Tiki Barber clearly isn’t a fan of the way the NFL has changed in certain aspects.
Mainly, the amount of caution that goes into protecting skill position players in a sport that involves heavy contact on every snap.
“I am not the ‘meathead, be tough,’ I am not that guy,” Tiki said. “But the wussification of the game, it bothers me sometimes. It really does.
“Practice, two-a-days, it’s hard for a reason. It goes back to high school.
There is a weeding out, a ‘can you make it’ quality of the NFL. You have to be a little crazy. You are willingly forcing your body to make fast contact with somebody else’s body, who is probably bigger than you, and it’s going to hurt.”
The league has put several rules and precautions in place to try and limit injuries, but Tiki says it has also created a culture around the league, when it comes to the treatment of some positions, that doesn’t match the nature of the sport.
“When I hear ‘Aaron Rodgers got hit a couple times,’ he’s a football player!” Tiki said. “This isn’t flag football. You get hit, it hurts, you get up, and you do it again. Sometimes, it pisses you off, and it makes you a better football player. That’s the game that I love, and I think we’re losing some of that, especially with some of the expectations people have about hitting their quarterbacks or wide receivers. It’s football. Trust me, we’re crazy enough that we want to do it, despite the pain that’s gonna come with it.”
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