Browns rookie cornerback Denzel Ward, who was taken with the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft, had to leave Friday’s preseason game against the Eagles with back spasms. According to Browns defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, Ward is to blame for the injury because he made a “stupid” tackle.
The tackle on which Ward got hurt can be seen in the GIF above. It looks like a pretty normal tackle? Not according to Williams, who had this to say:
Maybe he’ll finally listen to me and stop doing those stupid things the way he’s trying to tackle, and tackle the way I tell him to tackle, and he won’t get hurt.
Williams went on to elaborate that the problem with this specific tackle was that Ward didn’t “cut” Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, and instead let the 250-pound tight end “run over his face.”
Maybe Ward’s tackle could have been better, but it feels pretty ridiculous for any football coach to get mad at any football player for getting hurt while playing a violent and dangerous game. Particularly if that coach happens to be someone who was deeply involved in the Saints bounty program and once instructed his players to “kill the fucking head.” Nobody should be listening to anything Gregg Williams has to say about tackling.