The next time someone from the NFL Players Association claims they are “concerned about the health and safety of their members”, I hope Mike McCarthy appears out of nowhere to throw the red “CHALLENGE” flag. We can then go to the replays from just a couple of games this past weekend to show that NFL players have little to no regard for their own safety or that of their fellow competitors.
In Buffalo, New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski–frustrated by being held on a play that resulted in an interception–jumped on and drove his forearm into the back of the neck of a Bills player that was lying face-down on the field long after the play had been blown dead. Meanwhile, everyone agrees that the Pittsburgh Steelers-Cincinnati Bengals game on Monday night was the “most violent” that anyone can remember.
Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier–using poor tackling form–suffered a serious spinal injury when he went in head-down and collided with a receiver while trying to break up a pass. Shazier laid on the field for several minutes unable to move his legs. That was followed by not one but two head shots by Bengals defensive backs on Steelers receiver Antonio Brown–one on a play when the pass was clearly uncatchable and the other following a touchdown reception. Steelers receiver JuJu Schuster-Smith was also called for an illegal “crack-back” block on Bengals linebacker Vontez Burfict–himself a multiple-time offender of the league’s policies on illegal hits–that knocked out Burfict and required him to be carried off the field (although, I will contend that was a completely legal play, as Schuster-Smith led with the shoulder and did not strike Burfict in the head). Schuster-Smith then stood over the motionless Burfict and taunted him.
I know that football is a high-speed, physical game with players having to make split-second reactions and decisions that affect the outcome of every play. But the incidents listed above–save for the Shazier injury play–were all pre-meditated acts that fell outside the realm of regular play and took place strictly because one player was intentionally trying to inflict damage on another player. And Shazier hurt himself by using poor tackling technique–which is also avoidable. While us long-time NFL fans bemoan the league’s efforts to “wussify” the game in the name of “player safety” by penalizing plays like those involving JuJu Schuster-Smith that for 80-years were good, hard-nosed blocks–the players themselves have to take it upon themselves to actually treat each other with respect on the field.
When the NFLPA tries to sue the League (provided it is still the cash-cow, tackle football operation that it currently is) on behalf of this generation of players claiming they weren’t “properly informed of the risks of playing football to their long-term health” I hope that the NFL’s lawyers can secure last week’s “highlights” from ESPN (if that still exists 25-years from now as a network that actually shows sports programming) to prove that the players themselves didn’t give a rat’s behind about their own safety.
