Eagles' Cary Williams blasts new safety rules: NFL is covering its tail for concussions

Cary Williams, shown here making an interception against Arizona, is not happy with the direction the NFL is going (Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports)
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on December 17, 2013 at 2:54 PM, updated December 17, 2013 at 2:59 PM

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Cary Williams, a five-year veteran, criticized the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for rules changes that are penalizing defensive players and taking the physicality out of the game.

Speaking at his locker, Williams sounded more concerned and frustrated than mad. Here is his take, unedited and uninterrupted:

"The league is about safety and all this other stuff -- making the game a little funner for fans, getting a lot of scoring. But I think you lose sight of what the real reason football that was invented is. It's a physical game. I would love to go back to those days where you don't have to worry about if you get your hand in there, and your head hits the (receivers) head by mistake, it's a penalty.

"It has to be blatant situations to me. I think the call last night on Delmas was horrible. I saw his hand get in there to break it up, but his helmet hit the (receivers) helmet because he's hunched over. Those type of plays as a defensive player make me upset. It grinds my gears a little bit. You work so hard to get to this position, and then you're unconsciously thinking of going at the hands or going at the body, but receivers are ducking because they have to embrace (to be hit). But receivers don't get fined.

"We get a lot of guys with torn ACLs, torn MCLs, torn PCLs, knees getting blown out from hits (because tacklers are discouraged from going high). Are we really making the league safer, really? I don't know. It's one of those things that frustrates me as a defender.

"You're taught as a young kid to jar the ball away, especially when they have it close to their body, to put your body on his body, put your helmet on the shoulder pads or helmet on the helmet or whatever it may be -- back in the day that's what it was like. Doing whatever it takes. Now you have to let the guy catch it, then he has to fall down, and if he's not looking at you, then he's a defenseless receiver. I just don't understand what is a defenseless receiver. There are 11 guys out there. You know you're going to get hit if you catch the ball. You're not hitting anybody. You're going to get tackled. That's what you signed up for, you know there are going to be guys who hit you.

"I just think the league is covering their tail for the concussions, and all this other junk, if you really want to be honest. It's just a cover-up -- 'Hey, you're not going to get any money out of us later in life. No! Concussions? No!' I just think that's really what it is. I don't like the calls at all. I really don't. So we are just supposed to get the receivers catch the ball over the middle? Catch it, put a soft pillow down for them to lay on after they catch it. It makes no sense. It's frustrating.

"At the end of the day you can't cry over it. I'm glad I got the opportunity to vent.

"You just gotta adjust your game. That's what it is. I wonder what they are gonna do when they see all of these knee injuries. I think if we went back to the old rules -- unless it was something blatant. Guys are going to get knocked down, that's the game we signed up for. Some people may even die in this sport if you hit the right way. We've had that in the past. Those are things that are in the back of everyone's mind. I don't think there is a guy out there right now that is bent on hurting somebody. I don't play the game with that kind of mentality. I don't think anyone does.

"It's one of those things where, it's frustrating to deal with. From a young age, you are tackling a guy a certain way, and then the rule changes -- it's hard to make an adjustment. The speed of the game is so much faster than what they are showing on television or replays."

Williams' comments, while made in a thoughtful manner, certainly will almost certainly not go over well with the NFL.

Follow Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks