NFL Devastating/Headshot Hits Rule Changes

[s0lefunk]

Originally Posted by Scott Frost


Take another sport for example.  Boxer is down on one knee and gets decked by his opponent.  You would say its boxing,  but anyone with common sense would tell you that's dirty and has no place in the sport.

  

Not exactly.  Late hits and cheap shots are dirty.  Its more so on the official to step in in time when a boxer is down.

But that does bring in the issue of accountability.  In boxing, the ref has the power and responsibility to stop action when necessary.  In football, its an issue of technique.  These launching hits are debatable.  But if a defensive player is leading with the shoulder but his target lowers his head and gets hurt, is that dirty?  Is forcing a fumble with a big hit when you are in great position excessive? 

With the way people are sounding, its a blessing that the OT rules changed because it really isn't fair for the defense.     

 

[s0lefunk]

Originally Posted by Scott Frost


Take another sport for example.  Boxer is down on one knee and gets decked by his opponent.  You would say its boxing,  but anyone with common sense would tell you that's dirty and has no place in the sport.

  

Not exactly.  Late hits and cheap shots are dirty.  Its more so on the official to step in in time when a boxer is down.

But that does bring in the issue of accountability.  In boxing, the ref has the power and responsibility to stop action when necessary.  In football, its an issue of technique.  These launching hits are debatable.  But if a defensive player is leading with the shoulder but his target lowers his head and gets hurt, is that dirty?  Is forcing a fumble with a big hit when you are in great position excessive? 

With the way people are sounding, its a blessing that the OT rules changed because it really isn't fair for the defense.     

 

[moneyisthemotive]

how about we start requiring players to wear pads first? or mouthpieces that strap to the helmet in a manner so as to not let you "forget" to put it in or mold it down to nothing ... i cant stand this ... the hit on desean jackson was legal and not over the top aside from it being a bones crushing hit ... james harrison is an animal and should be suspended if he continues to head hunt like he does ... merriweather was kind of half way trying to crush heap but heap turned into it and ... ... ... you see where this is going?

you can't horse collar, you can't "hit hard," you can't touch the quarterback, you can't touch a receiver etc ... between this and the refs just calling penalties out of their %%% lately the product is falling off on the field ... it has been for a few years now and the changes Goodell is putting in place aren't helping ... but yeah let's go to 18 game seasons ...

 

[doublejs07]

There are blatant helmet-to-helmet hits, and then there are hits that are COMPLETELY unavoidable due to the speed of the game. It's a fine line between what you deem unnecessary and accidental. One thing is for sure, with the way the players are bigger, stronger, and faster...the league needs to have the PROPER health-insurance in place (post-retirement) to help/protect guys who contributed to the NFL. And like my dude Toine said, the 18 game season proposal is insane. Look at the amount of injuries in the 16 game season....tack on an additional 2 games and you're going to have more injuries that could have been avoided if greed didn't precede the well-being of your own employees....

 

[mez 0ne]

Its dumb because helmet to helmet is sometimes unavoidable, especially if you're trying to hit someone as hard as you can (they way you are taught to play football).

They can't even define "devastating", how are you going to implement the rule?

 

[doublejs07]

There are blatant helmet-to-helmet hits, and then there are hits that are COMPLETELY unavoidable due to the speed of the game. It's a fine line between what you deem unnecessary and accidental. One thing is for sure, with the way the players are bigger, stronger, and faster...the league needs to have the PROPER health-insurance in place (post-retirement) to help/protect guys who contributed to the NFL. And like my dude Toine said, the 18 game season proposal is insane. Look at the amount of injuries in the 16 game season....tack on an additional 2 games and you're going to have more injuries that could have been avoided if greed didn't precede the well-being of your own employees....

 

[mez 0ne]

Its dumb because helmet to helmet is sometimes unavoidable, especially if you're trying to hit someone as hard as you can (they way you are taught to play football).

They can't even define "devastating", how are you going to implement the rule?

 

[informerx]

As long as the rules are out there to protect players from getting injured to the best of their ability within the game confines I'm all for it. Alot of retired NFL players retire at a young age (mid 30s) and have ALOT of medical issues from their football days and most people don't care to realize that......Yes, football is a rough contact sport but nobody wants to get hurt and no opponent wants to see you get hurt. Plain and simple. As far as stretching it to 18 games, it's a contradiction on the league but that's another topic. 16 games is more than enough to know if your team is ready for the playoffs.

 

[informerx]

As long as the rules are out there to protect players from getting injured to the best of their ability within the game confines I'm all for it. Alot of retired NFL players retire at a young age (mid 30s) and have ALOT of medical issues from their football days and most people don't care to realize that......Yes, football is a rough contact sport but nobody wants to get hurt and no opponent wants to see you get hurt. Plain and simple. As far as stretching it to 18 games, it's a contradiction on the league but that's another topic. 16 games is more than enough to know if your team is ready for the playoffs.

 

[fade on you]

A flag sure. Fine, im ok with that too. But anything other then that is just going to start turning this @$@# into baseball. Do i want to see someone get injured? No. But when it comes down to it, the majority of people like the hard hits and it gets them pumped.

 

[fade on you]

A flag sure. Fine, im ok with that too. But anything other then that is just going to start turning this @$@# into baseball. Do i want to see someone get injured? No. But when it comes down to it, the majority of people like the hard hits and it gets them pumped.

 

[dmxfury]

Lo of subjectivity which is tough, and like others said some helmet/helmet hits happen, some are blatant. Will intent be considered? Even worse, NFL after this weekend is admitting just how dangerous and violent the game is, yet will still push for 18 games when NO player and most of the fans don't want it

 

[dmxfury]

Lo of subjectivity which is tough, and like others said some helmet/helmet hits happen, some are blatant. Will intent be considered? Even worse, NFL after this weekend is admitting just how dangerous and violent the game is, yet will still push for 18 games when NO player and most of the fans don't want it

 

[extraordinary swag]

This is gonna be VERY difficult to implement and even harder to call correctly. I hope they will be taking time to watch a replay before they make the call of a helmet to helmet hit. How are they gonna catch EVERY hit, it's hard enough for the refs to pay attention to the ball carriers it's gonna be 10x worse tryna pay attention to blockers on special teams laying dudes out.

I'm all for the suspending players part though, fines don't do anything to discourage players from headhunting

 

[extraordinary swag]

This is gonna be VERY difficult to implement and even harder to call correctly. I hope they will be taking time to watch a replay before they make the call of a helmet to helmet hit. How are they gonna catch EVERY hit, it's hard enough for the refs to pay attention to the ball carriers it's gonna be 10x worse tryna pay attention to blockers on special teams laying dudes out.

I'm all for the suspending players part though, fines don't do anything to discourage players from headhunting

 

[airjordan jb23]

It should be a flag... No suspension. Its going to be a tough rule to call too.

 

[airjordan jb23]

It should be a flag... No suspension. Its going to be a tough rule to call too.

 

[air max 87]

Originally Posted by PO2345

Foolish rule. It's Football!

PO

leading with your helmet for the sole purpose of knocking someone out is NOT football, proper technique is football, shoulders down, knees bent, head up is proper.

Yall callin the NFL soft has no idea what you talkin about, granted the QB %$@@ is soft, this is needed, people arent gonna be happy till someone gets paralyzed on the field on national TV.

Mistakes happen, but when you LEAD with your helmet for the sole purpose of the big hit, that isnt needed.

Like i said before, the Robinson/Desean hit didnt look intentional, it looks like he was leading with his shoulder, it was just the speed and strength of the hit.

Merriweather was leading with his helmet point blank, if you dont see the difference then theres something wrong with you.

You understand how bad some of these hits are, remember a few years ago with Chad Clifton (i believe of the packers) was clipped when Warren Sapp (then with the bucs) took him out on a defensive return, Clifton was joggin and he wasnt even goin full speed and Sapp laid him out, the doctors said it equaled to being in a 60 - 70 MPH car crash.... take that into thought when both players are flying around.

 

[air max 87]

Originally Posted by PO2345

Foolish rule. It's Football!

PO

leading with your helmet for the sole purpose of knocking someone out is NOT football, proper technique is football, shoulders down, knees bent, head up is proper.

Yall callin the NFL soft has no idea what you talkin about, granted the QB %$@@ is soft, this is needed, people arent gonna be happy till someone gets paralyzed on the field on national TV.

Mistakes happen, but when you LEAD with your helmet for the sole purpose of the big hit, that isnt needed.

Like i said before, the Robinson/Desean hit didnt look intentional, it looks like he was leading with his shoulder, it was just the speed and strength of the hit.

Merriweather was leading with his helmet point blank, if you dont see the difference then theres something wrong with you.

You understand how bad some of these hits are, remember a few years ago with Chad Clifton (i believe of the packers) was clipped when Warren Sapp (then with the bucs) took him out on a defensive return, Clifton was joggin and he wasnt even goin full speed and Sapp laid him out, the doctors said it equaled to being in a 60 - 70 MPH car crash.... take that into thought when both players are flying around.

 

[DeadsetAce]

too much subjectivity with this rule. head shots, sure. helmet to helmet, sure. but devastating hits? too vague...

 

[DeadsetAce]

too much subjectivity with this rule. head shots, sure. helmet to helmet, sure. but devastating hits? too vague...

 

[doublejs07]

Originally Posted by air max 87

Originally Posted by PO2345

Foolish rule. It's Football!

PO

leading with your helmet for the sole purpose of knocking someone out is NOT football, proper technique is football, shoulders down, knees bent, head up is proper.

Yall callin the NFL soft has no idea what you talkin about, granted the QB %$@@ is soft, this is needed, people arent gonna be happy till someone gets paralyzed on the field on national TV.

Mistakes happen, but when you LEAD with your helmet for the sole purpose of the big hit, that isnt needed.

Like i said before, the Robinson/Desean hit didnt look intentional, it looks like he was leading with his shoulder, it was just the speed and strength of the hit.

Merriweather was leading with his helmet point blank, if you dont see the difference then theres something wrong with you.

You understand how bad some of these hits are, remember a few years ago with Chad Clifton (i believe of the packers) was clipped when Warren Sapp (then with the bucs) took him out on a defensive return, Clifton was joggin and he wasnt even goin full speed and Sapp laid him out, the doctors said it equaled to being in a 60 - 70 MPH car crash.... take that into thought when both players are flying around.

That was Clifton's fault tho for not paying attention....play was still going on, and Sapp was well within his rights to lay him out.  It's the nature of the game.  It's violent.  And as nasty as Sapp's hit was, there have been no rule changes made to protect defenseless players while the play is still going on (in comparison to protecting the QB or defensless WR's while the ball is in flight).  That says a lot.  I'm on board w. whatever the NFL does as far as BLATANT head shots....but if it's unavoidable or accidental, how do you punish that?  It's a slippery slope, and the NFL needs to be careful about how they go about this....As sad as it sounds, concussions happen.  Like I said before, it's a violent game.  You can take preventive measures to hopefully cut down on the number of head injuries, but you can't eliminate them all. 
  

 

[doublejs07]

Originally Posted by air max 87

Originally Posted by PO2345

Foolish rule. It's Football!

PO

leading with your helmet for the sole purpose of knocking someone out is NOT football, proper technique is football, shoulders down, knees bent, head up is proper.

Yall callin the NFL soft has no idea what you talkin about, granted the QB %$@@ is soft, this is needed, people arent gonna be happy till someone gets paralyzed on the field on national TV.

Mistakes happen, but when you LEAD with your helmet for the sole purpose of the big hit, that isnt needed.

Like i said before, the Robinson/Desean hit didnt look intentional, it looks like he was leading with his shoulder, it was just the speed and strength of the hit.

Merriweather was leading with his helmet point blank, if you dont see the difference then theres something wrong with you.

You understand how bad some of these hits are, remember a few years ago with Chad Clifton (i believe of the packers) was clipped when Warren Sapp (then with the bucs) took him out on a defensive return, Clifton was joggin and he wasnt even goin full speed and Sapp laid him out, the doctors said it equaled to being in a 60 - 70 MPH car crash.... take that into thought when both players are flying around.

That was Clifton's fault tho for not paying attention....play was still going on, and Sapp was well within his rights to lay him out.  It's the nature of the game.  It's violent.  And as nasty as Sapp's hit was, there have been no rule changes made to protect defenseless players while the play is still going on (in comparison to protecting the QB or defensless WR's while the ball is in flight).  That says a lot.  I'm on board w. whatever the NFL does as far as BLATANT head shots....but if it's unavoidable or accidental, how do you punish that?  It's a slippery slope, and the NFL needs to be careful about how they go about this....As sad as it sounds, concussions happen.  Like I said before, it's a violent game.  You can take preventive measures to hopefully cut down on the number of head injuries, but you can't eliminate them all. 
  

 

[Betonblck]

I'm done with football. Any hard hit, no matter the technique will now be a flag. The players should just all wear flags instead and play flag football.

A devastating hit means just hitting someone hard. Officials currently don't even make the right calls. Unless the player is leading with the CROWN of the helmet, it should not be a penalty, unless it is a late hit. (Or forearm, but everybody pretty much knows that you can't deliver a forearm shiver to someone's head)

 

[Betonblck]

I'm done with football. Any hard hit, no matter the technique will now be a flag. The players should just all wear flags instead and play flag football.

A devastating hit means just hitting someone hard. Officials currently don't even make the right calls. Unless the player is leading with the CROWN of the helmet, it should not be a penalty, unless it is a late hit. (Or forearm, but everybody pretty much knows that you can't deliver a forearm shiver to someone's head)