Dallas Cowboy player-turned-NFL commentator Jason Witten reacted to a roughing-the-passer penalty by lamenting how the league has taken a “left-wing” turn.
He made the comment during the fourth quarter of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Pittsburgh Steelers game on ESPN after flags were thrown for the fourth such penalty that game.
“They’ve just gone too far with that rule, you know?” Witten said. “I knew they wanted to make it about the health and safety, and protect these quarterbacks, but it just seems like we went a little bit to the left wing on that, you know?”
[Opinion: NFL Hall of Famers throw a Hail Mary and demand free health insurance]
Found the clip. Here’s Witten calling the roughing the passer rule change “left wing” pic.twitter.com/htLzeRcm79
— Conor Orr ?? (@ConorOrr) September 25, 2018
He went on say that not only players, but coaches are “frustrated” by the league’s stricter rule discouraging defensive players from landing on quarterbacks this season.
“They don’t know how to coach this. That’s when you have a challenge with this rule.”
Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated checked with ESPN to see if Witten’s comment was meant to be political. “(The comment) had nothing to do with politics,” was the reply.
