Ex-NFL Player: I Helped Injure My Own Quarterback

Lomas Brown admits missing a block to get Scott Mitchell out of game
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 27, 2012 4:39 PM CST
Ex-NFL Player: I Helped Injure My Own Quarterback
This 2001 file photo shows Lomas Brown, right, then with the New York Giants.   (AP Photo/Dave Oxford, File)

NBC Sports catches up with a bizarre story from the NFL: Former player Lomas Brown admitted last week that he purposely missed a block in an attempt to get his struggling quarterback injured—and it worked. Brown, then with the Lions, boasted in a radio interview that QB Scott Mitchell suffered an injured finger on the play in 1994 and had to be replaced. Mitchell got wind of the interview afterward and told USA Today he was "floored" by it. "I had Lomas in my home," he said. "I fed him dinner. ... To allow someone to take a shot at a teammate, that's crazy."

Brown went on ESPN radio today and said he now regrets the play but didn't at the time. His tone was a noticeably different from the interview on Friday that started all the trouble. The exact quote from it:

  • "We were playing Green Bay in Milwaukee. We were getting beat 24-3 at the time, and (Mitchell) just stunk up the place, throwing interceptions, just everything. I looked at Kevin Glover, our All-Pro center, and I said, 'Glove, that is it.' I said, 'I'm getting him out of the game.' So I gave it the set out, but I got the gator arms on the guy at the last minute. He got around me. He hit Scott Mitchell. He did something to his finger."
Brown is now an an ESPN analyst, and he's getting beat up over the admission. "In the context of a professional team game, it's as bad is it gets," writes Kevin Seifert at ESPN in a typical comment. The final kicker: Brown is among the players who have sued the NFL for failing to protect its players against brain injuries, reports Yahoo Sports. (More NFL stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X