The hardcore, older generation of football players can’t stand how soft the game they once played — with the barest minimum of regulations — has become.

A group of these old-timers, including Mike Ditka, Jack Youngblood and Jim Hart, recently expressed their frustration over the NFL’s decision to adjust an existing rule — unofficially coined “The Brady Rule” — to make it illegal for defensive players to go after the quarterback once they’ve been knocked to the ground.

And, let me tell you, it was enough for one man to see red. Or, at least, get more red in the face.

When told of Youngblood’s assertion that he could still play because of the new rules, [Ditka] says, “Yeah, but he wouldn’t abide by them, he’d cut the quarterback — and so would I.”

You can only imagine what would’ve transpired on the field had this rule existed during Ditka’s coaching tenure.

Would the ‘85 Bears defense have been as dominant if Richard Dent were lying on the ground, strangely out of the play like a poker player who just folded his hand, waiting for the next go around? I’m leaning toward an emphatic NO.

Better yet, how would Ditka have reacted to a member of the defense getting flagged for violating such a rule? If you answered, “gone ape shit,” you were correct, sir. But, you were even more correct if you said, “by kicking and screaming.” Zing!

All-in-all, it’s just another rule aimed at protecting the ridiculously overpaid quarterbacks, and lessening the toughness of the game. Score one for the No Fun League.