The optics of the hit from Pittsburgh Steelers safety Damontae Kazee on Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. in the second quarter of the Week 15 matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium was rather bad.
A hard, heavy hit on a receiver laying out full extension for a potential catch and then lying motionless on the turf after the play. It’s the exact type of play that the league is trying to remove from the game, especially as the research around head trauma and long-term issues from it become more and more clear.
But even with the optics of the hit looking rather bad, former NFL players — and even some in the game today — are wondering what exactly the league wants Kazee to do, especially after the league handed down a season-ending suspension (including playoffs) to the Steelers’ veteran safety Monday.
Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady placed the blame on Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew II for throwing a bad ball, putting Pittman in harm’s way. Former teammate and star tight end Rob Gronkowski agreed with Brady Wednesday during an appearance on the “Up And Adams” show on FanDuel TV with host Kay Adams.
“I mean, a suspension for the rest of the season I think is a little bit too much. I don’t even think he should have really been suspended at all. From the angle of it, from the angle that you just showed me, the guy led with his shoulder,” Gronkowski said of the hit from Kazee and subsequent suspension. “I mean, what else is he supposed to do? The guy’s laying out for the catch. And how else are you supposed to attack the opposing guy that’s catching the ball as a defender?”
Prior to the suspension handed down Monday by NFL Vice President of Football Operations Jon Runyan, Kazee had been fined five times this season for $11,806 for each offense.
According to NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, the NFL’s decision to suspend Kazee for the rest of the season stemmed from “repeated violations of playing rules.” Kazee had been fined five times this year for plays deemed unnecessary roughness, though none of the fines were flagged in-game.
For Brady, placing the blame on the defender — in this instance Kazee —
is flat-out wrong. Gronkowski agreed.
“I would say that that play was a football play. There’s no other outcome that could have happened there. The defender made a play on how the defender should have made a play. He led with his shoulder as well. He didn’t lead with his head,” Gronkowski said. “That was the only area he could have hit the guy the way he thought he was coming down field. It was the wide receiver who laid his body out on the line like that. And on top of it, Gardner Minshew did throw a bad ball.
“It should have never been all the way out there like that, where the wide receiver had to jump out and, and make a diving catch. So Tom is right. And I would never argue with Tom on these situations because Tom is the best quarterback of all time. …that was a football play. There’s some hits that, yes, that are dirty, that should be taken out, but that was a clean hit. It was. What was wrong with it? What else could the defender have done?
The argument against Gronk’s stance is that Kazee should have made a play on the football, rather than on the receiver. Other arguments have been about letting Pittman try and make the catch and then tagging him down, which is insane. That’s now how the game of football is played, even in today’s NFL with all the rule changes hindering physical play from defenders.
Again, it wasn’t a good hit because of the position Pittman was in, full extension, horizontal to the turf. But Kazee did his job, didn’t lead with his helmet and broke up the pass like he’s taught to do. What more is he supposed to do in that situation? It’s a high-flying, offensive-driven game now. The league continues to make life harder and harder on defenders, and this was another instance of that for Kazee, regardless of how it might have looked in real time.
