Pittsburgh Steelers safety Damontae Kazee got a firm message from the NFL last season when he was suspended for three games for a hit to the head of Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. on Dec. 16. Pittman received a concussion on the play, and Kazee was ejected from the game.
Kazee was a repeat offender, so that played a big part in why commissioner Roger Goodell handed out harsh punishment.
Kazee went to New York in person to have his appeal heard and to “give him a face.” He was only partially successful, getting it reduced to just a three-game ban instead of the whole season, which allowed him to play in the wild-card game against the Buffalo Bills.
Kazee had a huge mishap in the game, as Bills quarterback Josh Allen blew by him on a 52-yard touchdown run. Kazee hesitated thinking that Allen was going to slide.
Kazee admitted that he wasn’t playing full speed because he was thinking about not getting penalized or suspended again.
“I was happy (to be back), but it did slow me down a little bit,” Kazee said on Thursday at OTAs, via Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I’m wondering, ‘How do I approach people now.’ … He ran that fake slide on me, and it froze me up. ‘Do I take my shot?’ I don’t know.”
Kazee was also confused with how to approach hits on receivers.
“Do I let them catch the ball, do I wait till he catches it and looks at me before I make a tackle? There were a lot of things going through my head,” he said.
Kazee, 30, is heading into his eighth season. He knows that he has to change is game if he wants to continue to play in the league.
“I definitely got to change,” Kazee told Rutter. “I have to. The NFL is changing, so I have to change with it. They are putting in new rules, and you have to adjust to it.”