Why The NFL’s PLAYER PROTECT Program is a TOTAL FAIL

An article by ESPN’s Scoop Jackson, entitled “Drinking, Driving, and Ignoring the NFL’s Help” exposes one of the two reasons that PLAYER PROTECT is not only a FAIL, but was DOOMED from the start. The names of players and coaches in Scoop’s article will be familiar to those who follow us on facebook. News about how the PLAYER PROTECT program works is difficult to come by. The NFL doesn’t say much about it, and as I learn more, I can’t say I blame them!

The unfortunate truth is that PLAYER PROTECT is There is always lots going on here! nothing more than a covert TAXI operation. It’s a free ride home that nobody is ALLOWED to know about. The secrecy is an aspect I’ll get to in a minute. Now, I believed from the scant descriptions in print that PLAYER PROTECT was a true Designated Driver program which would take the player home in their vehicle. It isn’t. It’s just a ride. Worse than that, it’s a free ride for a rich guy!

What Scoop reports that players are saying is true for many people. You don’t want to leave your expensive car in the bar parking lot overnight and have to go back the next day. This is very frequently a HUGE FACTOR for people with nice cars and busy lives in making the decision to drive drunk instead of taking a cab.

Seriously, it was IDIOCY to think that a free cab ride home would be an option that would interest these guys. Asking them to bail on their car isn’t going to work. PLAYER PROTECT needed to get that ride home too. Since it didn’t, nobody was interested.

Why doesn’t the NFL realize that there are hundreds of Designated Driver Services across America they could partner with? Give the players and staff a card that gives them a safe ride home IN THEIR VEHICLE. There are so many companies that will take a drunk player AND his car home. A lot of these companies offer gift certificates and memberships. And I am CERTAIN those who don’t would be willing to create a program to cover an entire team AND staff.

The other serious problem with PLAYER PROTECT is the way the NFL makes a player feel like he is doing something wrong just by using the service. “Don’t worry. Nobody will know you used it” and “I don’t want to Hear who is using it” are NOT the right messages to send. But then, the equivalent of a rich guy taking a free cab ride IS pretty embarrassing. I don’t know what they were thinking when they put this program together.

Instead of being embarrassed about trying to deal with a serious situation, The NFL needs to accept that drunk driving is the most consistent embarrassment they face. They drink in groups and they drive as individuals. The NFL needs to get serious about drunk driving and making somebody feel bad about not driving drunk is the wrong way to do it.

The NFL needs to partner with REAL Designated Driver Services and accept that players who use such a service are heroes, not embarrassments. Players using the program should be given additional perks, maybe more seats for family and friends, or maybe a contribution to the player’s favorite charity. Any person who uses a Designated Driver Service is protecting not only themselves, but the community they drive in. In fact, they could call the new program COMMUNITY PROTECT.

That’s it. PLAYER PROTECT needs to be scratched and replaced with COMMUNITY PROTECT. Because one of the realities the NFL refuses to accept is, the numerous drunk drivers among them are endangering communities across the country. They NEED to handle this better.

Thanks for the scoop, Scoop!

John

October 2nd, 2010 at 6:11 pm · Reply

You should do your research before commenting. PlayerProtect is a private company and not an NFL ride home program. It is apparent you don’t know much, not even how to google a company so maybe you should stick to childrens fiction instead of attempting to write about stuff you don’t know. it is ignorance like this that leads to peolpe causing a panic!

Allen Porter

October 3rd, 2010 at 2:19 am · Reply

Here is the quote from the Jets spokeshole after Braylon’s stupidity, er, DUI.

“We are very disappointed in Braylon’s actions this morning. The Player Protect program is in place for our organization to prevent this situation.” That’s why I (and others) have insulted you by calling PlayerProtect a program.

Frankly, I am surprised you were not even more upset by being called “nothing more than a covert TAXI operation”! According to your home page, giving rides home is DEFINITELY not your thing. So let me apologize for that one too!

You are right. I did not google PlayerProtect because the point of this post is the NFL’s EXTREMELY misguided approach to the RAMPANT drunk driving that many of them engage in on a regular basis, not who owns PlayerProtect. Thanks, though. The fact that PlayerProtect is not a program, but a private security company just adds weight to my argument.

With all the skills and training the PlayerProtect company has, it was never intended to do what we (see the quote above) were told. Do Athletes need quality off-field security from a company like PlayerProtect? Of course! Specialized security for high-profile people is nothing new, nothing unusual, and certainly nothing to be ashamed of using.

As security, PlayerProtect is very important. But it does nothing about drunk driving. And guess what our topic is here at DrinkingAndDriving.Org? Drunk driving prevention. And in this post, it’s all about the NFL getting their kids to stop playing in the street.

PlayerProtect clearly was never intended to prevent drunk driving despite what we hear from the NFL. PlayerProtect is security. But the NFL still NEEDS to implement something which can prevent drunk driving. In my post, I offer a solution which would work better than sputtering ‘we have PlayerProtect…’ after the latest drunk driving arrest.

By the way, where’s that panic? Your cubicle or mine?

October 7th, 2010 at 7:21 pm · Reply

Now the Packers, on the other hand, have a program which is working. In Green Bay, the Safe Ride program is very out in the open. There is no shame in using it. The players all understand it, and as a group, appear to have bought into the basic underlying concept that there are ALWAYS better alternatives to drinking and driving. Here’s an article about it. Packers provide safe way home A Packer can say, “I used Safe Ride last night” without a manager or coach threatening to can the service because he heard about it.

a little puzzled

December 17th, 2010 at 5:53 pm · Reply

I have used player protect on several occasions and I’m not even in the NFL, I’m just “family & friends”. It is more of a limousine service than a taxi. They pick you up at your home take you to your destination, wait outside, take you to however many more destination follow; wait outside and safely return you to your home when your evening is done. I am not affiliated with the company in any way shape or form, I just felt your article was a bit inflammatory and lacking some facts. Further more the reason the staff is saying they don’t care who is using the service is based on the idea of players feeling like the job already keeps a 1984 big brother like eye on them. The other less talked about reasons are people’s private dealings i.e. if a coach knows that a married player takes a Car Service @ 2am to anywhere other than his house assumptions start to grow wings. These players are trying to hold on to some form of autonomy in a league where that is completely frowned upon. Player Protect does prevent drunk driving if the user is honest about the likelihood of their alcohol consumption.
I agree PP should implement a concierge driver program incase a player does get drunk and does not want to leave their car over night.