Over the course of his distinguished 12-year career, former Green Bay Packers safety LeRoy Butler heard his coaches make plenty of statements that promoted the idea of making the opponent feel pain.
That was certainly a component to the speech Gregg Williams gave to the New Orleans Saints prior to the divisional playoffs in January, now infamously captured forever by documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon.
And while Butler didn't vouch for Williams' message, he wasn't nearly as surprised as other players who have spoken out on the issue.
"I have probably heard the exact same speech since I was in ninth grade, without the targeting of guys' specific body parts," Butler told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "That was kind of crazy. But I'm not surprised. People are surprised by this, to me, they have always turned a blind eye to football."
Butler made a point to criticize the redundancy of a coach pointing out another player's injuries.
"The problem is that if you knew a guy had a concussion or a bad knee and you're going after it, that's stupid. …I don't need a coach telling me about some guy's knee," he said. "I have the scouting report and I have the health report. Everybody gets it. Everybody knows he has a bad knee. Give me something that I can use. Don't tell me to take out a player's knee who just got his scope. Get back to football. That's what I would have said."
