Getty Image
The most recent slate of NFL games marked the latest round of discussion concerning the protections quarterbacks should be entitled to when running with the ball. That included a divisive hit Caleb Williams took against the Lions—one that Dan Campbell apparently instructed his players to make before they faced off against the QB.
It’s hard to blame the NFL for wanting to protect quarterbacks when you consider guys who play the most important position in football tend to be the league’s most marketable names, but it’s easy to understand why plenty of people have become increasingly frustrated with the rules that are seemingly designed to coddle them.
The roughing-the-passer penalty has evolved to a point where defenders need to exercise an abundance of caution when going for a sack, and while the NCAA wisely banned fake slides after Kenny Pickett exploited the move in 2021, the NFL still allows QBs to engage in plenty of gamesmanship when it comes to situations where they’re seemingly giving up on a play while scrambling.
I do think Azeez Al-Shaair deserved to be disciplined for the hit that concussed a sliding Trevor Lawrence over the weekend, but I can understand why that play has been used to highlight the current shortcomings of the rules that overwhelmingly favor QBs over the players tasked with shutting them down.
We were treated to another potentially scary situation when the Bears faced off against the Lions on Thanksgiving, as Caleb Williams made it pretty clear he did not appreciate Jack Campbell going low to tackle him near the sideline at the end of a first-down run in the third quarter of that contest.
Was this a legal hit on Caleb Williams? 😳pic.twitter.com/isHWKGOTzS
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) November 28, 2024
The refs correctly declined to throw a flag on a play where Williams made the ill-advised decision to try to get an extra yard or two instead of stepping out of bounds before Campbell had the chance to hit him, and based on what Amon-Ra St. Brown had to say, the LB was doing what Dan Campbell told him to do if the Bears QB decided to get cute during the showdown.
“He goes, ‘If he does this, we’re going to hit his a**. I already warned the refs, the refs know.'”
Amon-Ra St. Brown said Dan Campbell told the Lions to hit Caleb Williams if he’s not clearly going out of bounds. pic.twitter.com/lI3neK7LlI
— St. Brown Podcast (@StBrownPodcast) December 4, 2024
The Lions WR shared some background information on the St. Brown Podcast while revealing Campbell realized Williams had a tendency to try to stretch out plays and subsequently instructed the members of his defense not to let him off the hook if he tried to pull any similar moves, saying:
“Dan was talking to us and he was showing clips of Caleb like going out of bounds, going back in, going out. He said, ‘No you don’t! If he does this, we’re gonna hit his a–. I already warned the refs. The refs know.'”
I think any reasonable football fan would agree Williams has no one to blame but himself for the hit in question, and he should’ve known better going against a team coached by a man who pledged to bite off kneecaps in his introductory press conference.