Antrel Rolle is known as a heavy hitter on the field and yesterday the Giants safety delivered a verbal blast, saying it is “absolutely ridiculous” that the NFL has decided to start suspend ing players who are judged to inflict flagrant and dangerous hits, most notably hits to the helmet.
“This is the game of football,” Rolle said on his weekly WFAN radio spot. “It’s a game of speed, this is a game of power, this is a game of physical guys going to battle. Once you start saying to guys, ‘You’ll get suspended for a game,’ that’s when you’re going to get a very, very tentative football game.
“It’s fine for the offensive players, but I’m on the defensive side of the ball. You’re telling me now I have to slow down? I think we’re already being cautious of what we’re doing and how we’re attacking the ball or how we’re trying to make a tackle, as opposed to now saying guys will get suspended for games. I think that’s absolutely ridiculous because under any circumstances you can’t absolutely have control over your body when you’re in pursuit of the tackle.”
After a rash of helmet-to-helmet hits during this weekend’s action, the NFL decided that fining players was not a strong enough deterrent and decided to implement stricter punishment for such contact.
Ray Anderson, the NFL’s vice president of football operations, said, “We’ve got to get the message to players that these devastating hits and head shots will be met with a very necessary higher standard of accountability. We have to dispel the notion that you get one free pass in these egregious or flagrant shots.”
After reviewing tapes of last Sunday’s games, the league fined three players — Steelers linebacker James Harrison, Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather and Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson — a total of $175,000 for “flagrant violations of player safety rules.” The next step is suspending players, even for a first offense.
Intent, Rolle said, should be taken into consideration when doling out suspensions.
“I’m just speaking for instances that have happened for myself,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of head-to-head shots, and under no circumstances have I ever intentionally went for someone’s head, nor do I think any player intentionally goes for someone’s head.
“A lot of times it’s receivers or offensive guys, maybe they’re ducking their head or maybe they’re running up high. Nothing’s intentional. You suspend someone for doing wrong or misbehavior or things of that nature, detriment to team conduct or something like that. But now you’re just suspending people for playing the game. No one tries to hurt anyone, no one tries to injure anyone, but sometimes in the game of football it’s gonna happen.”