NFL Outlaws Hits Using the Crown of the Helmet
Mates,
Overdue, but at least its the 'law' now in the NFL. They have officially outlawed using the crown of the helmet for any hit. Unlike college, it will not be an automatic ejection. Instead, it would be a 15 yd penalty and the officials could eject.
They cite the Ryan Shazier hit from the playoffs as one of the reasons. For those that might not remember, Shazier is a LB for the Steelers who went crown first into a tackle and at last report was trying to learn how to walk again....if ever.
Good idea. Hope it works well and keeps guys safe.
Link to whole article here: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/22935229/nfl-outlaws-hit-crown-helmet
XM
Now let's see if they can enforce it. Their refs seem to have the inability to make the most basic of calls even with replay.
Just cut the crown out and expose the bare head.
That will enforce it.
Amen, brother. I have long thought that when you put players in protective gear where they feel completely impervious to injury, they will act that way. This may sound crazy but, both hockey and football equipment manufacturers have done an incredible job in improving their equipment, so much so, that players in those sports now play so wreckless it becomes more dangerous than when they played with a plastic bowl on their head.
(into my 40's) and i have coached that way now for more than a decade. i think it got to be in the vogue, a tough guy or rogue way to hit, but i never thought so.
where?
he coaches football. An attorney, FBI double secret agent, a farmer, and a football coach? It just keeps getting better Melanin.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:58 AM ^
(dear NSA analyst, please don't forward this email to the FBI. thx, XM) they are too prim and proper, and most have not done real police work in terms of solving gang homicides which is, frankly, messy business. to use recruiting terms, you really need to be a bit gritty and blue collar, a real gym rat, to solve most of those types of cases. FBI folks were well trained, many of them lawyers, but few had ever had any dirt under their fingernails.
They have been working overtime to address that shortcoming....
March 27th, 2018 at 10:19 PM ^
targeting has been historically. If your head is down, it's a penalty. No searching for glancing helmet to helmet shots or whether the offensive guy lowered his head.
“We wanted to simplify and provide clarity,” Pittsburgh coach and longtime competition committee member Mike Tomlin said. “It was time to do so after we got caught up in language that didn’t do that. The language was obscure and confusing.”
No, I won't miss a catch having to be made only when the relative humidity was between 40% and 70% and only after you submit a written analysis of "Tartuffe" and relate it to the modern NFL and its leadership.
March 28th, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^
OK I get how the language is simpler. From the article:
"Team owners unanimously approved the new language Tuesday, with basically three elements defining a catch:
Seeing people unable to walk is so disheartening after a sever hit. I recall the Nebraska QB last year against OSU being down for a while... just sad. Hope Shazier walks again!
But a Running Back that uses the crown of his helmet as some sort of penetrating aide to gain more yards, that's righteous, expected, and cheered.
Automatic ejection is a joke.
but i also think some of those hits are way worse than others and, if properly administered, ejection should be an option for the egregious hits.
My understanding is that referees basically always have an option to eject if they feel it's an appropriate penalty. It just never happens.
and does not impact the cervical area with the dangerous loading that spearing does. if you take the face mask away, then ducking the head lower to protect the face is a very likely split second adjustment to contact. it happens real fast out there. real fast sometimes.
I was 110 pounds when I played football in HS. If I ever tried to tackle with my head, I would've crumpled into a ball of broken bones. I either hit the dude with my shoulder and wrapped up behind the knees, or I tripped up their ankles and held on for dear life.
And I still broke my wrist trying to arm tackle some dudes leg. I don't see why anybody would allow a kid to learn to make plays by leading with their head with their eyes looking at the ground.
on the issue of concussion, has taken so long to outlaw hits that lead to them. I guess I am wondering why headhunting, given the shortness of careers in which headhunting is a key factor, allow it to make a difference in how we perceive the game.
I mean everything about pro football is different than when it started. And everything about the game is more lethal and dangerous. It's like weaponry. More sophisticated, problematic and dangerous. And yet the answer is always about public relations not safety, as if safety gets in the way of a better show. Intimidation is usually the end game of illegal hits not misaligned contact.
March 27th, 2018 at 10:16 PM ^
March 27th, 2018 at 10:54 PM ^
circa 1910? CFB would have been abolished because of too many deaths.
Need protective gear
Need rulemaking/coaching and enforcement.
March 27th, 2018 at 11:53 PM ^
Based on what I have read on this rule change it seems to be much broader than what is being discussed in this thread. Per tweet from the NFL PR Departmnet:
Playing Rule Article 8: It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent. The player may be disqualified. Applies to any player anywhere on the field. The player may be disqualified.
From this description the crown has nothing to do with it. Also, it applies to any player on the field. So a lead fullback can be flagged if he lowers his head to block a LB. Personally I am fine with the intent but a little concerned about how it will be enforced. Specifically, determining that a player "lowers his head" seems to be a judgement call with a lot of potential grey area.
March 28th, 2018 at 11:29 AM ^
The first time I saw the defense using spearing EXCLUSIVELY as as a tactic to tackle was in a Michigan-Illinois game in the early 1990's. It was obvious that Illinois was teaching their kids to tackle leading with their heads down, trying to put the crown of the helmet on the football on every tackle. I didn't understand why it wasn't illegal.
By the way, Michigan had something like 12 fumbles that day, though they only lost a couple of them.
This is going to be hard to enforce, but something needs to be done. Incidental head-down tadckling will probably always happen. But the intentional leading with the head has to come to an end.
And said.... "nice move... how can we fuck that up for them? Oh, yeah, outlaw running backs from lowering their heads!"