ESPN's Jeff Saturday Detailed That Steelers' Damontae Kazee Got What He 'Fully Deserved'

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been having a rough go of it for nearly the entire 2023 season. They have faced injury after injury and lately loss after loss. They have struggled with inconsistency at the quarterback position and throughout the offense. After firing Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada, and the subsequent win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 12, things were looking up. However, since then, they have lost three in a row - all to teams they should have been able to beat. On top of the inconsistencies, the team has been crushed by huge penalties. Some of them are careless errors, and some of them are more serious. 

One that was definitely more serious was the penalty called during the Week 15 game against the Indianapolis Colts on safety Damontae Kazee. Kazee hit Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. Kazee was ejected from the game and was later suspended by the NFL for the rest of the season. 

The NFL said in its letter to Kazee that the suspension comes not just as a result of the hit on Pittman, but because he has repeatedly violated the rules designed to protect players from head and neck injuries. So far this season, Kazee has been fined more than $50,000 for unnecessary roughness. 

In the wake of the suspension, many NFL analysts, as well as current and former players, are speaking out in defense of Kazee. They say that he wasn't targeting Pittman, he was lowering his shoulder to avoid head-to-head contact. But the receiver dropped and made it unavoidable. There are many, including future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady, who place blame at the feet of Pittman's quarterback, Gardner Minshew, who threw a "hospital ball." It is the responsibility of the quarterback to place the ball where a receiver can safely catch it. Minshew did not do that. 

However, it is not all support for Kazee, who is appealing his suspension. Former NFL player and coach, Jeff Saturday, thinks Kazee got exactly what he deserves. 

"As far as where he is, he fully deserved to be kicked out of that game," said Saturday on ESPN's First Take. "He deserves the suspensions because, again, you get to a certain point where - as a player - I'm all about live action, man. We ain't running away from it. We understand we play a game that has the potential to be very dangerous and very violent, but we also understand that every player that lines up wants to go home and be with their family after the game is over."

Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin was asked about the hit and suspension during his weekly press conference and he defended his safety. He said that Kazee is not a dirty player. The league and Saturday clearly see it differently, however. They see the repeated fines as proof that Kazee is flagrantly violating the rules on safety. 

"So, if you are limiting multiple people's opportunity to do that (go home to their families) because you keep doing the same thing over and over and over, and you've had fines reduced or whatever the league is doing to you, at some point, enough is enough. So, I think that's where, to me, it is probably a fair deal because it is. Five in a year? Dang, bro," remarked Saturday.

As Tomlin pointed out to the media, the burden to prevent these kinds of hits falls solely on the defender. It does not matter if the offensive players dropped into a position to be hit. It doesn't matter if the quarterback threw the ball in such a way it couldn't be caught safely. It doesn't matter if the coach isn't coaching the offense in a way that prevents injuries. None of that matters to the NFL. What matters is the optics and in that, the defender is to blame. 

This has led to numerous defenders suggesting that offenses will become unstoppable. If you're an offensive coordinator, why wouldn't you throw the ball out to a receiver that has to dive a little for it? They make the catch great, they get hit, they draw a penalty. That's great too. 

If the real concern is player safety, then the NFL needs to consider all aspects. That includes the safety of the defensive players that are being asked to tackle offensive players in ways that many feel are unsafe for them. 

The Steelers' Defense Is In Trouble Without Damontae Kazee

While many will argue that Kazee is far from the most effective safety in the league, he has been an integral part of the Steelers' defense this season. Pittsburgh has already been without their starting linebackers, Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander, and now they will head into Week 16 without safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. With Fitzpatrick injured, the defense was counting on Kazee. 

With so many safeties being listed as out for the next game against the Bengals, the Steelers are scrambling to find replacements. One of them might be Eric Rowe, who joined the practice squad a month ago. The other existing options on the roster are Trenton Thompson and Miles Killebrew. 

Clearly the injuries, and now the suspension, are having a huge impact on the Steelers. They went from being one of the highest-paid and most respected units in the league, to being at the bottom. The defense mainly won the game for Pittsburgh in Week 2 against the Cleveland Browns, scoring two defensive touchdowns. The past few weeks, they have been shredded by the likes of Bailey Zappe and Minshew.