Troy Polamalu Thinks The New NFL Is 'A Pansy Game'

It happened to the NBA. A pure, physical, exciting game both up and down the floor became one of flops and ejections and weak fouls. The game lost the hard foul and the brick wall screens and it's now more about the shooting guard than the power forward.

The same thing might be happening to the NFL and one player, rarely quoted Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, has had enough of it. Yesterday, the hard-hitting defensive back said that all these new fines and rule changes have softened a pure game, going as far as calling the sport "a pansy game."

Strong safety Troy Polamalu said football "just loses so much of its essence when it becomes like a pansy game."

A lot of the uproar from Steelers camp is over the recent fines handed to receiver Hines Ward, who has yet to be flagged for either unnecessary roughness calls that have landed him $10,000 in penalties. Ward has always been a physical player, and these were plays that probably would have been praised on "NFL Live" a few years ago but are now considered over the top.

Polamalu also thinks all of this is focused around the dollar bill, not the safety of the players.

He added that the NFL is trying to protect players from injuries because it is in the league's best interests to do so.
"It has more to do with money and not really with our safety," Polamalu said.

Polamalu also thinks that, with these rules, some of the names that popularized football wouldn't stand a chance in the game today.

"When you see guys like Dick Butkus, the Ronnie Lotts, the Jack Tatums, these guys really went after people," Polamalu said. "Now, they couldn't survive in this type of game. They wouldn't have enough money. They'd be paying fines all the time and they'd be suspended for a year after they do it two games in a row. It's kind of ridiculous."

This is the difference in a guy like Polamalu and Terrell Owens. Polamalu keeps to himself, never bringing up a point unless he really believes in it and people actually listen. TO cries. That's the difference.

[PFT]