NFL great Tom Brady has sounded off about the series of rules implemented in recent years with the aim of curbing crushing hits on defenseless players.
Brady, appearing with several teammates during an interview with Bucs reporter Casey Phillips, said attempts to legislate big hits out of the game has been "really hard" for him to watch as a veteran player.
The surefire future Hall of Famer seemed to side with defenders who argue that the onus of safety has been unfairly shifted to them, when in fact many big hits are the fault of carelessness by offensive players.
"It's not being taught the right way," Brady said. "The quarterback should only throw the ball to certain places because the receiver is in danger of being hit. For example, when I used to play against Ray Lewis, I wouldn't throw the ball to the middle of the field because -- and 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."
The seven-time Super Bowl winner said the burden has been placed on defensive players to change their behavior, even when a "mistake" that leads to a big hit is often the fault of offensive players. He cited a recent example in a Chicago Bears preseason game, in which rookie quarterback Justin Fields got crushed by a Buffalo Bills defender, to further explain his thinking.
"The quarterback messes up, doesn't see the blitzer -- or the line screws up, I don't know what happened -- but the defensive players comes in and hits [the quarterback] hard, and they throw the flag on the defense. So, they've almost moved the protection of your opponent to you, as opposed to where it should be, which is on yourself.
"If you're a quarterback, you've got to protect yourself and your players. It shouldn't be the responsibility of your opponent to protect you. And I think it creates really bad habits for players, because they feel like 'I can basically do anything. I can run and not slide. I can throw my receiver into any coverage and not have any repercussions for it.' The only thing they're going to do is blame the defensive player for making a good, solid hit. And now the defensive player says 'Oh I can't do that, even though I feel like it was an offensive mistake."
In recent years, the NFL has stepped up its efforts to protect defenseless players amid scrutiny over big hits that cause injury, especially concussions. In 2017, the league beefed up its ban on intentional helmet-to-helmet contact, adopted a college football-style "targeting" rule, with the specific aim of further protecting vulnerable receivers from jarring hits while in the act of making a play on a pass attempt.
"In the end I think it's a real disservice to the sport," Brady said. "Because the sport isn't being played at a high level, like I believe that it once was. It actually deteriorates because you're not teaching the players the reasons for the fundamentals of what the sport should be."
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