Brady: Referees flagging defenses for exploiting offensive mistakes
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady believes the NFL has gone too far when it comes to penalizing defensive players, calling the recent trend "a disservice to the sport."
Brady reasoned that football is "not being taught the right way" due to referees flagging defenses for what he thinks are mistakes committed by offensive players.
I feel like they penalize defensive players for offensive mistakes."
- Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV) September 3, 2021
Let me find out @TomBrady has a lil defensive heart.
This is so spot on. pic.twitter.com/cbHlpXKCGX
"Like, a quarterback should only throw the ball to certain places because your receiver is in danger of getting hit," Brady said. "For example, when I used to play against Ray Lewis, I wouldn't throw the ball to the middle of the field because he would go after you, and he would hit. We didn't always have the biggest receivers, but he would hit them and knock them out of the game.
"And now, every hard hit is a penalty on the defense. So I feel like they penalize defensive players for offensive mistakes."
Brady brought up a recent preseason game involving the Chicago Bears to further explain his reasoning.
"I was watching a Chicago Bears game - the quarterback messes up, doesn't see the blitzer, or the line screws up, I don't know what happened," Brady noted. "The defensive player comes in and hits him hard and they throw a flag on the defense. So they've almost moved the protection of your opponent to you (the defense), as opposed to where it should be, which is on yourself."
He added, "It shouldn't be the responsibility of your opponent to protect you. It creates really bad habits for players because you basically feel like you can do anything. I can run and not slide. I can throw the ball and put my receiver into any coverage and not have any repercussion for it."
The seven-time Super Bowl champion thinks the competitive product of the NFL is moving in the wrong direction due to these changes.
"In the end, I think it's a disservice to the sport because the sport isn't being played at a high level like I believe it once was. It actually deteriorates because you're not teaching the players the reasons or fundamentals of what the sport should be."
Copyright (C) 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.