Quarterbacks are untouchable nowadays. If you hit a quarterback too hard, or if you fall on him with too much weight - which is a judgment thing from a professional standpoint - you're going to get flagged.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I don't like the rules about you can't hit the quarterback.
We need to let the referee's sole thing be to protect the quarterback and get those late hits out of there. They even have a stat on television that says 'knockdowns.' Knockdowns means that you knock him down after he throws the ball. The assumption is, if it's legal, we'll make excuses for them.
I'm not your typical quarterback. I don't like when people say, 'Quarterbacks aren't supposed to run,' or, 'Quarterbacks aren't supposed to work out a certain way.'
The quarterback, you can play with a lot of big injuries. You get a little injury like an index finger or a thumb that most people can play with, sometimes you can't. I've stayed away from some of those.
If you're the quarterback and want to be the best on the field, you've got to act like it.
We have rules in the rule book that are very specific. If the quarterback is in a throwing position, he gets protection. But in the event that the ball is handed off, at that instant, there's no telling whether or not he is a runner or not, so he loses that protection.
Quarterbacks like guys who try to do everything they can for them and put it on the line for them. So that's what I try to do.
Fortunately for a quarterback, you can play for a long time because you don't get hit very often.
That's how I judge a quarterback: Either you make plays or you don't. I don't even want to talk about mechanics.
The quarterback is the most vulnerable one on the field. He's in an awkward position a lot of times when he throws the ball. So he does have to be protected. You lose a quarterback, you're in trouble. I don't know if they can make it too safe. I think health becomes an issue.