Jeff Fisher Quotes

No one's saying anything against healthy, fair hardness. That's a part of football. But referees must look more closely and make sure limits are not exceeded.

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.

It's not an exercise on how to avoid getting hit. I think there are certain safety measures that take care of the mental part of it, with players not looking to hit somebody in the head. They've done that. But let's not take the entertainment value out of football.

It is relatively easy... to determine whether or not a blow to a quarterback was deemed excessive or incidental. So I'm discouraged that there have been a number of games that are influenced - not that the outcomes are in question - but a number of games influenced based on the protection of the quarterback.

When you go out on a football field, you are responsible for taking care of yourself. The more rules you get, the less players truly take care of themselves.

I don't like the rules about you can't hit the quarterback.

We penalize and suspend players for making contact with the head while checking, in an effort to reduce head injuries, yet we still allow fighting. We're stuck in the middle and need to decide what kind of sport do we want to be. Either anything goes and we accept the consequences, or take the next step and eliminate fighting.

I just think more precaution should be taken when I'm inside the pocket. Look at all the replays - I'm on the ground every time. It's unfortunate for myself, it's unfortunate for my team and I'd be lying if I sat here and said I wasn't frustrated right now.

I've heard all the coaches complaining about the new CBA rules limiting padded practice. I don't like the reduction to just 15 padded practices during the season. When I coached, we always practiced in pads; and three days a week.

My job is to protect the integrity of the NFL and to make sure the game is as safe as possible.

Back in the '80s and '90s, you could hit the quarterback low, you could hit the quarterback high. You could hit him pretty much late.

There are a couple people who have complained on other teams about some of the things that Pittsburgh players have done. Some of that goes in the category of gamesmanship. Some of that goes to the fact that we need to be vigilant as a league to make sure that players aren't unnecessarily and inappropriately hurt.

If you look at the top 100 players, you would see that the great majority of them have had at least a couple of surgeries. That tells me that we have to protect the players.

Since 2000, it's been a privilege and honor for me to be on the competition committee. And our main focus... is player safety.

I want kids to continue to enjoy our game and benefit from the rewards of playing the ultimate team sport. That's why it's important for young players, parents, and coaches to know about U.S.A. Football's Head Up Football program.

In any professional level competition, soccer players, you've got to know when to stop.

The league has to be sensitive about what crosses the line and what doesn't. It's tough to determine what is a legal hit and what isn't a legal hit, and if someone was deliberately trying to hurt someone or not. A certain integrity, though, has to be maintained.

It's a tough situation as a defender to be put in. I understand what they're doing trying to protect quarterbacks. I've been on the receiving end of a few of those where you appreciate them trying to take care of you a little bit, but I do see the conflict that it puts a defender in.

As a player you don't want to hurt someone and you don't want to see someone leave the ice with the doctors.

Sometimes officials should look at English football and let us play more. I like their system because, in Europe, their referees are more lenient.

Whenever you're falling or getting tackled, try to protect yourself. But that's part of the game; that's part of football.

I'm very proud of high school, college and pro football, the strides have been made to make it a safer game.

My experience over my five years at Wisconsin and my one year in the NFL was that there were times where I couldn't play the game safely. There are positive measures we can take... but on a lead play, on a power play, there's violence.

As far as I'm concerned, this guy should never play football again. The answer you normally get after a tackle like that is 'he is not the type of guy who does that.' It's like a guy who kills one time in his life - it's enough. You have a dead person. This tackle is absolutely horrendous.

In soccer, you don't want to see anybody get hurt.