2010 Review–Should NFL Quarterbacks Wear Dresses?
Listen, let me start by saying I do not condone purposely injuring anyone. Football is a violent game where grown men beat on one another for the purposes of victory.
Where else in the world can you watch a bunch of millionaires beat each other up?
But after watching the New Orleans Saints playoff run many people have spoken out that they are playing too rough. Seriously? Too rough?
It should be noted that by next Sundays game the Saints will have faced three future Hall of Fame quaterbacks in Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning.
Both Warner and Favre took a beating. The Saints pressure never stopped. On several plays the Saints defenders took a lot of crap from media and fans for their non-stop pressure schemes.
It was so bad that defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was forced to answer questions about whether he felt his team was playing too physical. By the tone of his voice, Williams sounded pretty upset to have such rediculous questions asked of him.
NFL rules have changed over the years to protect offensive players. There are players, Hall of Famers, from days of past who couldn’t even make the grade in todays NFL with the way the rules are setup.
Players like Dick “Night Train” Lane were famous for their brutality on the field. Gone are things like clothes lines and head slaps. They have been replaced with a vast array of penalties. So many that even officials have a hard time keeping up with all the rules. This season more so than others resulted in many questionable calls. So many that head of officiating Mike Pereira announced his retirement. You need a PHD these days to understand the rules. Now if could be mere cooincedence that Mike is retiring but with an uncapped year looming and the rule book resembling War & Peace there is irony involved.
Back on topic now, when you see blatent, pointless violence with the intent to injure I absolutely support removing that player from the game. Not just a 15 yard flag, but an ejection and possible suspension. That said, it would need to be an action to injure with no question of the intent. Something along the lines of Albert Haynesworth and his face stomp of Cowboys center Andre Gurode.
But what the Saints have done these past two games is what makes Football entertaining. It’s the old David versus Goliath addage. If you cut off the head, the body will follow. The best way to defeat a Hall of Fame quarterback is to get in his head. Put his ass on the ground a few times and the next time he’s surveying the field he will keep one eye on his blind side. That causes mistakes and gives the defense an advantage.
I’ve listened to the sour grapes of Vikings fans and the protests of people who have never taken a snap in high school, much less the NFL. I saw not once, not a single time, that any Saint player blatently attempted to injure Favre. Poor Anthony Hargrove has been raked over the coals this past week for his hit on Favre. He gave the Vikings 15 yards and a first down for tackling Favre the way everyone from Pop Warner to the NFL have been taught to tackle. There was nothing malicious about that hit.
Now this is from an Atlanta Falcons fan who considers the Saints his biggest rival. Watching them win the Super Bowl will be similar to watching Al Sharpton win a Nobel Peace Prize. I’ll be sick for a month. The echo’s of “Who Dat!” will turn once pleasant dreams into nightmares.
Anyone who felt the Saints really crossed a line against Warner and Favre need to spend a few hours watching Rugby. They may come to realize the NFL is pretty tame in comparison.
Awesome
Poor article. Like it or not, the rules were enacted to protect QBs, and the refs should enforce those rules fairly, without exception. In the NFC title game, they did not. There were at least 5 or 6 missed calls for illegal hits on Favre. And there’s no way you can tell me that the hit on Favre (high and low) that injured his foot was not meant to injure him. It was a cheap shot par excellence. When the refs (Morelli and his crew) failed to punish the first illegal hit on Favre, the Saints defense just ratcheted-up the cheap shots. It was inept (or corrupt) officiating at its worse.
The rules over the years have taken defense out of the game. Sorry you felt the article was poor but nothing I said was out of context. Favre took a beating, legally. The low / high hit I agree should have drawn a flag but no other hits were unfair. Over the years I’ve seen Favre draw flags because he’s Favre. This is the same guy that ‘gave’ Strahan the sack record laying down on the play. Sounds more like sour grapes from a Vikings fan.
As a Falcons fan I watched flag after flag come in on Michael Vick for late hits, roughing, etc. More than half were ticky tack at best. He was Vick and too important to the league.
The league wants to water down it’s product and eventually it will remove the defenses ability to stop anything. If you take a snap and possess the ball, it’s the defenses job to destroy you. I don’t care if your Brett Favre or JT O’Sullivan, you know not to hold it too long.
Favre held the ball too long and as a result was pounded. Ironically, he wasn’t hit late on his last pass which sealed the fate of his team. Maybe you should take it up with his offensive line.