Aaron Rodgers doubles down on Tom Brady's criticism of mediocrity in NFL: "People want to see football be a collision sport"
Aaron Rodgers has backed Tom Brady after the retired quarterback said that the NFL has become mediocre due to a myriad of rule changes. The thrust of his argument was that because of the regulations, offensive players are being protected from hits instead of them being careful themselves. That, according to the former Patriots and Buccaneers legend, has led to bad habits developing where quarterbacks, for example, do not know where to throw the ball effectively.
Aaron Rodgers confirmed that he had seen the clip of Tom Brady making those assertions to Stephen A. Smith. And speaking on 'The Pat McAfee Show', he agreed, saying,
"I saw the clip. And definitely, I think as much as anything I agree with the last thing that he said and is that the rule changes have created a lot of bad habits... I think people want to see football be a collision sport. And not, you know, to where guys are getting mangled on the field, but they enjoy the big hits."
You can look at the discussion between the seven-time Super Bowl winner and Stephen A. below for context.
Aaron Rodgers says the time when he and Tom Brady played was different
Aaron Rodgers acknowledged that the game has become better in terms of players safety. But he feels, just as Tom Brady does, that some of the tweaks have gone too far. He said that the refereeing was different during his prime and it had an effect. The Jets quarterback commented,
"If you go back and look at some of the film on some of those games, I'm talking like, '08, '09 '10, '11, '12, '13, '14, the game was reffed definitely a little bit different back then. Is it better in certain areas for player safety? 100%. Have we gone too far in certain rules? 100% as well."
While Tom Brady had talked about offensive players taking responsiblity for themselves, Aaron Rodgers further highlighted that it is especially important given how hard it is to play defense. He explained that it is difficult to strike a moving target and because the onus is now on them, quarterbacks and other players on offense have sunk into bad habits. The former Packers quarterback also said,
"And I think it's really hard to play defense, it's really hard to figure out the strike zone, especially with the moving player, I think we've created bad habits in some of the reads and the zero fear throwing over the middle."
Now that two future Hall-of-Famers have spoken out on this issue, among others, maybe the NFL will take notice.