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NFL Fans Loving Veteran QB Blasting League’s Rules

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Grindtv.com 

Joe Flacco has made a life out of being an NFL quarterback. 

He’s still doing it at the age of 41 for a multitude of reasons.

One, of course, is he still has a plus arm, but competition is also a factor. 

More specifically that would be a lack of competition: There aren’t enough good quarterbacks out there to fill out NFL rosters with players under 40 apparently. 

Flacco shared a potentially controversial theory about why that is during an interview at the Pro Bowl, and it is going over well with other players and fans of the league. 

‘We signed up for this’ 

The NFL game looks a lot different than it did when Flacco entered the league in 2008. 

While a football field is still a very violent place compared to just about any other avenue in polite society, it’s not quite as dangerous as it once was. 

That’s not because players don’t like to hit anymore. 

No, many were dragged kicking and screaming into this new reality by various rules changes. 

Hitting “defenseless” receivers over the middle is no longer allowed. Neither is hitting a quarterback below the knee or making any "forcible" contact with his head. 

Even landing on the quarterback wrong became a penalty a few years ago, much to the chagrin not only of defenders themselves but also most people watching the games. 

Speaking to Kevin Clark of ESPN this week, Flacco acknowledged he has benefited from all those changes, but he is still not a fan of them — especially when a flag comes in at a key time that changes the course of a game. 

"I don't think it should be roughing the passer when they land on us," Flacco told Clark. “I don't think being slapped in the head should be roughing the passer. It honestly annoys me because it affects games in a negative ways at random times. 

"These 15-yard penalties in big situations that really shouldn't be penalties in the game of football, they change these games. As a fan, I just don't like it. I want it to be up to us. Getting slapped in the face should not change the game. It really shouldn't."

Not only that, Flacco thinks it’s having a negative effect on young players, including the quarterbacks trying to develop into quality starters in the league. 

“I do think the guys in my generation might benefit a little bit from having that mindset because the guys coming into the league these days look at me like I'm crazy,” Flacco said. “Like, ‘What do you mean you want receivers to get laid out over the middle, and you want guys to land on you?' I'm like, ‘Yeah, guys, that's football.' There's certain things that shouldn't be penalties.”

Of course, most of the rules changes were made with protecting the players in mind after research was published linking head injuries to long-term cognitive issues, and making the game safer while preserving most of what people love about it is a worthy goal.

Football is still a violent game, though, and that is a feature, not a bug. 

Flacco acknowledged something players seem to understand implicitly even if it is controversial to some who write about and talk about the game for a living rather than play it. 

“We signed up to get concussions,” Flacco said. “We signed up to get hurt. It is what it is. You might not like that, but it's what we kinda did when we decided to play this game.”

READ MORE: Joe Flacco has new appreciation for eating out alone

Fans, commenters react positively 

While safety is a shared concern among those who enjoy football, many changes to the rules have never been embraced.

With that being the case, Flacco's comments are going over well on social media with fans and commentators, including former players such as J.J. Watt and current Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen.

Fans are liking Flacco's opinions, too.

For his part, Flacco appears to be looking forward to continuing his career this fall whether that is as Joe Burrow's backup for the Cincinnati Bengals or in a competition to start elsewhere.