Bruce Arians Says Football Is Being Attacked By Scared Moms [UPDATE]

Bruce Arians has no problem speaking his mind and that was fully on display Friday at a coaching clinic the Arizona Cardinals held for high school football coaches.

While extolling the virtues of teaching fundamentals and how they were the key to keeping the game safe, Arians went on a bit of a tangent:

"“This is our sport, it’s being attacked. We have to stop it at the grass roots. It’s the best game that’s ever been invented. And we have to make sure that moms get the message, because that’s who’s afraid of our game right now. It’s not dads it’s moms. Our job is to make sure the game is safe, at all levels. The head really has no business being in the game. There’s a lot of different teachers, but when I was taught how to tackle, and how to block, it was on a two-man sled. You did it with your shoulder pads. That’s still the best way to do it.”"

There’s a lot to unpack there. He’s right that teaching proper technique is likely the key to keeping football safer, but his side trip into saying football is being “attacked” sounded ridiculous. Football isn’t being “attacked” at all, the sport is just finally being recognized as incredibly dangerous. Making people aware of the long-term impact of playing the game is not the same as attacking it.

Arians basically says that moms are hurting the “best game that’s ever been invented” because they’re scared their kids will get hurt. But what’s hurting football isn’t moms, it’s the violent nature of the sport and the potential for long-term health problems for its players.

I like Arians and get what he was trying to say, but that was a terrible way to deliver the message. He has to choose his words far more carefully.

[UPDATE: Arians has apologized.]