You call that roughing? NFL has deemed Tom Brady an endangered species | KEN WILLIS

In its nearly 50 years of existence, we’ve seen plenty of overreach, but who would’ve thought NFL quarterbacks would eventually be covered under the Endangered Species Act?

Between Sunday afternoon and Monday night, it became obvious.

Forgive me for shaking my fist at the clouds, but if Jack Lambert and Lawrence Taylor (and Bubba Smith, Dick Butkus, etc.) brought their brand of football to today’s NFL, they’d be in San Quentin by halftime.

Like many things, it all began with proper intentions.

Over the past generation or two, the NFL was right to better protect defenseless players from blindside hits and head-hunting defenders.

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It didn’t help matters that such cheap-and-easy blows were glorified by the highlight shows — how many times have you heard “Great block!” when it was nothing but de-cleating a guy who was running one way and looking the other?

The modern penalties for “targeting” — particularly when helmets are involved — are subjective, of course, and sometimes maddening. But the unofficial line of reason is, it’ll take a generation or longer, but over time players will instinctively begin leading with their shoulders and not their heads.

Again, a work in progress and occasionally muddy, but as plenty of caregivers would tell you, the right thing to do.

As for the current turmoil, originally it was a good marketing decision to hang a “Handle With Care” label on quarterbacks, since they’re the leading actors in this live-action drama.

Would you rather watch the Bucs with Tom Brady or Blaine Gabbert in the shotgun? The Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes or Chad Henne? (That’s right, Checkdown Chad is still stacking his pension.)

But this has brought an old adage into play: If something is worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. That’s where we reside right now.

The NFL was pressured to react after the Tua Tagovailoa situation, and so we get the comically bad roughing call Sunday against the Falcons and another Monday night against the Chiefs.

Looking back a few Sundays to Bills-Dolphins, it was clear to everyone Tua was damaged goods as he staggered after arising from the hit, yet in the locker room he passed the official look-see and returned to play.

Four days later, he takes another hit to the head and this time there was no staggering, just an ugly visual, followed by a stretcher.

With that fresh in the mind, we shouldn’t have been surprised when Teddy Bridgewater got the hook Sunday. Not surprised, but still left to wonder how this eventually plays out, considering how that quickly unfolded.

Starting for the Dolphins in place of Tua, Bridgewater was sacked on his first play and, according to a league spotter, he stumbled after getting up. Go find a replay and try to spot a stumble — no, don’t bother, there’s not one. But his head hit the turf, so he was ushered to the blue tent and soon ruled out of the game.

Spotters gotta spot, you know.

And that’s why you and the Scrabble crowd have a new word in play: ataxia. 

Caused by damage to the brain or spinal cord, ataxia symptoms include difficulty with walking, balance, hand coordination, speech, swallowing, eye movements and general muscle control. Ataxia has been added to the NFL’s official concussion protocol, and any player showing symptoms is now sidelined.

Previously, as in a couple weeks ago, a clean brain scan and the passing of protocol procedures was enough to override what we saw — in Tua’s case — with our own eyes.

Bridgewater passed the immediate concussion tests, but someone saw a wayward step, and an overmatched rookie QB, Skylar Thompson, was introduced to the NFL.

All of this is taking place in the long shadows of the NFL’s billion-dollar concussion settlement with former players. The league, along with the players association, learned an important lesson: Sometimes, a player has to be protected from his own desires and wishes. That’s why Tua, with clean scans, still sits and might keep sitting a while longer.

Or even longer than a while. That’s the thing with the brain. While we’re largely brick and mortar, the brain is a system of semiconductors and wiring. Pardon the redundancy, but it has a mind of its own.

Therefore, a sensible and safe procedure may not exist.

Weighed down with human responsibility, fiscal stakes, public relations and, yes, the constant threat of trial lawyers, folks in charge sometimes get spooked. Sometimes it’s a proper spooking, sometimes it’s not, and in this case we just don’t know everything.

But we do know those two roughing-the-passer penalties, as well as the benching of Teddy Bridgewater, all looked like overkill.

Meanwhile, given current sensibilities and abilities to immediately air them worldwide, a lot of folks are instead focusing on Troy Aikman, from his ESPN broadcast perch, asking the NFL’s competition committee to “take the dresses off.”

Aikman also offered an actual and sensible suggestion — make roughing penalties subject to review — but that’s not headline material and, yes, this bit of drama is another story for another day.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Tom Brady, other NFL QBs join list of protected species | KEN WILLIS