Fans loved that Alex Smith roasted ESPN co-hosts while discussing Tom Brady comment

Former Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith is no longer playing, but in the eyes of many fans, he was a big winner on Sunday.

Smith is part of ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” crew and he poked fun at fellow analysts Tedy Bruschi, Randy Moss and Rex Ryan without seemingly meaning to do it.

Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady made headlines last week by saying he thought there was “a lot of mediocrity” in today’s NFL. Smith was asked about what Brady’s thoughts, and the result was a great bit of television, as he said the Patriots’ success was partially fueled by playing in a week AFC East.

“First off, let me just preface this. I love Tom, the GOAT,” Smith said. “First off, he hasn’t been retired that long. He was just playing like he just won a Super Bowl in the current game. Like is he discounting that one? And then my biggest complaint with this, and no offense to you guys, well all three of you guys. He played in the most uncompetitive division, I think, in NFL history.

“I mean, you come out of training camp, the biggest cupcake division, you’ve got a ticket to the playoffs right away, like talk about mediocre. I completely disagree with this. I know he’s referencing the rule changes over the middle to the receiver but in my opinion, I think the game has gotten better. There’s more parity across the league. Quarterback play is at an all-time high, I think, across the league.

“You’ve got the best athletes playing the position. We didn’t have this 30, 40 years ago. He’s referencing also that offense is down, right? Like the numbers this year. To me I kind of think we’re in a golden age of D-lineman.”

Here’s a reminder that Bruschi and Moss played on those Patriots teams with Brady, while Ryan coached the Bills and Jets, two of the teams in what Smith called a cupcake division.

So, Smith managed to dunk the three co-hosts while taking issue with Brady’s comments.

Video of Smith’s comment was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Joshua Brisco of WHB (810 AM), and it quickly went viral.

Naturally, some fans took exception to what Smith said, but many applauded him. Here is a bit of what they were saying X and Reddit.

“Alex Smith woke up and chose violence,” a fan wrote on Reddit.

Another shared this: “Yeah, I’ll definitely agree with that, as frustrating as it was to watch them benefit from a weak division, but they would’ve won it anyways lol.”

A fan on Reddit wrote: “100% correct about the division, Bills never figured it out between 2004 and 2017 it felt like, perennial bottom feeders. Jets and Dolphins both had a flash of being great/good, but that was maybe for a 3 year stretch at the longest.”

Another shared this: “You gotta at least tell Rex to cover his ears before you lob a grenade at him.”

“God I love me some Alex Smith,” a fan wrote on Reddit.

Another wrote: “All truth lol I love Alex now?”