Osi rips Steeler’s rant on safety

Steelers safety Mike Mitchell went off on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the state of the league Wednesday afternoon, railing against the inconsistency of how hits, legal or not, are policed.

Former Giants star Osi Umenyiora took offense to Mitchell’s rant, which included several references to the idea of just playing flag football and “this is a man’s game.”

“Are players really this dumb?” Umenyiora wrote on Twitter. “Hate to say it but cmon. Former players have died and are dying horrible deaths because of head trauma. And you’re complaining because the league is taking steps to at least try and reduce it. ‘Make it flag football.’ Ridiculous.”

Mitchell has been agitated on social media for a few days because of how three incidents from this past weekend were legislated. Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was suspended for one game after an egregiously late hit on Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White. Mitchell’s teammate, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, was dinged for a game because of an illegal crackback block on Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict. And Bengals safety George Iloka was benched for a game after a helmet-to-helmet hit in the end zone.

One day later, Iloka’s suspension was lifted and replaced with a fine. Smith-Schuster’s was not. That really got Mitchell mad.

A video of Mitchell shot by The Athletic went viral Wednesday, at just about the same time that Goodell’s five-year contract extension was first reported.

While much of that video is an argument about inconsistency with how the league legislates discipline, there was more to Mitchell’s rant.

“This is a combat, contact sport,” Mitchell said, according to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette. “There are going to be injuries. That’s just what it is. If you don’t want to get injured, then don’t come out here. This is for real men. This is a man’s game. Ray Lewis said that a couple of years ago. This is a man’s game. I stand by that. If you’re a little kid and don’t want to get your ass hit then don’t come out here because this is for grown men.”