Daily Madden: NFL Competitiveness Can Lead To Bad Decisions
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - The Steelers face the Ravens in Baltimore Thursday night, but the Ray Rice domestic abuse case continues to overshadow any competition.
"You would like to say 'well, let's get back to football, it's a game tonight,'" John Madden told the KCBS Radio morning crew. "It's hard to say that, even for me. It's hard to say, 'okay, let's just put all that behind us.' (This issue) is one of the things you can't just put behind you."
Madden said the highly competitive nature of the NFL leads to inconsistent decisions on discipline issues.
"We've talked about this for a long time -- the better the player, the more that you put up with," Madden said. "Because the NFL, football, is so competitive, you don't want your best player not playing. So you kind of push and change and do things for your best player. And are you saying 'that's right?' No, I'm not saying that's right, but I am saying that's the way it happens... Historically, you'll always find an excuse. I mean you go all the way back to high school, (where) there used to be a saying with high school kids. If a high school coach was trying to tell you how good (a player) was, he'd say he's one kid we save the bus for, he's one kid we hold the bus for." (6:35)
(Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 and Monday and Friday mornings at 9:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM.)