Whether you’re a superstar like Tom Brady or a practice squad hopeful like Ross Ventrone, there’s one thing each and every NFL player has to deal with, and that’s the danger that comes with the territory of being of being a professional football player.
Over the weekend, the football world witnessed devastating hit after devastating hit. It was so bad that the league not only fined two players, it was also forced to make a few mid-week edits to the rule book.
One of those players fined was Brady’s teammate, safety Brandon Meriweather, who came in high on Ravens’ tight end Todd Heap. For the ugly helmet-to-helmet collision, he was slapped with a $50,000 bill. Steelers’ outside linebacker James Harrison, the other major perpetrator this weekend, owes Roger Goodell $75,000.
“It’s a dangerous game, it really is,” Brady said on Wednesday. “I think we all signed up for this game knowing that it’s dangerous. I know Rodney Harrison did too. I heard some of his comments about the style of play and you’re right, nobody wants to see anybody get hurt. That’s not why we play the game. But we also know the physical nature of this sport is that people do get hurt. We’ve all been hurt. Everybody in this locker room has been hurt. I’ve had four or five surgeries. It’s just part of what you’re signing up for.”
Brady doesn’t hold Meriweather completely accountable for the viciousness of the hit and he isn’t concerned with how the rule changes will effect the Pats’ winning ways.
“I know Brandon. You get trained as a player and everyone’s just trying to go out there and make the play. Sometimes I guess guys cross the line. Sometimes guys are trying to do it within the rules that are set for us. It’s a very instinctive game out there,” he explained. “They’re going to enforce the rules however they see fit. We show up one week and they say, ‘Well, this is how the rules are now.’ That’s just the way it works for players and we learn to make adjustments with that. It’s not the first time they’ve changed a rule here during the season. It’s just what they do.”
