Tom Brady recently called out the NFL for its “mediocrity,” and a former NFL quarterback fired back at the seven-time Super Bowl champion. Last week, Alex Smith shared his thoughts on Brady’s comments and he disagreed saying that Brady played in a not-strong AFC East division during his time in the league.
“He played in the most uncompetitive division in NFL history,” Smith, 39, said on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, per PEOPLE. “I mean, you come out of training camp in the biggest cupcake division, you got a ticket to the playoffs right away. Like, talk about mediocre.”
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Smith also said he likes where the NFL is heading. “I know he’s talking about the rule over the middle over the field to the receiver,” Smith said about Brady. “But in my opinion, the game has gotten better. There’s more parity across the league. Quarterback play is at an all-time high in the league. You’ve got the best athletes playing the position. We didn’t have this 30-40 years ago. And then, also he’s referencing offensive numbers are down. To me, I think we’re in a golden age of D-linemen.”
While appearing on The Stephen A. Smith Show last month, Brady shared his thoughts on today’s NFL. “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. 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.”
Brady, who announced his retirement from the NFL in February, also complained about the rule changes that have limited defensive players. “I look at a lot of players like Ray Lewis and Rodney Harrison and Ronnie Lott… every hit they made would’ve been a penalty,” Brady said. “You hear coaches complaining about their own player being tackled… Why don’t they talk to their player about how to protect themself? We used to work on the fundamentals of those things all the time, now they’re trying to regulate all the time. Offensive players need to protect themselves. It’s not up to a defensive player to protect the offensive player. A defensive player needs to protect himself. I didn’t throw the ball to certain areas because I was afraid players were gonna 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.”
