Mike Mitchell of the Pittsburgh Steelers began a verbal wrap on Wednesday, criticizing the League, colleagues and the Commissioner. The main criticism of the safety-related topics included player penalties, the CBA and the current rules of the game.
After the Steelers’ sometimes fierce play against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday evening, after several players on both sides had landed in hospital with head injuries and George Iloka and JuJu Smith-Schuster were banned, Mitchell gave in to his frustration.
One excitement was that Iloka and Smith-Schuster were also banned from playing – Iloka’s suspension was reduced to a fine by appeal – such as Patriots tight-end tight Rob Gronkowski, who had attacked a Bills player after the end of a play,”Smith-Schuster and Iloka made football plays in a football game during the play, more precisely before the whistle was blown. Gronkowski’s action, on the other hand, was a grounded player after the whistle. but don’t tell me these were the same violations.”
He clarified his statements and said:”My true complaint goes not to the NFL, but to my colleagues. How could we agree with this CBA? There is no consistency in the way we are punished. In one week you will be fined for a foul, in the next week you will be suspended for the same action. One week from now, a fight on the field is a relegation, the next a suspension.”
And that’s not all, Mitchell also took ESPN expert and ex-quarterback Matt Hasselback:”First you take our money, but now assholes like Matt Hasselbeck come along and call me a dirty player and evaluate my character, even though we never met.”
Mitchell has a provocative solution to the current problems:”Just give us some flags and we’ll go out and try to tear them down. Because we don’t play football. This isn’t fucking football. When I was six years old, I saw Charles Woodson, Rod Woodson, Sean Taylor and Jack Tatum. They were hitters. That was football. This isn’t football. You have to know the risks if you choose football. Nobody wants to be paralyzed, nobody wants head injuries.”
But Mitchell also admitted:”But let’s not make football a dangerous, barbaric game. I used it to change my family’s inheritance. Before I was drafted, I had $368 in my account. This is no longer the case today. I have changed my family’s heritage with the beautiful game of football forever. So let’s not make it an evil, dirty game. It’s football. It’s nothing but UFC. This is a combat, a contact sport. There will be injuries. It’s what it is. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t come out on the court. This is for real men. It’s a man’s game.”
He also said:”We need to do a better job as players when we sign up for the next CBA. We also need to get better leadership from whoever leads this league because all of the fans, owners and players are disappointed with Roger Goodell. We can’t have a guy who just distributes punishments as he pleases. There must be firm guidelines on how we do what we do,” Goodell just extended his contract as an NFL commissioner.