New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees initially responded lightly Wednesday when asked for his thoughts on the overturning of the one-game suspension for Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Dashon Goldson after his helmet-to-helmet hit on the Saints' Darren Sproles last Sunday, Larry Holder of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Then Brees hammered Goldson for his playing style, saying Goldson "certainly has no regards for rules in the middle" and "he's going after guys' heads." "You can see it," Brees said. Brees said he wasn't aware of the suspension being overturned. Brees was informed the league fined Goldson $100,000 and Goldson will play this week. Brees responded at first by saying, "We don't make the rules." He recognized how a $100,000 fine is a hefty one from the NFL and if Goldson continues to pick up unnecessary roughness penalties there will be "an even greater punishment than that." "I'm not saying that it's not difficult for defensive players," Brees said. "I know it's very difficult for defensive players because instinctively, things are happening so fast and you're kind of in another place as a defensive player. You're thinking about hitting someone as hard as you can and the ball and doing all of those things. "They don't want to see a receiver catch a ball. They don't want to see a quarterback have all of the time in the world in the pocket and sit back there and not get hit. They're trying to hit you. I know it's very difficult for defensive players, but I know rules are in place to prevent guys from having serious head injuries, short-term and long-term." Source:The Redzone
I understand him taking up for his teammate. And in the yesteryears this wouldn't be a problem. That was commonplace on defense. Go back to as late as the 80's and the defenses were very intimidating. But now it is an offensive league. Personally I love good hard hitting defenses. But the rules now are that you can't even fart on an offensive player. So to continue to break the rules just shows that he don't care about hurting his team with the penalties. Would I want him on my team? If the rules were different, hell yes. But he is hurting his team and that is wrong.
...and in the same article, Tom Brady calls him one of his favorite players, for basically all the same reasons.
