I disagree. Brady has made “game has gone soft” comments before, but I think these are literally about mediocrity. I think he sees it all connected. When hes says players don’t work on the fundamentals of protecting themselves anymore, hes implying there other fundamentals they also arent working on.
This is the 4th straight year scoring has gone down, and game threads here are filled with comments about shitty play. This a different complaint than “game gone soft.”
If you ask me, I think we’re seeing the negative impact of how insane contracts for star players have gotten in comparison to the overall cap. You can’t have 2 players contributing 60+ million to the cap and expect a team to still be stellar IMO. Chiefs are a great example this year.
I don’t think contracts are a problem in what’s going on with play. The top end contracts got bloated, but almost all of the middle class is gone now and replaced with rookie contract and vet min guys.
Players definitely don’t try and protect themselves. Look how Tua just fell over like a limp toddler several times in a row and now he probably can’t remember his middle.name anymore.
