Darrell “Housh” Doucette is working through the five stages of flag-football grief. If one of those stages is delusion.
He knows that, with the sport heading to the Olympics in 2028, the best football players in the world will be kicking the best flag-football players to the curb.
That hasn’t stopped the current quarterback of the U.S. men’s team from popping off. After recently saying it’s “disrespectful” for NFL players to horn in on the chase for a gold medal, Douchette actually said that he’s a better option to quarterback the U.S. team than Patrick Mahomes.
“At the end of the day,” Doucette told TMZ.com, “I feel like I’m better than Patrick Mahomes because of my IQ of the game.”
After the interview, Doucette sent a text message aimed at taking some of the “idiot” out of his idiotic remarks.
“I’m not saying I’m a better player overall but until he steps on a 5v5 flag field, I’m going to feel that way until it’s proven otherwise,” Doucette said. “I’m a competitor and need to be proven wrong.”
That’s fine. But we don’t need to see Mahomes play flag football. All we need to do is watch some flag football. Here are the highlights of the U.S. versus Italy in 2022.
With all due respect, those aren’t NFL players. Some of the guys look out of shape, frankly.
And while Doucette, who will be 39 by the time the next Olympics happen, seems to be fast and shifty, he’s not being chased by NFL-caliber defensive backs.
Sorry, Housh and any other flag football players. If NFL players want in, you’ll be out.
At this point, the only hope for the current crop of flag-only players is that owners will revolt against the prospect of having their best players injured while pursuing Olympic glory that adds nothing to the primary teams’ effort to win a Super Bowl. Although the league is “working . . . actively” on making it happen, as few as nine owners could scrap it, if/when it’s put up for a vote.