Apparently, the Broncos aren’t big fans of the NFL’s competition committee, because they’re taking shots at both of the league’s new rules.
Yesterday, we wrote about how Brandon McManus criticized the new touchback rules, and now it’s T.J. Ward coming out strongly against the NFL’s hard stance against personal fouls.
During the annual league meetings down in Boca Raton, Florida, this week, the competition committee passed a new rule that would eject any player who committed two personal foul penalties in one game. Ward, who plays on a Denver defense known for their aggressive behavior, did not like that.
“I think [the ejection rule is] B.S. Because a lot of those penalties are derived from playing hard. And accidental,” Ward said, via NFL.com. “So to kick someone out of the game for playing hard, on something that’s accidental, or especially … it’s going to be defensively biased, ’cause, you know, facemask, horse collars, helmet-to-helmet hits. I mean, what do you got on offense? Chop block now? Hands to the face? You know, it’s … Of course defensive players are going to be getting thrown out at a higher level than offensive players.”
A lot of people are calling this the Odell Beckham Jr. rule, after ODB was able to remain in the game despite multiple personal foul penalties against Josh Norman last season, but it could very well be called the Aqib Talib rule, too. Had this rule had been in place during Super Bowl 50, Talib would have been ejected before halftime.
And Ward isn’t unfamiliar with ejections, either. In November, he was ejected during the Broncos blowout loss to the Chiefs for punching Jeremy Maclin in the head.
T. J. Ward fined $10K for punching Maclin last week. #DENvsCHI Here it is: pic.twitter.com/5S3c7dj3XS
— Lionel Bienvenu (@lionelbienvenu) November 19, 2015
It’s hard to imagine that Ward will ever find any ejection rules to be fair, especially with the way he plays.
“I play with my hair on fire, as my coach likes to tell me. Like I got a motor. I fly around,” Ward said. “I try to hit anything moving and I talk a lot. So I try to be motivating while I’m out there, and just try to encourage guys. And if they’re not doing what they supposed to do, then I’m gonna get on them, too. All of those things. ”
We’ll see if the new rules take any aggressiveness out of the Denver defense. Maybe they crossed the line at times, but there’s no denying it paid off in the end.