Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is never shy about sharing his opinion. His regular weekly guest spot on "The Pat McAfee Show" has become something that all football fans look forward to on Tuesdays. Through this platform, Rodgers has been able to share more of himself and his opinions in a less formal setting. Of course, some of these opinions have been controversial in the past. Rodgers commented on the targeting rule in college football.
Pat McAfee and AJ Hawk were speaking with Rodgers about taunting penalties in the NFL. Rodgers feels that the NFL may have gone too far with it. When talking about the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts, they agreed it may have been too much to call a taunting penalty that helped the Colts win the game.
Rodgers does not feel like taunting is necessarily that big of a deal. “When someone does the belt over me, do I want them flagged for 15 yards? Of course not,” he said. “I think we have to be really careful [with how far we take these penalties].
This led him to bring up the targeting penalties that have made headlines in many college football games. To be sure, intentional helmet-to-helmet spearheaded tackles by defenders are dangerous and worthy of an ejection. However, as Rodgers and McAfee pointed out, offensive players often initiate the head-to-head plays by lowering their own helmets. McAfee suggested looking at the intent of targeting plays, and Rodgers agreed that a replay can go a long way in indicating what a defender was trying to do.
"We just gotta be careful going too far with some of these rules. It's like what college did with targeting. Are you s--tin' me? Like, it's absolutely ridiculous," Rodgers said. "You're ruining these kids' and teams' opportunities by subjective calls. ... The punishment doesn't fit the crime at all, it's ridiculous. So we gotta be careful with how far we go on some of these rules.
"I think you can, especially with the help of replay, look at intent. If a guy is spearing, eyes closed, cheap-shottin' a guy ... kick him out of the game, for sure, kick him out of the game. But if a guy is making a head-up tackle and the offensive player lowers his head or does a weird thing and it becomes helmet-to-helmet, that shouldn't be grounds for an ejection. It's ridiculous, you're impacting these kids' lives on a grand scheme, and I don't think it's right."
Regarding rules, fans should hope for two things: a well-played game and that no injuries occur. Yes, targeting should not happen for the safety of all players on the field. However, the NCAA needs to be careful who is punished when helmet-to-helmet hits take place. Sometimes, the defender flagged is not in the wrong.
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