Change..
three points...
1. injury--it's already a violent sport
2. bad example for younger players--you can jsut change rules for younger players
3. bad hits give NFL a bad image--what about other sports? i.e. boxing, hockey, etc
NFL Rule Changes: Helmet-To-Helmet Hits Will Lead To Suspensions
Suspensions for NFL players who commit helmet-to-helmet hits on "defenseless" players are coming, beginning this Sunday, like it or not.
NFL football operations executive Ray Anderson told ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" earlier today that following a weekend of vicious hits to the head the league is going to act.
Here is the Meriweather hit.
The league is concerned not only about the hits, but about the attitude of defensive players who are cavalierly shrugging off fines. Former player Rodney Harrison, fined more than $200,000 in his career for excessive hits, exemplified that attitude. He got suspended once for a helmet-to-helmet hit in 2002.
NFL football operations executive Ray Anderson told ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" earlier today that following a weekend of vicious hits to the head the league is going to act.
"We are committed to safety at the highest level," he said. "We're not going to be apologetic, we're not going to be defensive about it."The league suffered a rash of helmet-to-helmet hits over the weekend. Brandon Meriweather of New England on Todd Heap of Baltimore, Dunta Robinson of Atlanta on DeSean Jackson of Philadelphia and James Harrison of Pittsburgh twice on Cleveland Browns players.
Here is the Meriweather hit.
The league is concerned not only about the hits, but about the attitude of defensive players who are cavalierly shrugging off fines. Former player Rodney Harrison, fined more than $200,000 in his career for excessive hits, exemplified that attitude. He got suspended once for a helmet-to-helmet hit in 2002.
"You didn’t get my attention when you fined me 5 grand, 10 grand, 15 grand," he said during the pregame broadcast for "Sunday Night Football." "You got my attention when I got suspended and I had to get away from my teammates and I disappointed my teammates from not being there. But you have to suspend these guys. These guys are making millions of dollars."Anderson told "Mike & Mike" that the league feels it must go further to get players to live within the rules.
"We've got to get the message to players that these devastating hits and head shots will be met with a very necessary higher standard of accountability," Anderson said. "We have to dispel the notion that you get one free pass in these egregious or flagrant shots."That likely won't sit well with all defensive players. That feeling has already been expressed by James Harrison, who defended his hits against the Browns.
"If I get fined for that, it’s going to be a travesty," Harrison said. "They didn’t call (a penalty) on that. There’s no way I could be fined for that. It was a good, clean, legit hit. … I didn’t hit that hard, to be honest with you. When you get a guy on the ground, it’s a perfect tackle."I would expect that games around the NFL this Sunday will be flag-fests. Anything that even looks like a hit to the head is going to draw a penalty. Like it or not.
http://newyork.sbnation.com/2010/10/19/1761129/nfl-rule-changes-helmet-to-helmet-hits-will-lead-to-suspensions#nfl-rule-changes-helmet-to-helmet-hits-will-lead-to-suspensions
Update: Roger Goodell Sends Memo To Teams About About Increased Discipline For Illegal Hits To Head And Neck Areas
Below is the verbatim memo sent out by Roger Goodell to all 32 NFL teams on Thursday:
TO NFL PLAYERS AND COACHES:
One of our highest priorities is player safety. We all know that football is a tough game that includes hard contact. But that carries with it an obligation to do all that we can to protect all players from unnecessary injury caused by dangerous techniques from those who play outside the rules.
The video shown today shows what kind of hits are against the rules, but also makes clear that you can play a hard, physical game within the rules.
Violations of the playing rules that unreasonably put the safety of another player in jeopardy have no place in the game, and that is especially true in the case of hits to the head and neck. Accordingly, from this point forward, you should be clear on the following points:
1. Players are expected to play within the rules. Those who do not will face increased discipline, including suspensions, starting with the first offense.
2. Coaches are expected to teach playing within the rules. Failure to do so will subject both the coach and the employing club to discipline.
3. Game officials have been directed to emphasize protecting players from illegal and dangerous hits, and particularly from hits to the head and neck. In appropriate cases, they have the authority to eject players from a game.
ROGER GOODELL
Commissioner
http://newyork.sbnation.com/2010/10/19/1761129/nfl-rule-changes-helmet-to-helmet-hits-will-lead-to-suspensions#nfl-rule-changes-helmet-to-helmet-hits-will-lead-to-suspensions
Here are examples of why people are for or against the new rule...
The truth: The helmet-to-helmet rule should have been instituted years and years ago. Only in recent years have we begun to learn the consequences of such violent, concussive hits on the long-term health of football players. Medical research now tells us that the deleterious effects of football concussions often show up two, three and four decades later in the form of dementia, deep depression and even ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
Never was that issue more poignant than in 2007 when former Ole Miss great Gene Hickerson was pushed in a wheelchair across the stage at Canton, Ohio, for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
There Hickerson was, receiving his sport's greatest honor at the age of 72, and he didn't appear to know where he was. He was suffering from a form of Alzheimer's his doctors believed was caused by the constant pounding he took and gave as a pulling guard for the Cleveland Browns. Hickerson died little more than a year later.
Research has shown that ex-football pros who suffered concussions are three times more likely than the general population to suffer dementia - or worse.
Further, he is the 14th former NFL player known to have been diagnosed with the incurable nerve disorder since 1960. That's a rate eight times higher than the rest of the adult male population.
"Breaks your heart," Perkins said. "Great guy, great player, two kids. ... "
And only 41. ...
Perkins, himself, suffered a helmet-to-helmet blow as a young player at Alabama.
"The other guy got up, I didn't," Perkins said. "They had to operate on me to remove a blood clot from my brain. They told me I'd never play football again."
He did, of course, helping Alabama to two national championships and the Baltimore Colts to one Super Bowl title. "Knock on wood," Perkins says, knocking on his head, "I haven't had any lasting effects."
Which brings us to another part of this issue. Only two players on those Bama national championship teams of the mid-1960s weighed more than 200 pounds. Now, even the running backs weigh more than that and there are even 250-pound quarterbacks who run 4.5 40s. You don't have to know too much about physics to know that faster, bigger players cause more violent collisions.
And while players have added so much muscle, become so much bigger and so much faster, ligaments, cartilage and brain matter are still made of the same fragile stuff.
Just Monday night, former Southern Miss linebacker Michael Boley blitzed through the Dallas Cowboys' line as if he were shot out of a cannon. He hit Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo with a perfectly legal shoulder-to-chest blow that sent Romo to the turf with such force he suffered a broken clavicle and is out for the season. There's nothing that can be done about that. That's football. But there is much that can be done about head-to-head blows. Finally, the NFL has. Guilty players will face fines and suspensions. Last week, the first week the rules were in effect, there were no flags for helmet-to-helmet hits. That is progress.
Perkins, who now helps coach a junior high team in Hattiesburg, put it this way: "You teach kids to slide your head to the side before impact and to use your shoulder for the contact, and then wrap your arms around the ball carrier. That's a form tackle. Nobody, at any level, is taught to lead with his head."
Football is always going to be a dangerous sport, but there's no reason to make it more dangerous than it has to be.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20101028/COL0504/10280329/NFL-rule-on-helmet-hits-long-overdue
Here are examples of why people are for or against the new rule...
NFL rule on helmet hits long overdue
Pet peeve of the day: Fans, TV announcers and even former pro football players who look at the new rules penalizing flagrant, helmet-to-helmet hits and say something really asinine such as, "They are ruining the game we love. Football is by nature a violent sport. Nobody says you have to play. Let them play football."
The truth: The helmet-to-helmet rule should have been instituted years and years ago. Only in recent years have we begun to learn the consequences of such violent, concussive hits on the long-term health of football players. Medical research now tells us that the deleterious effects of football concussions often show up two, three and four decades later in the form of dementia, deep depression and even ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
Never was that issue more poignant than in 2007 when former Ole Miss great Gene Hickerson was pushed in a wheelchair across the stage at Canton, Ohio, for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
There Hickerson was, receiving his sport's greatest honor at the age of 72, and he didn't appear to know where he was. He was suffering from a form of Alzheimer's his doctors believed was caused by the constant pounding he took and gave as a pulling guard for the Cleveland Browns. Hickerson died little more than a year later.
Research has shown that ex-football pros who suffered concussions are three times more likely than the general population to suffer dementia - or worse.
Startling numbers
Ray Perkins, the former football star and coach from Petal, knows all too well of "worse" situations. He coached former Alabama star fullback Kevin Turner, who went on to play nine years in the NFL. Turner was a blocking fullback, one of those battering ram-types who led with his head. Just last week, Perkins went to Birmingham to play in a golf tournament to raise money for both Turner and ALS research. Turner, who is only 41, has been diagnosed with ALS.Further, he is the 14th former NFL player known to have been diagnosed with the incurable nerve disorder since 1960. That's a rate eight times higher than the rest of the adult male population.
"Breaks your heart," Perkins said. "Great guy, great player, two kids. ... "
And only 41. ...
Perkins, himself, suffered a helmet-to-helmet blow as a young player at Alabama.
"The other guy got up, I didn't," Perkins said. "They had to operate on me to remove a blood clot from my brain. They told me I'd never play football again."
He did, of course, helping Alabama to two national championships and the Baltimore Colts to one Super Bowl title. "Knock on wood," Perkins says, knocking on his head, "I haven't had any lasting effects."
Which brings us to another part of this issue. Only two players on those Bama national championship teams of the mid-1960s weighed more than 200 pounds. Now, even the running backs weigh more than that and there are even 250-pound quarterbacks who run 4.5 40s. You don't have to know too much about physics to know that faster, bigger players cause more violent collisions.
And while players have added so much muscle, become so much bigger and so much faster, ligaments, cartilage and brain matter are still made of the same fragile stuff.
Just Monday night, former Southern Miss linebacker Michael Boley blitzed through the Dallas Cowboys' line as if he were shot out of a cannon. He hit Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo with a perfectly legal shoulder-to-chest blow that sent Romo to the turf with such force he suffered a broken clavicle and is out for the season. There's nothing that can be done about that. That's football. But there is much that can be done about head-to-head blows. Finally, the NFL has. Guilty players will face fines and suspensions. Last week, the first week the rules were in effect, there were no flags for helmet-to-helmet hits. That is progress.
There's a right way
Here's the deal: Nowhere, at any level of football, are football players taught to tackle with their helmets. It's as dangerous for the tacklers as it is for the guys being tackled. That's how spinal injuries - such as Chucky Mullins' - happen.Perkins, who now helps coach a junior high team in Hattiesburg, put it this way: "You teach kids to slide your head to the side before impact and to use your shoulder for the contact, and then wrap your arms around the ball carrier. That's a form tackle. Nobody, at any level, is taught to lead with his head."
Football is always going to be a dangerous sport, but there's no reason to make it more dangerous than it has to be.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20101028/COL0504/10280329/NFL-rule-on-helmet-hits-long-overdue
NFL’s helmet-hit rule misguided
As an attorney, I am shocked by the discussions regarding hard hits in football. In the law, there is a concept called “Assumption of Risk.” Anyone who is a football player, no matter the level, assumes the risk they may become injured due to the nature of the sport. On the professional level, obviously, the players make a conscious decision to play in the NFL for millions of dollars. Therefore, they assume the risk they may be injured on any given day.
From an athlete’s point of view, they are taught to play hard and play to win, which is contrary to political correctness that implies you cannot hurt a competitor on the field of play. That is absolutely ridiculous.
Please don’t get me wrong, if the injury caused by a player is blatant and obvious and in violation of the existing traditional standards, it should be addressed. However, the fact that someone may be injured as a result of a helmet to helmet collision, which is unintentional in the nature of an attempt to make a play, it should not result in a fine or suspension of the defensive or offensive player who committed the contact. To do so would totally change the nature of the game as well as years of coaching teaching players to be aggressive in an aggressive sport.
In conclusion, hopefully the NFL administrative leadership should not yield to the politically correct outcry that players should be penalized or suspended as a result of being coached to be aggressive on the field of competition.
Steven R. Heuberger
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20101112/discuss/711139944/
From an athlete’s point of view, they are taught to play hard and play to win, which is contrary to political correctness that implies you cannot hurt a competitor on the field of play. That is absolutely ridiculous.
In conclusion, hopefully the NFL administrative leadership should not yield to the politically correct outcry that players should be penalized or suspended as a result of being coached to be aggressive on the field of competition.
Steven R. Heuberger
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20101112/discuss/711139944/
This is great topic. I understand the NFL wanting to protect its player, but it's their career. They are going to have to take risk of getting injured because that's part of the game. Just as it's a risk of soldiers getting shot for their job.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, however make sure you post both sides, although i agree with the statement above, i also disagree, it is their job but they have a right to safety as the hits that are being called are malicious, and yes its a soldiers job to fight, but on the inverse side we dont send them on blatantly suicidal missions either, great job so far!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with James. It's a difficult topic to go with. But you have great supporting details!
ReplyDelete