In an era where there is now intense scrutiny on the health and safety of NFL players, it was startling to hear former NFL tackle Lomas Brown admit to missing a block on purpose 18 years ago in an effort to get his team’s quarterback, Scott Mitchell, out of the game.
Even more stunning is that Brown is currently a party to one of the concussion lawsuits that has been filed against the league. That’s hypocrisy to the highest degree.
It’s difficult to fathom a player actually doing what Brown did, and even more troubling to imagine why Brown would feel compelled to make such an admission publicly.
The unseemly story began Dec. 21 when Brown, an analyst for ESPN, described the game when the Lions were playing the Packers in Milwaukee.
Brown said on ESPN Radio, “We were playing Green Bay in Milwaukee. We were getting beat, 24-3, at that time and he just stunk up the place. He’s throwing interceptions, just everything. So I looked at Kevin Glover, our All-Pro center and I said, ‘Glove, that is it.’ I said, ‘I’m getting him out the game.’ … So I got the gator arms on the guy (Sean Jones) at the last minute, he got around me, he hit Scott Mitchell, he did something to his finger … and he came out of the game. (Backup) Dave Krieg came in the game.”
Mitchell, in fact, suffered a broken finger on the play.
At that point, show host Ryen Russillo was suitably shocked by what he heard and that Brown would admit it. The emboldened Brown then said, “As you can tell, I’m just not a big fan of Scott Mitchell. He’s just not on my Christmas list. He won’t be getting any Christmas presents from me this year.”
It’s bad enough Brown did what he did, but then he makes sarcastic comments about Christmas presents 18 years later.
It didn’t take long for Mitchell to respond.
Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show the day after Christmas, Mitchell said, “It just really hurt. It was extremely disappointing. I’m really shocked by it, to be honest. Here’s a guy I’ve had in my house, I had a big dinner for the offensive linemen every year, he came to my house and ate dinner, I gave my offensive linemen gifts every year. For him to do that is just reprehensible, beyond words. It’s really disappointing, it really is painful.
“When you mess with my family, mess with my livelihood, mess with my health, it’s unacceptable. It’s B.S. I just wouldn’t do it to a teammate. I wouldn’t do it. If Lomas has a problem with me, come talk to me. To try to get someone hurt, it’s just mind-boggling. People get seriously hurt in this game and it’s hard enough to play and to stay healthy when all things are equal. But for someone to just lay down like that, it’s just unacceptable.”
Several current Lions players were taken aback by the episode.
Said quarterback Matthew Stafford, “I’m just glad he’s not blocking for me. I’d have to be really nice to him if he was.”
Added center Dominic Raiola, “That’s kind of bush league if you ask me. When I saw it, I was like, I don’t think I’d ever do that. … That ain’t cool.”
The story continued Thursday on ESPN First Take with Brown attempting to make himself look better, but in reality he only made himself look worse by contradicting himself.
He said, “That was 1994, and I was extremely frustrated with the situation that was going on. And, you know, I didn’t try to get the guy hurt, but that’s what ended up happening.”
Huh? The entire point of his original comments were to get Mitchell out of the game, and he claimed he told Glover that was his intent by missing the block.
Brown then engaged in more double talk when he said, “Do I regret it happened? Yeah, I regret it happened. Did I regret it happened then? No, I didn’t regret it then.”
Well, if he didn’t regret it then, he’s again admitting he was pleased Mitchell was injured and had to leave the game.
When told of Mitchell’s comments about having players over to his house, Brown said, “Yeah, Scott did have us over to the house and everything, and I felt that I was a good teammate to Scott. (Wow, I’d hate to know what Brown might do to someone to whom he was a bad teammate.) I expected Scott to react that way. That’s the way he should have reacted. I don’t blame him for reacting that way. But Scott knows a lot of things that went on, too, in Detroit.
“So I don’t know what I can say now. I’ve already said it, it’s out there. And like I said I expected him to react in that way. I probably, if the shoe had been on the other foot, I probably would have reacted that way too. No, not probably. I would have reacted that way – probably a little worse than that. So I don’t blame Scott, and hopefully we’ll talk about it.”
Now that would be an interesting conversation. Brown did say that he figures he was on the field for 18,000 plays in his career and that was “one play out of the 18,000 that I regret.”
Finally, in a classic comment, Brown said, “I should have been more tactful about how I said that. It came off boastful. And I shouldn’t have said it that way. I said it, I can’t take it back, but I shouldn’t have said it the way I said it.”
Right. Miss a block. Get a guy hurt, which could have been a lot worse, but claim the problem is with how it was said. Not what was said.
Someone should simply suggest to Brown that he stop talking long enough to get his large foot out of his mouth.
Of course, another questionable comment came at the end of the TV segment when First Take host Cari Champion told Brown, “Well done, big fella.”
Well done, indeed.
Chuck Strong
The remarkable story of Colts coach Chuck Pagano added another layer when Pagano returned to work Dec. 24, three months after beginning treatment for leukemia.
On Christmas Eve, an emotional Pagano said, “The happiest day of my life was July 1, 1989 – that’s when I got married to my wife, Tina. I want to thank you. She’s a soldier, a warrior, my soulmate. You can’t get through this without somebody as strong and as loving, and I thank you, Tina. She never left my side except to go home and do some laundry every morning that we were there (the hospital). We were there 25 days and you got me through. And I thank you.”
After thanking everyone else involved with the team, he concluded, “I told you the happiest day of my life was July 1, 1989? Today was No. 2.”
The Quotebook
Bears cornerback Charles Tillman on Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson: “He can do everything. He’s the LeBron James of football. If you could create a player – that’s Calvin Johnson. Size, speed, hands, agility, quickness, strength.”
Broncos coach John Fox on who should be the NFL’s Most Valuable Player: “Obviously I might be a little biased and with all due respect to everybody involved, I think what’s unique about Peyton (Manning) … he’s done it in a new city with a new team. At that position, in my personal opinion, that’s what separates him from the rest of the field.”