Playoff football is winding down, with just four teams remaining with Super Bowl dreams intact.

Wesley Britt is a former pro football player with the NFL’s New England Patriots.

As those players pound each other in the trenches, Wesley Britt won’t just hear the popping pads.

The former New England Patriots offensive lineman and Alabama Crimson Tide standout knows what those hits feel like. He’ll tell you that hitting is a part of the game – and that there’s no place for it outside the gridiron.

While the NFL grappled with the issue of domestic violence among its players over the past several months, Britt and two fellow Crimson Tide and NFL veterans took their own, very visible stand against it. They joined with YWCA Central Alabama to appear in a public service announcement focusing on the issue.

The short video, created in the spirit of the YWCA’s international “NoXcuses” anti-domestic violence campaign, can be seen on the World YWCA’s NoXcuses website. It features Britt, Antonio Langham and Chris Goode, president of the Birmingham chapter of the NFL Players Association’s Former Players organization. The chapter is also a partner in the video.

“After all of the coverage of the Ray Rice situation, we thought it was imperative that we make a public stand against domestic violence,” said Britt. “What better group than the YWCA to partner with? Their mission every day is to combat this issue and help the victims.”

In the video, the men recall their football playing days to send a powerful message: “hitting is a big part of what we know, but we leave it on the field. Football is a game; domestic violence isn’t. There are no excuses for domestic violence. No excuses!”

Britt played college football at the University of Alabama.

Britt hopes message impacts younger generation

Britt, an economic development representative with Alabama Power, said he enjoyed working with the YWCA, but he also learned a lot working on the project.

“Before teaming up with the YWCA, I was naïve,” Britt said. “I held a belief that this doesn’t happen that much, but it does happen quite often. Domestic violence is a lot more real than a lot of us want to believe.”

Britt hopes the message in the video will make an impact on younger generations. “There are a lot of young people in this state who look up to football players. We have a chance to reach them before they begin engaging in domestic violence. If our message reaches someone who might have a father figure who engages in domestic violence, then we have a chance to end that cycle.”