Posts Tagged ‘roughing the passer’

Remember the good ol’ days, when your favorite team could just nail the quarterback, and you cheered? Yeah, that era is over.

I have no problem with rules that govern the complete abuse of quarterbacks after the ball is thrown, or purposely taking a cheap shot to take them out of the game….but this is ridiculous. Week after week, teams are receiving personal fouls on plays that involve simply taking the quarterback to the ground the old fashioned way, HARD. Why is that wrong? Quick answer: It isn’t. The NFL is completely allowing referees to take over the outcome of the game, and that is just wrong. It comes to the point where you see a quarterback hit in any way, and you assume the inevitable flag to follow. Is the NFL questioning the durability of present day quarterbacks? Where did the hard-nosed face of the NFL go? I remember watching Aikman, Montana and even early day Favre get nailed by an opposing defenders without any thought of a penalty. I guess I just miss watching the big hits, the absence of penalty thoughts and the “black and blue” league. I believe they need to make some changes, or “unchange” if you will to some penalties that have been changed over the last couple years. To be frank, we as fans aren’t the only ones who think this way. Last year, Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers was quoted saying,

“football loses so much of its essence when it becomes like a pansy game.” He went on to say, “It has more to do with money and not really with our safety.”

Well said Mr. Polamalu, well said.