There wasn’t a bigger penalty flag thrown in Week 11 than the one thrown after 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks hit Saints quarterback Drew Brees in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game in New Orleans.
The officials ruled Brooks hit Brees in the neck on the play, which resulted in a fumble that the 49ers recovered for what briefly seemed like icing on the cake of a road win. The penalty gave the Saints a first down, which allowed them to tie the game with a field goal and helped set the stage for their eventual 23-20 win.
The 49ers protested the call vehemently on the field, which is understandable given how costly the penalty was and how many of us remember a time when a hit like that wasn’t a penalty. That was a different time, however, and Brooks protested those changes and other things after the game.
“I didn’t hit him with my hand or my helmet,” Brooks said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “I basically bear-hugged him. That’s just how football is played. I think this s--- is b-------. Football, the way they call stuff these days, it’s watered down. It ain’t real no more. ... “It was at home. It was Drew Brees. And maybe the officials were for the New Orleans Saints a little bit more than the 49ers. I think it’s B.S., man.”
Brooks isn’t the only person who feels that way, but the rules governing hits on quarterbacks aren’t going to go anywhere.