This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Gooood morning, Winners! Thanks so much for rocking with TMW today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time today. I hope your week is off to a great start.
More specifically, I hope you’re finding joy in the things you love. You know who isn’t doing that? Tom Brady. That man hates the NFL.
Ever since the day the man retired, he’s embraced being the old man yelling at clouds. His harsh critiques of the NFL have all been of the “back in my day” variety.
Most recently, he hopped on Stephen A. Smith’s show to talk about how bad the rookie quarterbacks are.
Brady says the league has dumbed itself down for rookie quarterbacks. He called it a “tragedy” that rookie quarterbacks are starting so early, but he also said it’s only possible because of how simple the game has become. He said colleges don’t teach “programs” anymore — just playbooks. And that’s hampering the quarterbacking quality in the NFL.
“It used to be thought of at a higher level. We used to spend hours and hours in the offseason and training camp trying to be a little bit better the next year. But I think what happens is it discourages the coaches from going to deep levels because they realize the players don’t have an opportunity to go to a deep level so they’re just going to teach them where they’re at.”
When did Tom Brady become such a hater?
This dude has done nothing but complain about the sport ever since he hung his cleats up. He said similar things just under a year ago about the state of the game.
It doesn’t sound like the game has a single redeemable quality. The coaching is watered down. The quarterbacks are bad. The players are dumb. Look, I’ve got plenty of critiques about the NFL both on and off the field. But, sheesh, this man hates the NFL.
This point about rookie quarterbacks is particularly interesting, considering the timing. There were a record 10 NFL rookie starting quarterbacks last season, and most of them weren’t good. But one of them was CJ Stroud.
Would Brady have us believe that Stroud is subpar compared to the quarterbacks of yesteryear just because he might not have all of these checks and audibles down quite yet? Yeah, OK. Sure.
What irks me most about this is that Brady just played in the league two seasons ago. He didn’t have all this smoke when he was there and winning Super Bowls. Now that it’s all over and his career is in the rearview, everything is trash. That’s very convenient.
Maybe this is just me being a bit too cynical, but Brady sounds like someone who seems more interested in protecting his legacy than explaining the game, which is technically part of his job now.
Is this what we’ll have to endure on the Fox broadcast? If so, I’m checked out. Bring Greg Olsen back. Nobody wants to hear this, old man.
The WNBA Trade Deadline is here
But that doesn’t actually mean too much. You’re probably not going to see anything of consequence happen in the WNBA today as far as trades are concerned.
The reality is that the Marina Mabrey trade from last month is probably going to be the most consequential in-season move we see this year.
The WNBA doesn’t necessarily have a history of splashy in-season trades — we usually see the biggest moves coming in the offseason like, say, the Jonquel Jones trade from nearly two years ago.
There’s an easy reason why: We’re talking about a 12-team league here with an eight-team playoff. Naturally, almost every team in the league thinks it can compete at the highest level.
If you think you can compete at the highest level, you rarely trade away pieces that you think might take you there.
Expect it to be business as usual in the W today.
Skenes hit the wall
Paul Skenes is still one of the best pitchers in baseball right now, but he’s not the best pitcher. And you could argue he was for most of the first half of this season.
Prince Grimes says Skenes’ slight dip from great to good has tanked his Cy Young chances and reopened the Rookie of the Year race with the Padres’ Jackson Merrill right on his tail.
Here’s Prince with more:
“Credit is certainly due to Merrill, who remains the only player even close to Skenes thanks to his impact on the surging San Diego Padres. But the answer is mostly just Skenes falling from great to good.
In five games since the break, he suffered the first losses of his career, going 1-2 with a 3.13 ERA while the Padres went 2-3 in his starts. His strikeout rate dropped too, as he recorded fewer than seven strikeouts in three of those games after having just one such game in his first 11 starts.
And yet, notice how quality those numbers still are. But compared to his 6-0 record and 1.90 ERA at the break… well, they don’t compare. So now we have an ROY race that could potentially go down to the final month of the season. And an NL Cy Young race that’s probably safe to rule him out of.”
Maybe it was foolish of us to think that Skenes could keep those unreal numbers up throughout this season. Regardless, he’s still pretty good.
I doubt Merrill will catch him, but Padres fans can dream. We’ll see.
Quick hits: Steve Kerr trolling Trump … The Fever are a playoff sleeper … and more
— Steve Kerr trolling Donald Trump with Steph Curry’s Night Night celebration is pure comedy. Here’s Cory Woodroof with more.
— Meg Hall explains why Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever are a sleeper for the playoffs in her latest WNBA Power Rankings.
— The “Nobody will remember your salary” meme is the best. Here’s Charles with more on it.
— Oh, and more on the Jools LeBron “demure” meme that has everyone so confused.
— The Saints are going through NFL Limbo, Christian D’Andrea writes.
— Peyton Manning’s top 5 list is pretty good! Brady should take notes. Here’s Cory with more.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️