Sports Leagues Aren't The Only Ones The Have To Respect Player Safety.

As a rookie RGIII played with a bad knee in the playoff game against Seattle. It was reported that head coach Mike Shanahan was advised to sit his star quarterback. RGIII would get hurt in the fourth quarter and his career was never the same. Washington has denied that they were ever told to sit RGIII. That was almost a decade ago.

During the 2020 season, Tom Brady played with a torn MCL in his left knee. The injury was not reported.The Buccaneers would go in to win a superbowl. And of course the Buccaneers would say they didn't think his injury was that bad.

A season later and there is issues concerning Antonio Brown. First thought, it's AB. However, He said he was cut in game for refusing to play injured. Video of him leaving the stadium doesn't help him. The team tried to act like they had zero knowledge, and tries to pin all blame on to AB. AB released some documentation stating otherwise and was quickly released.

League rules state, "It is NFL policy that information for dissemination to the public on all injured players be reported in a satisfactory manner by clubs to the league office, the opposing team, local and national media, and broadcast partners each game week of the regular season and postseason (including for the two Super Bowl teams between the Championship Games and Super Bowl)."

Bruce Arians has a history of playing injured players. And in the NFL, winning comes before everything, followed by money. Now there are old school fans who still believe that you play injured. Who believe in the Al Davis mantra of "Just win baby."

I spoke with a cowboys fan, who is also my supervisor about the AB thing. And it changed this article. He believes all blame falls on AB. He said "if a guy is too injured to play, he won't play. If he wants to play injured, the team can't stop him." I pointed out that the coaches have say who goes on the field regardless of who wants to play but he insisted that "if AB wanted on the field, the team couldn't stop him." 

By his logic, if all 53 guys decided they wanna play offense then all 53 guys have to be allowed on the field if they all walk on at the same time.

Any ways the supervisor goes on to say that "a player decides whether he wants to put his health before his career or money, or if he wants to put money before his health. They can't be made to sit and they cannot be made to play. They have free will."

I told him If a guy refuses to play, he runs the risk of being cut and potentially black balled out of the league. If a guy plays hurt he runs the risk of ending up like RGIII or worse. Either decision has money implications but if a player refuses to play, they're likely to be tainted by their team.

My supervisor responded to that with "there's no such thing as black balling. A league cannot tell a team that they cannot sign someone and that if a team refuses to sign a player, then they have to be a trouble maker or a bum. It's why Kaepernick isn't playing. He's a bum."

I ignorned the Kaep part because I am at work and because I had a lot to say on that which could cause issues I don't need. I'll say this if he wasn't advocating, he would of had a backup job at the bar minimum. Whether he had the skills to still be playing, I don't know.

I asked what label he thought a player would get if they were hurt, refused to play, got into a disagreement with the coaches about it, and then went public with it after being told of punishment for refusing to play.

He responded "It's still the players decision to play football. He can get another job." Basically implying that a player has all power over their careers and a team or league has little to none. 

There are those like myself that believe that the players are human and have to be treated as such. We know that player safety takes a backseat to winning and money. And we want not only an investigation into what happened in Tampa but reform throughout the game.

However, there are fans like my supervisor, who stand bye the Buccaneers. Who don't believe that any coach or team that makes their players play injured are doing any wrong. They don't care if injuries are reported and think the players and modern rules are too soft. Old school fans that believe "if they can walk, they can play."

The point of this article is not only does the NFL have to do a better job at enforcing rules and defining what's acceptable behavior from non acceptable behavior, while changing the mind set on player safety; as fans we have to demand the same thing from fellow fans. Players aren't just meat puppets and we cannot allow them to be treated as such by are fellow fans.

Yes there's some risk to playing professional sports. They play knowing they could get injured. There's no reason that the games shouldn't evolve to limit injuries while staying true to the sport. There's a difference in knowing you might get injured and expecting to be asked or required to play injured. Safety rules are put in place for a reason, like it or not. And it is the team that needs to be held responsible if found violating those rules. And those involved punished.

Not long ago Matt Schaub was the quarterback of the Houston Texans. When he got hurt, the hometown fans in Houston cheered and celebrated. That was a sick display and something unbecoming of any fanbase. Any fan that calls athletes soft needs be educated and if they still hold no regard for player's health and safety, they need be exiled. We need to show unity as a fanbase that this mindset will not be tolerated.

Changing the game starts with the fanbase because without us, there is no professional sports league.