There’s not much scarier than witnessing a bone-crushing collision between two football players. The kind of hit everyone knows is bad before the play is even completely over. That’s what Pittsburgh Steelers then-rookie offensive lineman Spencer Anderson witnessed last season, watching S Damontae Kazee hit Indianapolis Colts WR Michael Pittman Jr. in a jarring collision.
Appearing on the Off Da Field podcast with Isaiah Robinson, Anderson said it was the craziest play of his rookie season.
“My boy Kazee, Damontae Kazee when he hit Michael Pittman last year,” Anderson told the show. “He got suspended for the rest of the season after that hit…He lit Michael Pittman up. It was bad. It was an over the shoulder ball. He didn’t see him coming. It sounded like a car accident on the field.”
The hit came in Week 15 last season. Laying out for a ball thrown slightly wide of him, Pittman had no chance to brace as Kazee came flying over the middle. A bang-bang play tough for either player to change course as Kazee was attempting to dislodge the ball out. Instead, he made shoulder-to-helmet contact with Pittman, a nasty collision that left Pittman on the ground for several moments.
Pittman would eventually get up and walk off the field under his own power. Kazee was ejected and suspended for the rest of the year, regular season and playoffs. On appeal, his postseason ban was rescinded.
“All you hear is, sounded like a car crash. And immediately everybody is like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ Because it looked bad. But he got up from it. That’s definitely the craziest thing I’ve seen.”
Kazee’s no stranger to big hits or NFL fines and suspensions. While Pittman initially believed Kazee was “head-hunting,” he’s shown no ill will towards him now. It was a nasty and by the letter, an illegal collision, but a byproduct of the fast-paced nature of the NFL where judging strike zones in real time are nearly impossible. Especially for a moment like that, when Kazee is trying to make a play on a receiver diving over the middle.
