Andy Reid Absolutely Realizes What Steelers Always Knew After He Trashes Massive Mistakes By Roger Goodell And NFL

The Pittsburgh Steelers will forever be one of the most historic franchises across the entire sports landscape. They carry one of the world’s largest fanbases and have even carved out a large space within the National Football Hall of Fame. The influence the Steelers have had on football is profound. So much so, they’ve pushed the boundaries of the game to such degree that the NFL has had to create rules limiting how the Steelers, and the other 31 teams, have to play the game.

These rules cover a variety of different aspects of the game that have developed it into what we know today. Hall of Fame cornerback, Mel Blount etched his name into the rule book by becoming the founder of the declared ‘Mel Blount Rule’, prohibiting cornerbacks from making contact with receivers beyond five yards from the line of scrimmage. Blount earned a reputation for himself of being an imposing, physical defender as a part of the historic dynasty of the 1970s and the NFL had to cap how physical he was able to play as a result.

The Steelers Knew For Years Roger Goodell And The NFL Were Targeting Them In The Rule Book

If we look back at the last two decades, two members of Steelers’ royalty earned their way into the NFL rule book. After breaking the jaw of Cincinnati Bengals’ Keith Rivers on a block, Hines Ward was instructed by the NFL that he was not to do that again. So much so, the league enacted the ‘Hines Ward Rule’ which makes it illegal for a player to land their helmet, shoulder, or arm above an opposing player’s neck either from behind or from the side on a block. Fans can find the block peppered among Ward’s highlight reel and it will forever live in the minds of Bengals’ fans.

James Harrison built a reputation of toeing the line in terms of physicality during games. That reputation made Steelers fans love him for 13 years and everyone else hated him. Harrison’s journey to the NFL was anything but easy, and is now revered by current fans as being one of the most motivational stories of the modern era. But Harrison’s reputation didn’t sit nicely with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. 

In fact, that led to Harrison landing on Goodell’s naughty list and the linebacker finding himself flushed with fine letters after almost every game. This forced Harrison to express his thoughts by way of an interview with Men’s Journal in 2011.

“My rep is James Harrison, mean son of a b---- who loves hitting the hell out of people. But up until last year, there was no word of me being dirty till Roger Goodell, who’s a crook and a puppet, said I was the dirtiest player in the league. If that man was on fire and I had to p--- to put him out, I wouldn't do it. I hate him and will never respect him.”

From the Steelers’ point of view, it always seemed as though Goodell and the NFL had it out for Pittsburgh. They always seem to find what the Steelers are doing to win, only to then turn those things illegal. For fans outside of Pittsburgh, this may just seem like a coincidence. But no one could really be that oblivious to the league’s underlying distain for the Steelers.

For fans close to the Steelers and even members of the organization, this is glaringly obvious. To highlight that even further, Head Coach Mike Tomlin joined Ben Roethlisberger on the Footbahlin’ with Ben Roethlisberger podcast earlier in 2023. Tomlin has coached historically elite defenses on different teams in his career. In Pittsburgh, he coached two of the top defensive units in all of football as a part of the 2008 and 2010 teams. 

Roethlisberger asked Tomlin what his ‘favorite’ defensive squad was. In turn, Tomlin revealed how his favorite unit found themselves on Goodell’s hit list and resulted in them being the last defense that was allowed to really hit opposing players at will.

“That '10 group created the player safety initiative. Seriously, let’s be honest. We’re talking about the historical perspective. That collection of men created what we know now as the player safety initiative. The powers that be watched them play and said 'this is not good for football.'”

Heading into the 2023 season, it looks like there is a new rule that isn’t sitting well with fans, players and coaches alike. For those who may have missed the newest rules update, NFL owners agreed to a new touchback rule on kickoffs. That rule states, in part, that if a returner calls for a fair catch on a kickoff inside of the 25-yard line, it will be dubbed as a touchback and the offense begins their possession at the 25-yard line. 

This new rule was reportedly opposed by almost every special teams coordinator in the league and received a lot of pushback. After the new rule was declared and passed, Kansas City Chiefs’ Head Coach, Andy Reid unloaded his thoughts on the change.

"My thing is, where does it stop, right?" Reid asked at the team’s facility during their Organized Team Activities. "We start taking pieces and we’ll see how this goes. But you don’t want to take too many pieces away, or you’ll be playing flag football."

Reid is one of the most well-respected and well-liked coaches across the entire league. He has led his team to three of the last four Super Bowls and won two of them. Even further, the NFL agreed for the city of Kansas City to host the most recent draft this past spring. But finally, it sounds like Reid is siding with what the Steelers have been saying for decades; the NFL is teetering on the edge of making the game safe for players, yet stripping aspects of the game that make it fun and entertaining.

This rule is already getting blasted by fans across the world. It is an odd rule in that the league cites ‘player safety’ as being the driving factor to approving this rule, yet the same league approved multiple Thursday night games for teams at the same time. Those Thursday night games have always been a literal pain for players as they have to recover, practice, travel and play another full game on an unhealthy, accelerated level. Not to mention, return specialists have always been a large part of football. With the new rule, teams may just look to put a reliable catcher to field kickoffs only to simply call for a fair catch every time.

Like Reid said, it will be interesting to see how this goes. The new rule was only approved for the 2023 season, so it is sitting on a trial basis. It will take a lot of preseason action to help the special teams coordinators navigate the best plan of attack on kickoffs. That could lead to a lot of offensive possessions beginning at the 25-yard line early in the season. Only time will tell in determining if this rule is actually valuable to the safety of the game or if it is just Goodell having to again interfere with one of the most exciting aspects of professional football.

What do you think of the new rule? Do you agree with Reid and the Steelers? Let us know in the comments below!

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