Countering Tom Brady on Game Being Easier

WEEI-FM / WEEI

Countering Tom Brady on Game Being Easier. Is the game easier now?

Transcript

00:00The thing about Brady saying that football's easier now or dumbed down, I think he's crazy

00:06because kids are learning so much more earlier.

00:09Quarterbacks are going to quarterback coaches, receivers are going to receiver camps.

00:13I've been to some camps with NFL players and NFL coaches.

00:17You could never run the 46 zone.

00:19You can't run the single wing, the double wing, and all this other stuff.

00:22It's way more advanced now than it was back, and then Brady was complaining about the number

00:27changes and stuff.

00:28Remember that, Wiggy?

00:29Yeah.

00:30First off, you should know who's eligible by position, and if a safety comes down, it's

00:35a different number than a linebacker.

00:37What difference does it make?

00:38There's a player there.

00:39Well, I don't think, I don't know if his complaint was as much, he wasn't complaining about the

00:45game being, well, I guess he was complaining about the game being dumbed down.

00:49He was more talking about the rush to start a rookie and about the way, but his trajectory

00:58was different than Drake May's trajectory.

01:03Drake May was a number three pick.

01:05Tom Brady was a seventh round pick who nobody thought would start, most likely.

01:11And I would tell Tom back in that era, there was a guy that you were backing up.

01:14Guess what?

01:15He started and was thrown in there as a rookie in Drew Bledsoe.

01:18So the days of, like sitting-

01:22Well, you said earlier, you think Tom Brady is turning into the old man yelling at clouds,

01:27the game was harder when I played it.

01:30And I agree with him.

01:32The pro game is dumbed down.

01:35High school, I would say that that game is more advanced.

01:39Well, yes, but for some coaches, it's very difficult to grasp it.

01:44You know what, Greg?

01:45You can let it lie for a second.

01:50It takes a while.

01:51For some coaches, it takes a while to figure the high school game out.

01:55No, no.

01:56You always do better.

01:57You had a young team.

01:58Yeah, that was it.

01:59Freshman quarterback.

02:00And the reps were really against you.

02:01Yeah, watch.

02:02They'll be good this year.

02:03Watch.

02:04I mock my words.

02:05And I'll be helping out every now and then.

02:06Wiggy will be like Jeff Rickard is with this show.

02:10But the pro-

02:11Wow, the offense looks great.

02:13Congrats, coach.

02:14The pro game is dumbed down because the college game is dumbed down in the sense of like college

02:21teams don't huddle no more.

02:23Everything's done from the sideline.

02:24You just basically, you look over there.

02:26There's no real like-

02:28And they're making decisions.

02:31The coaches are basically making decisions for you right up until the pre-snap and looking

02:38at coverages and that kind of thing.

02:41Whereas the game used to be in the huddle, looking for this, looking for that as far

02:46as the pro level.

02:48And that's why I think Tom's saying is that part of it is dumbed down.

02:51Do you think they, did they dumb it down because the quarterbacks, or it doesn't have to be

02:59position specific, guys coming out of college are unable to grasp the way it was?

03:06No, because I think in college they want to do everything for the guys.

03:11So like in college, they basically, they're saying, okay, after the play, go to the line

03:16of scrimmage.

03:17Everybody line up and we'll call the formation.

03:20You line up here.

03:21You look at us.

03:22We're going to give you-

03:23Okay.

03:24So doesn't the Tom's comments, which we played earlier and the caller is referencing during

03:28they said it, where he says, you don't have to start a rookie and maybe you shouldn't

03:33start a rookie his first year.

03:35Don't they make sense then if that's the way guys are coming out of college with somebody

03:38doing everything for them?

03:40But the game has changed though in the NFL where it's like, now you don't have as much

03:44time with these guys after, I mean, we saw-

03:47That's the point, Wiggy.

03:49And not to disagree with my hero, but the way in which the NFL and the players association

03:55have negotiated the last couple of CBAs is that the owners, instead of giving the players

04:00more money, have given them more time off.

04:04And that's really, from my perspective, what's most damaged the product offensively in the

04:10NFL, which is-

04:12Like no double sessions, no hitting till whatever, no pads till whatever.

04:16I mean, Belichick, when he was talking with McAfee, spoke about Brady's desire to play

04:21in the preseason and Brady's quick ascension from the rookie until his fourth year because

04:27he practiced late.

04:29He was there early.

04:30He was throwing to everybody.

04:31That stuff is all gone.

04:33Well, that is what Gerard Mayo said yesterday about Drake May.

04:37One of the first guys in there, one of the last to leave, Curtis.

04:41I mean, I think you should wear number 12.

04:43I mean, we used to, and now I'm sounding like Brady, what we used to do.

04:48But we used to watch so much film.

04:51We had two-a-day practices.

04:53Training camp was like four or five weeks.

04:57But that's what I'm saying.

04:58The game has changed.

05:00But that's the point I'm trying to make.

05:02So the game has changed.

05:03But was the game better when you were playing it?

05:07The game, the players were more...

05:12That's the word I'm looking for.

05:13They were more knowledgeable about the game of football and situational football.

05:18They were more meticulous in their details.

05:20They knew like, okay, be alert for this.

05:23Be alert for that.

05:25What were we talking about, Courtney?

05:26You might have brought this up.

05:28And it was like last year.

05:30And it was in the Super Bowl when one of the guys go, oh, I didn't even know the rule change.

05:37Yeah, the rule change.

05:38He was like, oh, we get the ball too?

05:42So I think that's what Tom's saying.

05:44When you start to look at how the game is today, a lot of these guys, they're not as...

05:52Their football acumen is not what it used to be like because you practice more.

05:58You went through every scenario, every situation.

06:00I will say, I think the new kickoff rule is an example of dumbing the game down or making

06:06the game easier.

06:08That's just more of a protection thing than...

06:10Do you like it though?

06:12I don't mind it because you'll get more kickoff returns.

06:15Did you like...

06:16So how is that protecting players?

06:18The collision...

06:20The rate of a guy running down the field is really...

06:24The collision distance is what?

06:27Five yards versus...

06:28Is that gonna make a difference?

06:29Oh, hell yeah.

06:30I'll stand you five yards away from this wall, run up against it.

06:35Yeah, I don't like violence.

06:37Versus start at the end of the hallway and run 30 yards down full speed and then hit

06:41the wall.

06:42So yeah, the collision distance is different.

06:45But I think that's what Tom is saying, that these guys don't even know the rules.

06:49They don't know the situations.

06:50Okay.

06:51All right.

06:52Well, Tom Brady with interesting comments about what should be done in today's NFL with

06:57a rookie quarterback like the one that the New England Patriots have.

07:02And you can talk about that quarterback and that football team all day long here on Boston

07:07Sports Original, W-E-E-I.

Category

Transcript

Recommended