Too Many NFL Players Take Their On-Field Aggression Off The Field - And Response

  • Monday, September 26, 2016

Bone snapping. Hard hitting. Violence. We all love to watch it. We love the adrenaline that football gives us.

Most Americans have their own team that they love to cheer on and win football games. We get so carried away watching the violence that we don’t seem to see the big picture. We watch the violence on the field, but what we don’t see is the violence that football players use on the field, some choose to carry it off the field. According to Pointafter.com, in the last five years, there have been over 25 cases of domestic violence in the NFL. Some of these cases are worse than others, but are still unhealthy. Ray Rice. Adrian Peterson, Aaron Hernandez. These three phenomenal football players used their on-field aggression off the field and treated their victims poorly.    

Writer Steve Almond says that we Americans love to watch football - which is true. He says that we cheer the football players on while they tackle and injure themselves. They use the violence that we cheer for on the field, which is good, but then they take it off the field in the wrong situations. He thinks that it is wrong for us to cheer for them. “The problem is that I can no longer indulge these pleasures without feeling complicit,” Steve says.    

Ray Rice played in the NFL for seven years, from 2008-2013. He had a total of 9,376 yards in just 92 games. On February 15, 2014, a video that was caught on a security camera of Ray Rice and his soon to be wife, Janay Palmer, showed Ray dragging Janay out of an elevator. The video also capture Ray furiously hitting Janay Rice and making her go unconscious. About a month after, the Ravens owner, Steve Bisciotti, said that Ray Rice will definitely return to the team. Two days later, the NFL dropped charges onto Ray Rice for third-degree  aggravated assault.

Ray Rice was a fantastic running back. He was strong, fast, and smart on the field. Unfortunately, Ray used the violence off the field instead of on the field. There is no excuse on why he should have been in the situation in the first place. According to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, “Rice gave a ‘starkly different’ version of events than what was revealed on the second tape released by TMZ.” I think that it was the right move for kicking Ray off of the Baltimore Ravens’ team. I also believe that the NFL should have punished him even more like putting him into jail for a year. I have no sympathy for a man who choses to beat his wife. Ray treated her the same way he treats opposing linebackers.    

Adrian Peterson is one of the best running backs in the NFL. He uses his speed and his quick steps to throw off defenders. Adrian Peterson is a strong running back on the field, but he might have taken it too far off the field when he “beat” his four-year-old son. Adrian’s son was playing a video game that his other son wanted to play, so he pushed him off and grabbed the game. Adrian saw this and got angry. He went outside and grabbed a tree branch that Adrian referred to as a “switch” and hit his kid multiple times. He hit him on the leg, butt, back, hands, and ankles, leaving cuts and bruises. The league should have been more forceful on his punishment for “punishing” his kid. "I think Adrian Peterson is in a well of trouble, and I think he should pay a significant price, I don't give a d---- how he grew up," said former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason.    Aaron Hernandez almost had 2,000 yards receiving in 175 passes thrown to him as a tight end in just three year. In 2013, Aaron Hernandez killed Odin Lloyd. Odin was in a nightclub around 3:30 a.m. Aaron was convicted of first-degree murder a couple of days later after the incident. He was also convicted of having five armed weapons in his possession. He is now in prison at this moment serving a life sentence. Odin Lloyd was dating Shaneah Jenkins, sister of Aaron Hernandez's fiancee. Aaron Hernandez had a lot of aggression off the football field, so then he carried off the field and into the club and killed Odin. This is horrible.

For once, I agree with the NFL and the law of kicking him out of the league and making him to to jail for life. New England Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick said after the incident, “I'm personally disappointed and hurt in a situation like this."   

Americans are indecisive. We cheer on violence on the field, but when it is off the field, we blow these situations out of proportion. I love football, but when players use their violence that they are supposed to be using on the field, off of it, it hurts me. The NFL should be more strict on their decision making when it comes to punishments, yet fans are the ones cheering and paying money to see these players play so it is difficult for the NFL.

Ben Brock 

* * *

While you're on the subject of violence and major league sports, Ben, don't let hockey and major league baseball off the hook. In fact, according to a July 2014 article in SB Nation, more domestic violence was found in major league baseball than the NFL.

Fair is fair. Don't be shy about it. If you're going to go after one sport, include them all. Unless, of course, there's some other ulterior "hidden" motive for calling out only NFL players.  

Brenda Washington


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