Eric Winston (74) and Branden Albert (76) check on quarterback Matt Cassel after he suffered a head injury against the Ravens. (John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE)
The sign in the Patriots’ locker room is a prescient one, advocating something simple but that can also be difficult.
“Ignore the noise,” it says, a sentiment necessary for anyone playing in the arena of professional sports. Pay attention to the noise, and it can push someone off the deep end.
After all, that “noise” can be unbearably loud, and, unfortunately, ill-informed and mean-spirited. Truth be told, “the noise” usually comes from a significantly small percentage, but that doesn’t diminish how loud it can get.
Last Sunday in the NFL, Kansas City Chiefs tackle Eric Winston made a conscious decision to not ignore the noise. In fact, Winston took a fuselage to the noise, and many were glad he did.
Winston reacted after the game to those in the stands at Arrowhead Stadium that cheered when Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel left the game against Baltimore with an apparent concussion. He was so adamant at wanting to make his point that he called reporters over to him in the locker room.
For those that somehow missed it, here’s what Winston said: “We are athletes, OK? We are athletes. We are not gladiators. This is not the Roman Coliseum. People pay their hard-earned money when they come in here and I believe they can boo, they can cheer and they can do whatever they want, I believe that. We are lucky to play this game. People, it’s hard economic times, and they still pay the money to do this.
“But when somebody gets hurt, there are long-lasting ramifications to the game we play, long-lasting ramifications to the game we play. I’ve already kinda come to the understanding that I won’t live as long because I play this game and that’s OK, that’s a choice I’ve made and a choice all of us have made.
“But when you cheer, when you cheer somebody getting knocked out, I don’t care who it is, and it just so happened to be Matt Cassel — it’s sickening. It’s 100 percent sickening. I’ve been in some rough times on some rough teams; I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life to play football than in that moment right there.
“I get emotional about it because these guys, they work their butts off. Matt Cassel hasn’t done anything to you people, hasn’t done anything to you people. Hasn’t done anything to the media writers that kill him, hasn’t done anything wrong to the people that come out here and cheer him. Hey, if he’s not the best quarterback then he’s not the best quarterback and that’s OK. But he’s a person. And he got knocked out in a game and we have 70,000 people cheering that he got knocked out?
“Boo him all you want. Boo me all you want. Throw me under the bus. Tell me I’m doing a bad job. Say I gotta protect him more. Do whatever you want. Say whatever you want. But if you are one of those people, one of those people that were out there cheering or even smiled when he got knocked out, I just want to let you know, and I want everybody to know that I think it’s sickening and disgusting. We are not gladiators and this is not the Roman Coliseum. This is a game.
“I’ll sit here and I’ll answer all your questions for the next 30 minutes if you want to ask them and I’ll take all the responsibility I can take because I deserve it but don’t blame a guy, and don’t cheer for a guy who has done everything in his power to play as good as he can for the fans.
“It’s sickening. And I was embarrassed. I want every single one of you people to put this on your station and in your newspapers because I want every fan to know that. This is a game that’s going to cost us a lot down the road. That’s OK. We picked it, we deserve it and I don’t want your pity. But we have a lot of problems as a society if people think that’s OK.”
Naturally, the reaction was swift and yes, noisy, but Winston stood by his words in the aftermath of the incident. What was troubling were those trying to minimize what the fans did by using the timeless refrain that it really wasn’t all the 70,000 fans, as if that somehow makes it acceptable.
Winston later said the following day, “I meant what I said. I didn’t say it off the cuff. I look back on it and I’m happy with what I said. (But) I didn’t mean all 70,000 were cheering. It might have been 7,000. It might have been 700. It’s still too many.”
Chiefs veteran guard Ryan Lilja said, “I support what he said. Obviously it wasn’t everybody in the crowd, but there were people cheering a guy getting a head injury. It’s been talked about every which way possible, and I’m not going to give you anything else other than I support what Eric said. I hope Matt gets healthy. We love and respect our true Chiefs fans.”
Asked what fans had said to him, Lilja responded, “I’ve had overwhelming support for what he’s said from people at the game and from people that were watching the game.”
Finally, even Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt felt compelled to enter the fray when the club issued a statement from Hunt that said, “Over the last few days, there has been a lot of talk about our fans, and I feel like it’s important to set the record straight. I know our fans. They are passionate, hardworking, loyal, educated football fans, and they are the heart and soul of the Arrowhead experience. They know cheering an injury to anyone in any stadium is unacceptable.
“I want to make it perfectly clear: A small few who may have cheered when Matt went down do not accurately represent the best fans in the National Football League. Period.”
Defenders can be defenseless, too
For several days after Texans linebacker Brian Cushing was lost for the season after being blocked low from behind by Jets guard Matt Slauson, the universal opinion was that Slauson’s block was legal. That is, until the NFL fined him $10,000 for what was termed a peel-back block, which might be the first time any of us even heard of that. Still, whether peel-back or not, any time a defender is blocked by someone he can’t see, that should be a penalty.
Houston defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said it best when he noted (before the fine was announced), “I probably shouldn’t say it, but I thought it was an unnecessary (hit). “Whether it was legal or not. I think it’s just unnecessary to hit a defensive player when he can’t see you. If a guy’s coming in front and cuts me, he can see that and maybe get away from it. I think the league needs to look at something like that. He was defenseless in that case. If the guy had hit him in the head, it would have been a penalty.”
‘CHUCKSTRONG’
Some things are just meant to be, and it sure seemed that way last Sunday when the Colts stormed back from a 21-3 deficit to defeat the Packers just six days after they had been informed their head coach, Chuck Pagano, was being treated for leukemia.
Right after the game, owner Jim Irsay took the game ball to Pagano in the hospital. Interim coach Bruce Arians eventually got there, too, and when he was asked the next day what it was like, he said, laughing, “I had to stand in line. It took me a while to get through. Once he got the game ball and everything, we finally talked. I could tell his voice was a little bit weaker but I was really happy to hear that he had coached his ass off during that game.”
Players talked about the different texts they received from Pagano, most punctuated with exclamation points and words in all capital letters.
Said safety Antoine Bethea, “Since he’s not in the meeting rooms, he most definitely has some good speeches with him. Through texts, that’s the way to get your point across with the all caps. He seems like he’s doing good and is in good spirits.”
What was most meaningful were the CHUCKSTRONG T-shirts bought by fans, shirts that were worn by both Colts and Packers players in pregame warm-ups.
Many players used social media platforms to spread the message of CHUCKSTRONG. Said punter Pat McAfee, “Chuck is going to beat leukemia and CHUCKSTRONG is something that is going to live on forever and it’s going to help a lot of families going through the same things.
“This city rallies behind people like nobody else I’ve ever been around. This CHUCKSTRONG thing is an amazing movement. The city of Indianapolis and the legion of Colts fans everywhere has really bought in. It’s amazing to see the power of the people and what you can really do.”
Jay Glazer of Fox Sports said he exchanged texts with Pagano the night before the game. Glazer said Pagano wrote, “It’s difficult for me. I’ve never been out of football on a Sunday.” Glazer said, “It was hard for him last night and will be harder for him today. He sent the team a motivational email. Basically the gist of the email was, ‘We will, we can, we must. We have no choice. We will overcome.’”
Still, it wasn’t long after the game before thoughts were already looking ahead to Sunday’s game on the road against the Jets.
Arians said, “I don’t think there is any doubt that the last 30 minutes is the standard that we set for ourselves now. We played smarter. We played faster. We played up to our ability. Now we have to maintain that.
“I told the guys today, ‘This car cannot have a rearview mirror. We cannot pat ourselves on the back or we will get our butts kicked by the Jets.’ It’s business as usual, 24-hour rule. We are already onto New York. That’s our focus and that’s how it has to be.”
Echoed quarterback Andrew Luck, “I think you realize once this day is gone, it’s on to New York. After watching the film, push it out, push it from your mind, you can’t look in the rearview mirror. I think the great thing about football is no one cares about what you did the week before. It’s all about the next game. I think we’ll take that attitude and hopefully continue to get better and realize it’s going to be tough sledding in New York.”
