This may sound like a fun and ultimately meaningless rule change that won’t really impact the game that much (because in all honesty it is), but it can make things complicated for blocking schemes, reading coverages, and many other nuanced things that we, as fans, probably don’t think about.
Naturally, Tom Brady doesn't like it. He recently went on a rant on his Instagram stories discussing how the rule is going to produce some “bad football,” and with the word “DUMB” plastered multiple places on another story discussing the rule.
These posts certainly had a different tone than the usual happy-go-lucky stuff Brady posts on his social media, but these rule changes have a huge impact on his game as a player.
There might not be a quarterback in the history of the league that is better, during pre-snap reads, at identifying coverages, blitzes, and anything else a defense might try to throw at the GOAT. Now, with defenders able to change numbers and have all these weird combinations that haven't happened before, it’s going to be an adjustment period. Teams will have to really and truly read a team’s scouting report before the game to know who wears what.
I mean, God forbid Brady calls out “Mike 9” against the Saints and instead of 42-year-old Drew Brees coming at an offensive lineman like they might expect in the past, they’ll get one of those pesky New Orleans Saint linebackers.
As much as it might be easy to dismiss this as Brady being an old grouchy man for complaining about something as minute as a rule allowing guys to wear the numbers they wore in college (to quote Adam Sandler in “Uncut Gems”), this is how Brady wins. Especially at 43, the GOAT needs to know what defenses are throwing at him, and who is lined up where. Nobody wants to drop back and have Saints safety CJ Gardner-Johnson come in untouched and be able to spit in Brady’s face. Especially if TB12 gets sacked because he didn’t realize Gardner-Johnson was wearing Jameis Winston’s old no. 3 instead of the former Gator’s original no. 22.
I mean, think of how many blitz packages of the past have included quarterbacks, punters, and kickers (Ryan Succop was a menace last year getting after the QB). Now how is Brady supposed to differentiate between them and linebackers or safeties?
Oh, well. Guess the Bucs aren’t repeating as Super Bowl champs after all.
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This article appears in Apr 29 – May 5, 2021.