Tom Brady Claims That Today's NFL Is Like ‘Glorified College Football’

SUPER BOWL LIII

Sunday, February 3, 2019 at 6:30 p.m., televised by CBS

Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Beall's Flick page - Tom Brady: https://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/6566852021/in/photolist-b1hQjz-6TGQLf-6TCNjt-6TCQrP-ihYLBr-6TGXaY-91St2X-6TDcjM-6TD38p-quibTs-6THKxb-hGKoPh-gQnQcg-96MbC5-8B3HqL-rgz3YD-qz5ZLN-hGKoHf-qvEoAs-7owYgn-fMLkYm-6TCSWz-nV7bPa-hGJxK6-7oARWy-5xv7E5-qLF6bB-biYQPX-6TCSbe-gNTTwc-gNTYva-gNSie6-6TCHwa-6TCyUV-bh4Lxt-6TDfuD-6THpgu-6TCDMV-6TGXxA-6TD1CM-6TCUtk-gnh4wB-6TD6SD-aEwQeH-6TCK44-6TGXnQ-6THdRE-6THzA5-ihZDW8-6THiE5

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Just yesterday, I posted something about how Tom Brady, for all intents and purposes, should rightly be regarded as the most successful quarterback in NFL history. The main person who usually gets the nod in his place by detractors of Tom Brady is Joe Montana, sometimes also referred to as "Joe Cool."

Montana thrived in the NFL during the eighties, which was a different era entirely in the league. There was a lot more physicality to the game, and much of the brunt of this fell on quarterbacks, who sometimes took the most savage hits. Perhaps the most iconic such moment came with the most legendary defense of that time, the 1985 Chicago Bears, knocking out Detroit quarterback Joe Ferguson during a game, about a month and change before they would go on to win the Super Bowl.

Of course, Montana won Super Bowls during this era, but he had his fair share of similar hits that he had to endure during his career. Jim Burt knocked him out - quite literally - during a 1986 divisional round game at Giants Stadium. The Giants defense again knocked him out in the 1990 NFC Championship Game, this time at Candlestick Park, and by Leonard Marshall. Jim Burt was actually a teammate of Montana by then, but it could be argued that a low hit to Giants quarterback Jeff Hostetler's knees got the Giants defenders fired up, and they told Burt that if he was going to take shots at their quarterback, they were going to take shots at his quarterback (Montana). Late in the fourth quarter, Marshall chased Montana and hit him, just as he was about to pass the ball. It was such a hard hit, that it took years for Montana to once again become a starting quarterback, and this time, for a different team. Finally, Montana was knocked out in the AFC Championship Game, when his Chiefs fell short to the Buffalo Bills up at Orchard Park.

Quarterbacks still get hurt, and they still sometimes get knocked out of games. But these days, the injuries are more often not so blatant, as it is not open season on QB's anymore. The league has gravitated to a set of rules that are designed to protect quarterbacks, and to protect offensive players, more generally. 

This has had another effect, which likely was one of the intended consequences, although league officials might try to deny it. Offenses, began to flourish, and we started to see incredibly explosive offenses that were compared to video games. You had the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, and the St. Louis Rams, also known as the "Greatest Show on Turf," from 1999-2001. The Indianapolis Colts during the Peyton Manning era. The 2007 New England Patriots. The 2009 New Orleans Saints. The 2011 Green Bay Packers. The 2013 Denver Broncos, also quarterbacked by Peyton Manning. The 2016 Atlanta Falcons, who are now best known for blowing a 28-3 lead against the Patriots in the Super Bowl. This season, we saw a few of them. The 2018 Los Angeles Rams, who will be playing in the Super Bowl today, a little later on. The 2018 New Orleans Saints. The 2018 Kansas City Chiefs. 

Yes, all of these were offenses that moved the ball and scored points more efficiently than any other team that we had seen in any other previous era, with the possibly exception of the 1984 Miami Dolphins. It seems that we often see video game offenses scoring at least 500 points during a single season, which used to be a very rare and newsworthy event. Now, it is almost expected of any team that wants to be regarded as having the best, most explosive offense in any given season. Hell, the 2013 Denver Broncos offense became the first to score 600 points! Who would bet against at least one team reaching the 600-point plateau within the next decade, with the current rules accommodating offenses in place? I wouldn't.

Defenses have been forced to take a back seat. They get penalized often for the least bit of physicality, and these penalties can be killers. So, teams have come to look for, and rely on, an approach to the game that specializes in explosive offenses, which is how we get scores like 54-51 between the Los Angeles Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this season. The most that any one team had scored and still fallen short for many years was 41, when the Giants lost to Washington, 72-41, way back in 1966. It took 20 years for another team to score more points and still lose, and that was when the explosive, Marino-led Dolphins lost a wild shootout in overtime to the Jets, 51-45. Yet in 2004, the Cleveland Browns scored 48 points and still lost by 10 to Cincinnati. In 2015, the Giants scored 49 points and still lost in New Orleans. And now, for the time being, the Chiefs are the team that holds the record for most points scored in a game that they lost, with 51. Once again, I would not bet against a team scoring more and still losing within the next decade of play.

It is a different era. And indeed, many people almost don't recognize it as "real football." Moreover, many people do not like it, and claim that the game has grown too soft.

Apparently, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady himself is one of those people. There used to be a lot of things that were extremely rare, like offenses that could score at will, seemingly. Or rookie quarterbacks enjoying incredible success almost immediately. 

These days, it is almost expected. Rookie quarterbacks are thrown into the mix right away. And if they do not have an immediate, positive impact, it can mean their job. 

But Brady feels that his time sitting on the bench early in his career actually benefited him, even though it is no longer a popular approach for teams to take.

Here are some reflections by Brady on these changes:

"I think it was a different time. Football was different then. Now, in some ways, pro football is more glorified college football. In some ways, the transition - it's more similar than it used to be when I first started. Football now is removing some of the physical elements of the game. It's more of a space game. You see a lot of college plays more in the pro game now than I remember when I started." 

Of course, we should keep in mind that few teams have benefited from these new rules that help offenses out more than Brady's Patriots, who will be playing in their third straight Super Bowl later today, and ninth overall in the Brady era, where he will be seeking to obtain a record sixth Super Bowl ring. 

Tom Brady says the NFL has become ‘glorified college football’      Steven Ruiz, October 9, 2018:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/tom-brady-says-the-nfl-has-become-%e2%80%98glorified-college-football%e2%80%99/ar-BBOa4lg?ocid=ientp