Tom Brady is widely considered to be the greatest quarterback of all time. Like others at his position, Brady has benefited in recent years from seemingly constant rule changes that tilt in favor of offenses. Believe it or not, he’s not in favor of some of them.
Brady shared some of his thoughts this week on the way NFL has placed on emphasis on protecting skill position players. He said that has resulted in the game “not being taught the right way” and that the NFL is “penalizing defensive players for offensive mistakes.”
“If you’re a quarterback, you’ve gotta protect yourself and your players,” Brady said. “It shouldn’t be the responsibility of your opponent to protect you. It creates really bad habits for players. You feel like I can basically do anything. I can run and not slide. I can throw my receiver into coverage and not have any repercussion for it.
“They’re actually gonna blame the defensive player for making a good, solid hit. Now the defensive player is like, ‘Oh, I can’t do that even though I feel like it was an offensive mistake.”
The NFL would counter that rewarding quarterbacks for mistakes is nothing more than an unintended consequence. The priority — at least they say — is protecting defenseless players.
Brady said the same is also true for when quarterbacks get clobbered. He mentioned a play during a Chicago Bears’ preseason game where a blitzer leveled Justin Fields and was called for a penalty. In Brady’s eyes, the offense was rewarded for a mistake with 15 free yards.
Brady has been around forever and may not be going away anytime soon. Some of the rule changes geared toward player safety have helped him remain healthy, but it sounds like he prefers the old school way of doing things.
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