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Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields has called out the Detroit Lions for having some “dirty players” on their defense and even name-dropped captain and linebacker Alex Anzalone as one of the guys doing “too much extra stuff.”
Earlier this week, Fields appeared as a guest on the St. Brown Brothers podcast with Amon-Ra and Equanimeous St. Brown and spent a good portion of the conversation discussing the Lions. He talked about how much the Bears’ fourth-quarter collapse to the Lions this past season bothered him and praised the atmosphere at Ford Field.
But while Fields did say he respects the Lions for playing “harder than most teams,” he also mentioned that some of their players — including Anzalone — are “dirty.
“Y’all play harder than most teams,” Fields told Amon-Ra St. Brown, a first-team All-Pro receiver for the Lions. “Like, I will say that, y’all play harder and through the whistle. And y’all got some dirty players on your team, I’m not gonna cap.”
St. Brown couldn’t let that lie: “No, we don’t. Who’s dirty?”
“34, bro. Anzalone, bro,” Fields answered. “He be doing a little bit too much extra stuff for me, dog. I’m cool with the competitive, I’m cool with that. But all the extra stuff, like I’m cool with all that. Tackle me, boom. Alright, get up.”
Alex Anzalone Known to be Physical Force for Lions
Anzalone is a tone-setter on the Lions defense as one of their more physical players. The 2023 campaign is filled with examples of his hard-charging efforts, including when he decked Bears running back Khalil Herbert at the end of a run in their Week 14 rematch. His physicality is emblematic of the Lions’ identity under head coach Dan Campbell.
That said, Anzalone did have a few moments throughout the 2023 season where he took things too far. In the same Week 14 game against the Bears, he drew an unnecessary roughness penalty for a late shove on Darnell Mooney as he was going out of bounds.
Anzalone’s play resulted in a small scuffle between him and the Bears’ sideline, one that defused quickly. He also received a $10,927 fine from the NFL the following week.
Anzalone had other incidents aside from the one with Mooney, too. The NFL docked him $13,922 in Week 3 for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Atlanta rookie Bijan Robinson and another $13,922 two weeks later for hitting Carolina rookie quarterback Bryce Young‘s helmet on a throw. The second one also drew him a roughing-the-passer call.
Does that make Anzalone a dirty player? Not necessarily. And it is also important to remember, as Amon-Ra pointed out, that Campbell demands that type of physicality.
“Dan in the meetings, he would show clips of teams we’re playing against and if the quarterback is one step still in bounds, he would be like, ‘Hit ’em. I want you guys to hit ’em, it’s legal,'” Amon-Ra said. “He wants you to tow the line. ‘If his foot is still in bounds and his other foot is about to touch out of bounds, hit him.’ Like, damn.”
Justin Fields Also Trolled Lions’ Jalen Reeves-Maybin
One other interesting tidbit that came out of Fields’ conversation with the St. Browns was his stance on trash talk. Admittedly, Fields does not trash talk frequently and usually only responds to an opposing player instead of starting the quarrel himself.
To explain how he talks trash, though, Fields referred back to a moment during the 2023 season when another Lions captain — linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin — was “talking crazy” to him in their Week 14 game and he felt compelled to crush his soul.
“Somebody on y’all’s team, he was a captain, No. 42, he was talking crazy the second time we played y’all,” Fields said. “He was a Pro Bowler, but I was like, ‘Bro, like, I don’t even know you, for real, but I see you got a ‘C’ on your chest, so you doing good on special teams.'”
Ouch.
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