Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is speaking out this week to complain that the NFL is “softer” these days since the ‘taunting rule’ is being reinforced.
The league decided that taunting should be an emphasis for officials this season. Taunting has been on the books as a 15-yard penalty. However, this year it’s likely there will be more flags fly for players talking “smack to one another.”
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the 11 taunting penalties called during the first two weeks is as much as the entire regular season in 2020.
In the past, the league had relaxed its stance on letting players celebrate in the end-zone after touchdowns, taunting and celebrating in between plays has been something the league has wanted to stamp out for a while.
Others are complaining about the taunting rule also, as well as other changes that have been made by the NFL in this “woke” era.
The NFL is definitely the “No Fun League” for many reasons.
Brady Sounds Off On NFL
Brady took to social media recently to say that he agrees with a post that reads, “there’s virtually nothing we can all agree on on this app except that the NFL’s new taunting rule STINKS!”
Tom Brady is like the rest of us. NOT a fan of the new taunting rule. pic.twitter.com/fbFdvFQcXq
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 21, 2021
Brady also said this week that the NFL has gotten “softer” in general because of other changes that have been made by the league as well. He says some calls for unnecessary roughness are suspect.
“I think they’re calling more penalties on defensive players for hitting, you know, for violent contact,” Brady said. “There’s a lot of plays and hits that are happening on quarterbacks now, that are flags for defensive players, that probably weren’t that way 10 or 15 years ago,” he added. “So I’d say the game is a little softer than it used to be.”
.@TomBrady sure hates the jersey number rule, that allows most positions to use almost any number without restriction. pic.twitter.com/ThyPcpmIWh
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) September 7, 2021
Brady isn’t the only person raising concerns about these changes.
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said on Monday that the push by the NFL to enforce the new taunting rule “opened up a bit of a can of worms” with it.
Pete Carroll Voices Concerns
Carroll told reporters that while he can appreciate that the NFL is trying to limit unnecessary drama between players, the taunting is “hard to manage” while in the heat of the moment.
“You’ve got a lot of guys that have to deal with those explosive moments and they’ve got to really turn their focus away from the opponent,” he said, according to ESPN. “It’s a good thought. It’s just hard to manage it.”
Carroll even said that he’s had to practice celebrating with players so that they can avoid garnering penalties.
“What we’re talking about is always celebrate with your teammates and we’ve been practicing it and making a big deal about it because it is one of the main new things that they’ve emphasized, and as always, that’s what they call,” he said.
Related: Inside Tom Brady’s Long History With Donald Trump
Seahawks Player Penalized
The day before Carroll made these comments, Seahawks cornerback D.J. Reed was flagged for taunting after he appeared to defend a pass. He was called for unsportsmanlike conduct punished with a 15-yard penalty.
DJ Reed really got a taunting penalty for this….. https://t.co/pml5UOjy5r
— the Sports ON Tap Brothers (@thesportsontap) September 19, 2021
“I don’t think it’s bad for the game,” Carroll continued. “I just think it’s hard for the guys to do in the moment. They’ve just got to learn and train and we’ve got to do a better job. I have to do a better job of putting us in situations and making sure we’re monitoring it really carefully and helping our guys train.”
Just like everything and everyone else in this country, the NFL has indeed gotten “softer” after it began submitting to the woke, race-baiting radical left.
Hopefully the NFL comes to its senses and backtracks from this nonsense at some point, because right now, America’s favorite sport is being ruined right before our eyes.