In the NFL, it is frowned upon. In the UFL this could be good for business.
San Antonio Brahmas safety Teez Tabor admits he has targeted, and will target St. Louis Battlehawks quarterback AJ McCarron’s injured ankle on Sunday.
The two teams played last weekend and will meet again this weekend in the UFL’s XFL Conference championship.
McCarron returned to action Saturday after missing two games due to the injury. Tabor, via Greg Luca of the San Antonio Express-News, was honest with the quarterback about his intentions.
“I told him directly, every time it’s a legal hit, I’m trying to inflict bodily harm on you,” Tabor said. “That is exactly what it is. Any team between those white lines, I’m trying to hurt you. I told him that if he comes around the corner again and sees me again, it will be another one of those things that will happen again.”
NFL players rarely, if ever, speak that way in the years since the Saints bounty scandal. Tabor, a 2017 second-round pick of the Lions who spent time with six NFL teams before joining the UFL, didn’t mince his words or apologize.
“I’m not a dirty player at all, I don’t think,” Tabor said. “It was a clean play. A legal work. It’s Armageddon. It is the art of war. You are the quarterback. If you don’t play, we win. So the goal of the game is for you not to play.”
That same mentality applies this weekend.
“Oh, is he injured and running away?” Tabor said. “Yes, of course. We’re coming on Sunday too. So tell them and be done with it. The defense knows. Everyone knows. Get off, right? Just play football. Play between games, play by the rules and you’ll be safe .Slide, duck, run out of bounds, throw the ball.
McCarron called a foul after Saturday’s game. Through Luca, Fox microphones picked up the exchange between McCarron and Tabor.
“You’re too good a player,” McCarron told Tabor. “It doesn’t matter. You’re still dirty. Alright.”
Tabor responded: “After that I come. I’ll see you next week. “I’m going to attack you again.”
Tabor’s comments came after both head coach Wes Phillips and defensive coordinator Will Reed denied any intention to injure McCarron.
While the NFL’s continued push to promote health and safety (which in turn lays the groundwork for pushing to 18, 19 and eventually 20 regular season games) has made it no longer fashionable to say the quiet part in loudly, the truth is, and always, has been that, if the opposing team’s key players cannot continue playing, a victory is more likely. Still, there is a line between clean, legal hits and foul play.
That line becomes even more blurred if players and coaches don’t talk about the potential benefit of delivering clean, legal hits that take the other team’s quarterback out of the game. At the UFL Tabor talks about it.
What will the UFL management do? On the one hand, they need to protect their players. On the other hand, controversy is good for business. Frankly, aren’t you more likely to watch Brahmas-Battlehawks on Sunday than you were before reading this article?
Keynote USA
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