Wearing a few goofy dance outfits hasn’t suddenly turned Hines Ward soft. Like his Steelers teammates, he expressed displeasure about the recent rule that will fine teams for excessive player safety violations.
“I mean, I understand they’re trying to bring safety to the game, but you can’t bring safety to a game that’s a violent sport already. When you have two grown men traveling at 20 miles per hour on a head-on collision, guess what, something in your body is going to hurt,” Ward told WCNN in Atlanta, via Sport RadioInterviews.com.
The league has taken a lot of justified criticism for their handling of concussions and player safety in the past, especially from former players. The league is now taking heat from current players, but that’s to be expected.
“It’s a violent sport. If you want to protect it, we need to play flag football,” Ward says.
There is some truth to what Ward says; it’s a violent game and players know what they are getting into. That doesn’t mean the league shouldn’t try to minimize damage where they can.
