- Recently retired quarterbacks disagree with the current NFL talent level
- Alex Smith points out how easy Tom Brady’s Patriots had it in the AFC East
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Tom Brady’s recent take on “mediocrity” in the NFL received a scathing response from fellow recently retired quarterback Alex Smith.
‘He hasn’t been retired for very long, he just played. He just won a Super Bowl in today’s game. Does he take that into account?’ Smith said of Brady’s comments on this weekend’s episode of “Sunday NFL Countdown.”
“And then, my biggest complaint with this… he played in the most uncompetitive division in the history of the NFL, I think,” Smith added. “If you come out of training camp in the biggest cupcake division, you immediately have a ticket to the play-offs.”
“Like talking about mediocre. I completely disagree with this. I know he’s referring to the line changes in the middle to the receiver. But in my opinion, I think the game has gotten better,” Smith continued.
“There’s more parity in the league, quarterback play is at an all-time high, I think league-wide,” Smith said. “You have the best athletes playing this position. We didn’t have this thirty or forty years ago.’
Retired QB Alex Smith clearly disagreed with Tom Brady’s “mediocre” view of today’s NFL
Brady spent most of his career with the Patriots, who dominated the AFC East at the time
Brady gave his “mediocre” opinion on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” last Tuesday.
During Brady’s 19-year career with the New England Patriots, the team won 17 AFC East titles, including his final 11 seasons with the franchise.
The Patriots never finished with a worse record than the AFC East winners in both years they lost the division crown.
In 2002, the New York Jets won the division because they had a better record against regular opponents.
Brady missed almost the entire 2008 season after tearing his ACL in the opening game. New England lost that year’s tiebreaker to the Miami Dolphins because it had a worse record against AFC teams by one game.
Smith’s answer on Sunday came on a panel with Randy Moss, Rex Ryan and Tedy Bruschi, all of whom were coaching or playing in the AFC East with or against Brady at the time.
Moss was a Patriot from 2007 to 2010, Bruschi played his entire NFL career in New England from 1996 to 2008, and Ryan was the head coach of the Jets from 2009 to 2014, and the Buffalo Bills from 2015 to 2016.
Brady has not yet commented on Smith’s immediate response.