Cris Carter delivers a strong warning to Baltimore’s Joe Flacco – FOXSports.com

– He contacted his head, because his head didn’t get down on the ground.

– So that’s a dirty hit.

– No– it’s not a dirty hit. It’s illegal.

– Right. Dirty implies either some malice, or that he was trying to hurt the guy. The reality is this though, CC. This– that play only happens to quarterbacks, and it only happens quarterbacks because we are trying to protect quarterbacks. The slide is maybe the most dangerous thing.

Every quarterback in the league, except for Russell Wilson, who used to play baseball, can do. First of all, they can tear up their knee. Second of all, if he does any real football play, he does not get brutalized like that.

Like the attempt to make the position safer has put these guys more at risk. And you can’t ask Kiko Alonso who’s going full speed trying to stop Flacco from getting the first down, because well you– go ahead, CC.

– I’ve had hundreds of times I was running like that. And I analyzed who was coming after me. All right? Now the quarterback, once he leaves the pocket, he’s not protected. He is a regular ball carrier. Joe Flacco knows better. When he made up his mind to decide to go for the first down, he was just like any other player on the field.

That was a bad, bad, decision for him. And Kiko Alonso made him pay for it.

– All right, we’ll let’s see. Kiko Alonso might be paying for it.

– I think he will, but that doesn’t mean–

– Financially.

– Yeah, but so what? Like, it’s part of the game. If you hit a guy to the head, you’re going to be fined. Joe Flacco made a poor decision. Kiko Alonso was running to the football and hitting the only spot that he could hit him in.