The main peril of having long hair in the NFL is that it’s completely legal for opposing players to tackle players with the manes that flow from beneath the helmet. And though the hair-tackle has happened to guys like Troy Polamalu and Ricky Williams, it’s hard to remember a player ever having his hair ripped out of his scalp by a defender. Andre Ellington was on the wrong side of history on Sunday.
After a short Ellington run, Jacksonville Jaguars defender Jason Babin emerged from the pile holding strands of the back’s dreadlocks. He held the hair aloft, then tossed it to the ground. It looked like a scene out of Braveheart or Gladiator, except the people in those movies who hold up decapitated heads usually play for a better team than the Jags.
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