Steelers' Terry Bradshaw and Jack Lambert Were Extremely Pessimistic About Player Safety Rules 45 Years Ago

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been fighting against rule changes to penalize the defense for a long time. James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, and several other teammates were unhappy about the NFL’s selective enforcement of player safety rules 15 years ago. Harrison was so distraught with what he thought were unfair fines that he almost retired from the NFL in his prime.

The Steel City Star, a popular Twitter/X account, released a video of Howard Cosell interviewing Terry Bradshaw about putting in new rules to protect quarterbacks from injury in late 1979. It is an eye-opening look into the mindset of players in the 1970s. The interview revealed that criticizing the NFL for how they attempt to protect quarterbacks is a cottage industry in Pittsburgh.

“I am one of the few that has spoken out that I have seen enough rule changes in my nine years in the NFL,” Bradshaw answered. “Something I believe very firmly and strongly for is that a quarterback’s an athlete who is part of a football team. It’s an aggressive, sometimes vicious game. You have to be prepared, mentally and physically, to accept that. I know Coach Madden said they ought to do more. They ought to just let it lie, and let’s play football.”

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Bradshaw was the recipient of some of the most brutal hits the NFL has ever seen. He wasn’t alone. The Steelers effectively ended Roger Staubach’s storied career in 1979. LC Greenwood, who made a habit of torturing Staubach, knocked the Dallas Cowboys quarterback out cold in Three Rivers Stadium during a regular season game. Greenwood, the unofficial all-time Super Bowl sack leader with five, sacked Staubach four times in Super Bowl X and once more in Super Bowl XIII. He also ended the Hall of Fame Cowboys quarterback's career with his 1979 sack. 

Cosell, the legendary Monday Night Football broadcaster, decided to get a defensive player perspective from the Steelers about proposed rule changes. He picked the meanest man in the NFL at the time and possibly the most feared player in the history of the NFL, Jack Lambert. The Steelers outspoken middle linebacker did not mince words when Cosell asked him how best to protect quarterbacks. Caution: his answer might shock the delicate sensibilities of some modern NFL fans.

“Well, it might be a good idea if we put dresses on all of them. That might help a little bit,” Lambert mused. “I got called last week for a late hit on Brian Sipe. In my opinion, it wasn’t a late hit.”

Lambert stared coldly into the camera when he commented. He was being sarcastic, probably. But not even the bombastic Cosell would dare ask him if he was kidding. It was a totally different time in America. It might not have been very politically correct, but it was sadly prophetic.

The NFL did not significantly alter how football games were called until Tom Brady was injured in 2008 after a Week 1 sack that was immediately decried as dirty. Even though Mike Pereira, the supervisor of officials at the time, clarified that it was a legal play because Bernard Pollard of the Kansas City Chiefs was blocked into Brady, outrage ensued. The NFL responded by changing the rules and started down a slippery slope.

15 years later, the league’s player safety policy has run amok. Troy Aikman echoed Lambert’s comments during a broadcast a little over a year ago. It resulted in a massive backlash from many modern fans on social media and deafening silence from the NFL. 

Mike Ditka once famously said, “Football is not a contact sport. It’s a collision sport.” The current NFL seems intent on shifting away from what made the league popular in the first place. Chasing fantasy football players and appealing to an audience that increasingly has never played tackle football.

What started as sensitivity to player safety issues has morphed into what is increasingly an incredibly loose standard for what is an illegal hit. It has devolved into defenders hitting receivers in the approved strike zone, but flagged anyway because the hit was perceived as too hard. Worse, the extremely bad calls are not reviewable. Even the NCAA figured out that you can't trust referees to make that call in real-time accurately. 

The NFL has embraced gambling, so these phantom calls matter much more whether they like it. The past weekend saw the Steelers benefit from what looked to be a very generous spot on a Kenny Pickett sneak to win 24-17 against the Los Angeles Rams. It wasn’t even the most controversial call of the day. For the second week in a row, the Cleveland Browns were handed the game by questionable officiating.

The NFL can’t return to the 1970s, no matter how much Steelers fans would like it. However, the evolution of football equipment is woefully behind. There are safety steps they could take with helmets and additional padding to make the game safer. The NFL could certainly eliminate artificial turf if they were serious, but they won’t. Grass doesn't always grow green inside the fancy modern domes that are continuously awarded Super Bowls. 

Bradshaw, Lambert, and many NFL veterans are not opposed to player safety, but they don’t want to sacrifice the integrity of the game to get there. The NFL didn't listen then, and they aren't listening now. Nobody is drafting Bradshaw at a fantasy draft party, and Lambert played defense. It's the part of the game that the NFL doesn't care about. 

What do you think, Steeler Nation? Does Lambert and Bradshaw's comments to Cosell seem ancient or prophetic? Let me know what you think. Please comment below or on my Twitter/X: @thebubbasq. 

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