There are no new rules, yet he's not sure he can play football and be effective under the NFL rules... So basically because he got fined for giving two Browns receivers concussions, he doesn't think it's fair to him and he's going to take his ball and go home unless he can headhunt freely. Mike Tomlin has a chance to talk him out of retirement, but honestly I have never seen a linebacker be more of a whiny little bitch than this, especially when you just look at the hit he put on right above this text. There is no effort to not go helmet to helmet, why should you not get fined for that?
Fuck him.
The problem with football is this: Linebackers and all defensive backs get paid and retain their jobs by preventing opposing offenses from gaining yardage (duh). Big hits do a couple of things. First, they pretty much guarantee a successful tackle (if not a fumble), as not many players are going to be able to keep their feet under that kind of force. Second, if timed right, the hit can make catching a pass basically impossible (as was the case in that picture above?). I think this is the primary reason for such violent collisions on a weekly basis. These players are performing at the level required of them to get paid. Now I understand that many helmet-to-helmet collisions are avoidable. But you do see many other instances when the offensive player, in an effort to brace for the collision, lowers his shoulders, and therefore head, to a level that the defender couldn't possibly have anticipated.
ReplyDeleteSo what the hell am I ranting about? I don't know, but that's my two cents.