No I’m not going to debate that Peyton is the best QB in the league; you can’t debate such an obvious fact as that. This particular debate is about something else. I’ll let the great Ray Lewis and Rodney Harrison explain it:
The new roughing the passer rules that have been enacted are in place to protect the QB from serious injury. I support that concept because even though it is football and it is a physical sport, no one wants to see someone get injured. Leave that stuff for the thrill seekers watching NASCAR for the crashes. However, that being said, IT’S FOOTBALL!!! Give me a break! Rules prohibiting helmet to helmet tackles or spearing and leading with your helmet are all great rules, but rules attempting to punish a player for something uncontrollable like his momentum as he’s running to do his job and make a sack are ridiculous. I think that these rules are created with the best of intentions, but the problem with them is that impossibility to standardize them. The calling will always be at the discretion of the referee making the call and therefore mistakes will always be made. This leaves the league open to the criticism that certain QBs (Brady, Manning’s, Romo) are getting special treatment while your Russell, Quinn, and Campbell get ignored.
It seems that the next step is to make it so that the QB simply plays in a bubble and can’t be touched at all. I don’t tune in every week to watch touch or flag football. As Lewis said, they’re playing too and wearing the uniform like everyone else. When you lace up those cleats and step out onto that field, you do so with the acknowledgment of what you’re getting yourself into. Stop coddling the QBs and let them play the game!



