Could the new "Helmet Rule" ruin football?

[Alphadawg7]

18 hours ago, LittleJoeCartwright said:

 

Yeah, if you watch a rugby match, they aren't wearing helmets and tackle without using their heads.   The game is different though as you don't have a safety or linebacker coming at full speed from several yards behind the line.  Still, the NFL players just have to adjust.

 

I think, while helmets and shoulder pads have provided more protection, they have also provided weapons.  A defender without a helmet isn't likely to use his head to tackle.  

 

So I just bought the rights to build my own professional Rugby team as an expansion team in the US first professional Rugby league that just played its first season!  My team will come into the league in 2020 in Las Vegas.  Ive become addicted to Rugby, once you know the rules its such an amazing sport.  Was at the World Cup in San Francisco last weekend and it was epic!  Its amazing that despite full speed and full contact with no pads, that they are way down on the concussion list, not even in the top 15 sports of most concussions.  

 

Couple of reasons for that:

1. They grow up NOT using their head as a weapon as its unprotected and learn how to properly tackle.  Concussions in Rugby are almost always from incidental contact or ground impact and occur at a fraction of the rate of the NFL.
2. There are no set downs, Rugby play rarely stops and for this there isnt a reason to contest every yard like in the NFL.  In fact, Rugby is the only sport in the world where you can only advance the ball through backwards passing.  You can also kick it forward, but referencing most ball movement is a lateral or backwards pass, another reason why every yard isnt contested like in football.  

I highly recommend those you enjoy football to take a little time and learn Rugby rules.  Its non stop action where the clock is always running like soccer, yet plays with all the violence and excitement of football.  Once you understand the rules, the sport is addicting.  And if you want to watch the new professional league, Major League Rugby (MLR), it doesn't compete with the NFL.  Season 2 begins the week before the Super Bowl this year and plays essentially once the NFL ends.  So its not a choose type scenario, as it doesn't compete with NFL or College football.  Games air on CBS Sports and stream online at ESPN+ and ATT.

 

PS:  Anyone interested in getting a cool look at the excitement of Rugby and has Amazon Prime, go watch the "All or Nothing" series on the New Zealand All Blacks that just came out.  Its awesome...All or Nothing has been all NFL football up to this point, but they put out 2 special editions...All Blacks Rugby and Michigan College Football this year.  The New Zealand All Blacks are the winningest sports team of any sport in the history of the world, and its a great watch.  

 

PPS:  If anyone wants tickets to an MLR Game in 2019, you can private message me and I will arrange for you to get some free tickets.  Confirmed teams in the 2019 season:  Seattle (Defending Champs), Glendale CO, New York, Houston, Austin, San Diego, New Orleans, Utah.  Potential additions in 2019:  Los Angeles, Ontario.  Potential additions 2020: Las Vegas (ME!), Boston, Washington DC, Dallas (confirmed).  

Edited July 30, 2018 by Alphadawg7

[CountDorkula]

its going to be a bigger problem than most think:

http://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-helmet-rule-change-causes-confusion-frustration-eagles/1j1tgfby43jkx1kir0xf6958mj

 

In a presentation this week, NFL referees visited the Eagles to educate them on the new helmet rule. But even the referees themselves ended up confused, ESPN reported.

 

In an effort to highlight the rule — in which a player can be penalized 15 yards and be potentially fined or ejected for lowering his head against when initiating or making contact with an opponent  — videos were shown to players in the hour-long meeting. Those videos were supposed to clarify what would now be considered illegal hits but for some players, the hits looked like routine tackles.

[Soda Popinski]

I don't think so, i think they just have to be smart in the interpretation of the rule, if a player lowers his shoulders and hits with his pads, the head is going to come down there is no way for it not to.  Like a RB bracing for impact he is going to drop his pads.   That still should not be a penalty.  

 

It's the guys that tackle with their helmets like Shazier did that just cannot fly anymore.   You cannot lead with the helmet, and guys who cannot get that through their heads should definitely be flagged for it.   

[first_and_ten]

19 hours ago, #34fan said:

 

-Or, make it mostly unwatchable?  See the details on it here.

 

I'm all for player safety, but at some point you have to accept that "full contact" means exactly that.  What's next? -Tying hands?

 

 

 

next will be flags

[CountDorkula]

1 minute ago, Soda Popinski said:

I don't think so, i think they just have to be smart in the interpretation of the rule, if a player lowers his shoulders and hits with his pads, the head is going to come down there is no way for it not to.  Like a RB bracing for impact he is going to drop his pads.   That still should not be a penalty.  

 

It's the guys that tackle with their helmets like Shazier did that just cannot fly anymore.   You cannot lead with the helmet, and guys who cannot get that through their heads should definitely be flagged for it.   

See post above:

 

"videos were shown to players in the hour-long meeting. Those videos were supposed to clarify what would now be considered illegal hits but for some players, the hits looked like routine tackles."

[mrags]

19 hours ago, #34fan said:

 

-Or, make it mostly unwatchable?  See the details on it here.

 

I'm all for player safety, but at some point you have to accept that "full contact" means exactly that.  What's next? -Tying hands?

 

 

Football has already been ruined. It’s only a matter of time before they are playing flag football 

Edited July 30, 2018 by mrags

[Mrbojanglezs]

Rugby players don't wear helmets and tackle properly.

[row_33]

5 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

I thought the forward pass was supposed to ruin football...

 

making the NFL roughly 95% about the forward pass during the Brady Era has taken a lot of enjoyment out of it....

 

[Foxx]

stupid thread.

[CountDorkula]

2 hours ago, Foxx said:

stupid thread.

Is it?

 

Or is it concern that Chris Ivory breaks up the middle lowers his shoulder to fight for extra yards and gets a 15 yard flag nullifying the first down and pushing the Bills out of field goal range.

 

Player and refs a like have no idea what is or is not a penalty.

[Foxx]

28 minutes ago, CountDorkula said:

Is it?

 

Or is it concern that Chris Ivory breaks up the middle lowers his shoulder to fight for extra yards and gets a 15 yard flag nullifying the first down and pushing the Bills out of field goal range.

 

Player and refs a like have no idea what is or is not a penalty.

have you read the thread? so far, it is, yes. 

 

i don't dispute that the topic is a legitimate concern but the OP's contention and doubling down on lowering your head to protect your eyes, not to mention your vital organs, is, well.... stupid. 

 

you don't spear someone because you are dressed to kill, you just don't and that is what the league is saying.

[That's No Moon]

I think this could significantly change if not ruin the game because it gives the officials yet another way to hand out yards and first downs, or nullify them, on essentially every snap of the game.

 

College football refs get it right sometimes and get it very very wrong other times. NFL refs are no better. More judgment calls made in real time by people who are unable to seE a replay or who are out of position to make the initial call in the first place will lead to errors.  It's going to become that a big hit is a penalty whether it's head contact or not. That is basically where college is now, particularly in the secondary. They have the benefit of replay and they STILL get it wrong.

 

Teams would be very smart to attack the intermwdiate and deep middle of the field with large bodied players. It is almost impossible to guard the way the rules have evolved. Opi is basically legal, dpi is called very close, defensive holding is an automatic first down, you already couldnt hit a "defenseless" player and now you really can't attack the receiver at all. Get someone shaped like Gronk and throw it there. All you can do is try to knock the pass away.

[Max Fischer]

New rule could lead to a much better product on the field. For whatever reason, football tackling technique is generally atrocious.  Players seem to practice the right way and then get stupid on the field by trying to be a human missile, laying the hardest hit that makes the highlight real. I'd rather see smart, sound, safe tackling. 

[Mr. WEO]

5 hours ago, row_33 said:

 

making the NFL roughly 95% about the forward pass during the Brady Era has taken a lot of enjoyment out of it....

 

 

 

I'm assume  that's sarcasm, because you obviously know that's not true.

 

Just looking at last year, no team had more than 65% pass plays vs runs.  25 years ago it was 62% max. 

 

[Gigs]

On 7/29/2018 at 6:06 PM, Foxx said:

tackling with your head is about as unnatural a thing as there is. the only reason it is a thing now is because these helmets today protect your head. if there wasn't the helmet/shoulder pad combo equipment to protect the compression of your neck/spine, there is no way in hell these idiots would ever try it.  proper tackling includes putting your shoulder into your opponent and wrapping them up to take them to the ground.

Are you sure? Because I always lower my head parallel to the ground when I’m about to rear end someone. It’s the only natural way!

[Radar]

I think the concussion factor will eventually see football die as we know it.

[Avisan]

12 hours ago, #34fan said:

 

The crown of your head is the hardest part of your cranium. -Even if you don't know that, your body does... Muscles, and fluid-filled discs in the neck are there to absorb the impact... Unfortunately, they're not made of titanium, so there's only so much shock they can absorb without damage.

 

I am 100% all-in for safer football... What I am not for, is a 15 yard flag coming out every time a RB lowers his head to grind for a 1st down.

 

 

This is 100% wrong.  Fully 100%.

 

The head is designed to take minor impacts on the front... and that's about it.  The back, tops, and sides of the head have much weaker protection than the front.  Beyond that, the muscles and fluid-filled disks aren't designed to take that impact, they are simply the anatomy the body has available to do so and get pressed into service.

[#34fan]

13 hours ago, blacklabel said:

I think the confusion around the new rule is what's going to be detrimental to the game. I've seen a number of reports stating that teams are very unclear on how the rule will be imposed and how coaches can teach players how to adjust with the new rule in mind. And I think it's going to be difficult for officials to get right during games. Plays happen so fast, we see it all the time, a penalty is called but after seeing the replay, it's clear that it wasn't a penalty and the official had a bad angle to view it from and made a bad call. I can see that happening a lot here. A ball-carrier hits the seam and gets hit by a linebacker who drops his head past the ball-carrier's right hip and drives his shoulder into his midsection for a typical form tackle. The official on the right side sees that the helmet avoided contact but the official on the left side just sees a player who dropped his helmet to make a tackle, so does he throw a flag because he's uncertain if the helmet was involved or not? And then the zebras convene for a 3-hour conference (seems like it, anyway) to try and get the call right and still get it wrong. I think early on it's going to be rough and they're going to get it wrong quite a bit. As the season goes on, the hope would be that they get better at recognizing it and don't need to hold up the game with their little meetings and whatnot. It works both ways too, an offensive player can't drop their helmet and drive into another player, but, as someone already pointed out, when a ball-carrier has defenders closing in on him, what's he going to do? He's going to (usually) wrap both arms around the ball and get low, and there's going to be incidental contact with his helmet. That's the thing with this rule. How can they define when it's just part of the play or when it's intentional? That's why this rule sucks and that's why it's not going to go well, at least early on.

 

11 hours ago, CountDorkula said:

its going to be a bigger problem than most think:

http://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-helmet-rule-change-causes-confusion-frustration-eagles/1j1tgfby43jkx1kir0xf6958mj

 

In a presentation this week, NFL referees visited the Eagles to educate them on the new helmet rule. But even the referees themselves ended up confused, ESPN reported.

 

In an effort to highlight the rule — in which a player can be penalized 15 yards and be potentially fined or ejected for lowering his head against when initiating or making contact with an opponent  — videos were shown to players in the hour-long meeting. Those videos were supposed to clarify what would now be considered illegal hits but for some players, the hits looked like routine tackles.

 

Officials have zero clue how they're going to enforce this rule... It's the perfect segway to the kind of ticky-tack B.S. calls that ruin good games...

 

8 hours ago, Foxx said:

 

 the OP's contention and doubling down on lowering your head to protect your eyes, not to mention your vital organs, is, well.... stupid. 

 

Misquoting because you're too lazy, or ignorant to read a thread. -Now that's stupid.

 

44 minutes ago, Avisan said:

This is 100% wrong.  Fully 100%. 

 

Really?

 

Because you basically agreed with everything I said 

 

44 minutes ago, Avisan said:

the muscles and fluid-filled disks aren't designed to take that impact,

 

It's exactly what they're designed to do!  -Absorb impact, and protect the nerves.

 

8 hours ago, Foxx said:

you don't spear someone because you are dressed to kill, you just don't and that is what the league is saying.

 

Spearing?  -I'm not calling you nuts, but you're clearly having a conversation that the rest of us aren't.

[Avisan]

1 minute ago, #34fan said:

Really?

 

Because you basically agreed with everything I said 

 

 

It's exactly what they're designed to do!  -Absorb impact, and protect the nerves.

 

 

Spearing?  -I'm not calling you nuts, but you're clearly having a conversation that the rest of us aren't.

...

 

Explain to me which part of the human anatomy you think the "crown of the head" describes

 

There's also a major difference between "structured to absorb impact and protect the nerves" and "designed to take the impact of a high-speed, high-mass head collision"

[QuoteTheRaven83]

Ask Shazier what he thinks of this rule. Most overrated LB in the NFL before his injury. If he learned how to tackle the correct way, he would still be playing right now and this isn't the first time he's tried tackling like this. I've seen multiple times where he's avoided serious injury before it finally caught up with him. 

Edited July 31, 2018 by QuoteTheRaven83