the league's worst division with only one winning record, finishing 12 games below .500)
2013: 22-18 (Only 1 team in AFCE has a losing record (6-10); NFCN has nobody w/more than eight wins)
2014: 21-19 (Again only one AFCE team has a losing record; Colts win AFCS as their division goes 14 under .500)
2015: 24-16 (2 playoff teams, best division in NFL; NFC East is the worst, 12 games under .500)
2016: 24-16 (2 playoff teams; AFCN (11 games under .500) and AFCS (nobody better than 9-7) are at the bottom)
2017: 21-19 (2 playoff teams; AFC South brings up the rear again, ten under .500)
2018: 16-24 (The AFC East is last, two games behind the NFC West; ironically the Pats and Rams meet in the Super Bowl)
2019: 22-18 (2 playoff teams; the NFC East is the league's worst division, a whopping 16 games below .500)
Post-Brady Years:
2020: 20-20 (Two 10+ win teams; Washington wins the NFC East (17 under .500) with a 7-win season)
2021: 22-22 (2 playoff teams, 3 w/winning record; AFC South goes 12 games under .500)
2022: 25-18 (2 playoff teams, nobody worse than 7-10; AFCS goes a pitiful 20 under .500; 8-9 Bucs win NFCS)


Perhaps Alex Smith should do a bit of research before he feels the need to make his opinion known next time. I used to think much more highly of him.

 

[1960Pats]

I was disappointed to see that Alex Smith felt compelled to change the subject matter and trot out the old tired and thoroughly debunked myth that Brady and the Patriots benefitted by playing in the AFC East.

First off, that is totally irrelevant to the discussion; secondly it is simply not true. With the exception of 2007 (when the division was a collective eight games under .500 - thanks mostly to the 1-15 Dolphins), the AFC East as a whole usually had a winning record. The Pats record outside the division and outside the conference were quite similar over the years. Typically the NFC West and AFC South were the underachievers.

Alex Smith offers strong rebuke of Tom Brady's claims about NFL mediocrity

Tom Brady and Alex Smith have opposing views on the current state of the NFL, with Brady believing it's mediocre and Smith believing it's better than ever.

awfulannouncing.com

And then, my biggest complaint with this, and no offense to you guys (Randy Moss and Tedy Bruschi), he played in the most uncompetitive division, I think, in NFL history.”​

​

“I mean, you come out of training camp in the biggest cupcake division, you got a ticket to the playoffs right away,” said Smith. “Like, talk about mediocre.”​

Thankfully others chose to look up the facts - that completely disprove Alex Smith's hot lukewarm take.

As pointed out by Robert Harding on X, in eight of those years, the AFC East had at least one other playoff team.​

​

In the interest of being fair, NFL on CBS analyst Jay Feely pointed out Brady’s record vs. non-AFCE opponents, 195-73.​

Why Alex Smith is so butthurt and full of salty tears is a mystery to me.


AFC East cumulative records through the years:

2001: 21-19 (3 playoff teams)
2002: 23-17 (no teams w/a losing record)(NFCN & NFCW: only 1 winning team each; NFCN 14 games under .500)
2003: 24-16 (10-6 Miami misses playoffs on a tiebreaker; AFCE has best record among the 8 divisions)
2004: 25-15 (3 teams w/winning record; AFCE has 2nd best record, 1 win behind AFCN; NFC has just 4 winning teams)
2005: 16-24 (Miami is 2nd at 9-7; in NFCW the Rams, Cardinals and SF went a combined 15-33)
2006: 23-17 (2 playoff teams; best division record again; in NFC 3 teams make playoffs w/ record of 9-7 or 8-8)
2007: 16-24 (NFCS has worst division; Bucs finish 1st at 9-7, and division as a whole is 10 games under .500)
2008: 26-14 (3 teams w/winning records, tied for best division; NFCW is the worst at a combined 20 games under .500)
2009: 20-20 (2 playoff teams; NFC West is again the worst, with an abysmal 12-28 record outside their division)
2010: 24-16 (2 playoff teams; tied w/NFCS for best division)
2011: 21-19 (AFCE has nobody below 6-10; AFCS is 12 under, best team in NFCE is 9-7 and best in AFCW is 8-8)
2012: 19-21 (AFC West is the league's worst division with only one winning record, finishing 12 games below .500)
2013: 22-18 (Only 1 team in AFCE has a losing record (6-10); NFCN has nobody w/more than eight wins)
2014: 21-19 (Again only one AFCE team has a losing record; Colts win AFCS as their division goes 14 under .500)
2015: 24-16 (2 playoff teams, best division in NFL; NFC East is the worst, 12 games under .500)
2016: 24-16 (2 playoff teams; AFCN (11 games under .500) and AFCS (nobody better than 9-7) are at the bottom)
2017: 21-19 (2 playoff teams; AFC South brings up the rear again, ten under .500)
2018: 16-24 (The AFC East is last, two games behind the NFC West; ironically the Pats and Rams meet in the Super Bowl)
2019: 22-18 (2 playoff teams; the NFC East is the league's worst division, a whopping 16 games below .500)
Post-Brady Years:
2020: 20-20 (Two 10+ win teams; Washington wins the NFC East (17 under .500) with a 7-win season)
2021: 22-22 (2 playoff teams, 3 w/winning record; AFC South goes 12 games under .500)
2022: 25-18 (2 playoff teams, nobody worse than 7-10; AFCS goes a pitiful 20 under .500; 8-9 Bucs win NFCS)


Perhaps Alex Smith should do a bit of research before he feels the need to make his opinion known next time. I used to think much more highly of him.

I'm pretty sure I saved some of that from the past disinformation campaign about the AFCE. It comes in handy. The funny thing, as you mentioned, is that the AFCS (aka the Manning Family Creation) were much worse and still are. Maybe that connection is why we don't ever hear about it.

I remember the one hour Inside the NFL show when Len Dawson and Nick Buonoconti gave football insights of the weeks games for 20 minutes and showed game highlights for 40. Those were the really good old days.

Now we get a large group of people who talk for 50 minutes and show 10 minutes of game highlights, if that. And by the looks of it those folks are being told to stir things up, not provide game insights. I think the best evidence of that was Tony Romo's complete turn around in his second year. He went from informative to a clown overnight.

As a senior it's getting more difficult to see some of the changes occurring in sports and the way the mediots do their job could be at the top of that list. Alex Smith is just another in a long line of ex-players who made the switch.

 

[MahomestoKelce]

I would not be surprised whatsoever if the Browns, with old Flacco coming off the couch, somehow won the Super Bowl. It's as wide open as it's ever been. Not in a good way either.

We have seen 6-0 & 3-0 games. Nationally televised games have been horrific to watch. Top of the AFC is as bad as it's been in awhile. There are teams two or three games under .500 fighting for playoff positioning in both conferences. Most of the elite QB's are injured/severely underperforming. Coaching is as bad as ever.

This is either a fluke. Or, defenses are catching up to offenses and players may be at risk to injury as ever.

Hopefully the postseason makes up for the terrible regular season. Not getting my hopes up.

 

[1960Pats]

I would not be surprised whatsoever if the Browns, with old Flacco coming off the couch, somehow won the Super Bowl. It's as wide open as it's ever been. Not in a good way either.

We have seen 6-0 & 3-0 games. Nationally televised games have been horrific to watch. Top of the AFC is as bad as it's been in awhile. There are teams two or three games under .500 fighting for playoff positioning in both conferences. Most of the elite QB's are injured/severely underperforming. Coaching is as bad as ever.

This is either a fluke. Or, defenses are catching up to offenses and players may be at risk to injury as ever.

Hopefully the postseason makes up for the terrible regular season. Not getting my hopes up.

The defenses are definitely getting better with more complicated and well disguised defenses.

As I've mentioned, it's also about the QBs because the NCAA isn't training QBs to join the NYFL anymore. They're training QBs to win and that means running, and there's no room for that in the NYFL yet.

Unless something major happens it looks like SF or Dallas this year. I'm not sold on Philly or any of the top AFC teams. But then again, on any given Sunday.