Joe Flacco: We signed up to get hurt, guys in my generation benefit from having that mindset
· Yahoo Sports
Joe Flacco has been around the league for a long time.
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The No. 18 overall pick of the 2008 draft, Flacco has experienced several changes when it comes to the league's rules around player health and safety — particularly as it relates to protecting quarterbacks.
But according to the 41-year-old Flacco, not all the alterations have been positive for the game.
Speaking to ESPN's Kevin Clark during Super Bowl week, Flacco noted that while he knows things aren't going back, he still longs for the old days.
"I don’t think anybody coming into the league these days is quite as battle tested as guys that came into the league 15 years ago," Flacco said. "I think you can kind of — if you’re a good high school recruit, you can kind of ride your way through college and they’re going to pick you because you have potential. I think there was less of that 15 years ago. I think our generation does benefit from dealing with a little bit of tougher times — just like the generation 20 years before me benefited over us. You know what I mean? And you’re right, I kind of came in as it was transitioning. So I still have that mindset. I don’t think it should be roughing the passer when they land on us. I don’t think being slapped in the head should be roughing the passer. It honestly annoys me because it affects games in a negative way at random times. They can call it or not call it. It needs to get out of the game. They need to go back to it.
"I know CTE is a thing these days and all that, but it’s football. We signed up to play it," Flacco continued. "And I do think the guys in my generation kind of benefit a little bit from having that mindset — because the guys that are coming in nowadays, they look at me like I’m crazy. ‘What do you mean you want receivers to get laid out over the middle and you want guys to be able to land on you?’ I’m like, yeah, guys, that’s football. There’s certain things that shouldn’t be penalties. And I don’t think they see the side of it where, it really does — these 15-yard penalties in big situations that really shouldn’t be penalties in the game of football, they change these games. And as a fan, I just don’t like it. I want it to be up to us. And getting slapped in the face should not change the game. It really shouldn’t."
Flacco also took up for defensive players whose job is now arguably harder than it's ever been to stop offenses from moving the ball.
"[G]uys can’t even play defense as aggressively because they’re getting fined so much money for just normal hits," Flacco said. "It’s changed the game a lot. And I don’t think we’re going back, so I’m just kind of ranting here. But, man, I don’t like it.
"Listen, we signed up to get concussions. We signed up to get hurt. It is what it is. You might not like that, but that’s what we kind of did when we decided to play this game."
As Flacco noted, what's done is done and the game is not going back. But his perspective as a longtime quarterback is informative on how things have changed for the latest generation of signal-callers.