It’s well-known at this point that GOAT quarterback Tom Brady sees a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL. What he was getting at, really, with that point is how fundamentals and techniques have declined due in large part to rules changes that favor offensive players and eliminate some of the physicality of yesteryear.
…But there is a line, right? You can play the sport with reckless abandon and legitimately make mistakes. With Pittsburgh Steelers safety Damontae Kazee, though, it’s a officially a pattern of behavior. Just in Sunday’s game alone, Kazee was out to knock out the opposition with genuinely cruel intentions.
Again, fine line, but come on… look at this:
Kazee was fined five previous times this season alone before the awful hit he laid on Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. that resulted in a season-ending suspension.
Here’s what TB12 had to say about that whole thing, and why Gardner Minshew should be held to account for hanging Pittman out to dry with a less-than-perfect pass:
I see where Brady is coming from, but Kazee is an a**hole. The Steelers have long had a reputation as the NFL’s dirtiest team, and they continue to uphold that culture to this day. Kazee is merely the latest in a long line of fairly awful humans.
Anyone remember James Harrison concussing Colt McCoy, or am I dating myself?
As a Bengals fan, yes, I can acknowledge: Vontaze Burfict was a piece of human sh*t with his countless flagrant fouls on the gridiron. So don’t come at me with that. Let’s move on.
Minshew could’ve thrown Pittman a better ball. Then again, he is a backup QB who Colts head coach Shane Steichen is squeezing every ounce out of to keep Indianapolis somehow in the AFC playoff picture despite losing dynamic rookie Anthony Richardson very early in the season. To have Minshew playing near postseason-caliber football is an achievement in and of itself.
Yeah, he’s going to have more errant throws. Not everyone is you, Tom Brady, of seven Super Bowl wins and over two decades of NFL experience. I think the spirit of the rules changes to protect players is admirable. Is it more than a little f*cked up that the league then sabotages them by forcing them to play Thursday night games and forcing them to play on turf? Yes. Yes it is.
In the macro scheme of things with any major entity like the NFL, sh*t’s complicated. Many contradictions, hypocrisies and seemingly irreconcilable truths are happening all over the place. Like uhh…why don’t Roger Goodell and the league office just build in a second bye week so that players aren’t as vulnerable to injuries and/or have more time to recover? Couldn’t tell you! Seems too easy!
OK not to get too far afield. Point is, on this issue — as with many complexities of the modern gladiatorial battles that are NFL games — the truth lies somewhere in the gray/middle/undefined area. We’ll never get to the bottom of it.
But for sure, quarterbacks, if you can help it, don’t throw hospital balls. And to defenders like Damontae Kazee: When making a play on the ball is clearly more prudent than trying to pulverize another man’s body, maybe make a play on the ball. It benefits your health and that of your opponent’s, and it’s often the more sensible, heads-up football move that could actually get your team the ball back. As opposed to, you know, being dinged with a 15-yard penalty/ejection/season-ending ban from the sport.
