Anyone else sick of the talk of all the terrible hits? Instead of altering the rule book (i.e. adding more rules to a game with way too many, already), how about just throwing out (unsportsmanlike conduct) the players who break the rules on the books, already. Throw the offenders out; fine them and suspend them. But, don't add another rule. Pitiful.
True, what is bad is there are already rules in place, they just are not called all the time. If you risk getting suspended a game check or 2 then you will lead with your shoulder.
goodel needs to put his panty's in his pocket and realize that this is the NFL not a powder-puff league,this is a multi-billion dollar industry where they get paid to stop the threat by using thier bodies. This is a contact sport if you cant handle folks getting hurt then you are in the wrong business. I'm the same as most of ya'll I dont want to see any player hurt but we all love seeing those hard hits like my boy harrison put on cribbs its what these guys get paid for. hell we all know this is a rule designed to protect offensive players but i wonder if they will enforce this policy against offensive players who lower thier helmets on defensive players>?
I am SICK and tired of it. Specifically I am sick and tired of people talking about how the defensive players are hitting "too" hard and too violently. My lord, you have two people running 15+mph and hit each other with the intent to destroy and you expect one of them to slow down at the last second and make a perfect form tackle? What we have in the NFL is a bunch of grown men that were taught since Peewee football to tackle with the front of their facemask on the middle of the ball carriers chest or facemask. We also have nasty guys who play football who make it into the NFL...duh. That is why they are playing at that level to begin with, because they are nasty and love to destory things they hit. Do you think a bunch of the DB's, LB's and safeties are just going to start letting WR's run around wide open without any consequences? NO. So guess what, maybe the offense should start running different plays so their receivers do not get knocked out. That would be the natural progression. But no, the league wants to protect the offensive players. I cannot stand it. Then the league just stands around and watches offensive linemen chop block defensive players in the knees and do not do anything about it. For me, the offensive showboats get what they deserve, punished.
What a joke! It's freaking football. Nobody is holding a gun to these guys heads and making them play. They know what they are signing on for. Hell they've known for 20 years. This sounds like a letter pee wee kids would take home to their parents after practice. Please talk to your kids about hitting too violent. Just grab little johnny and wrestle him to the ground. I think Godell feels like he has to do something. He doesn't want to be mayor of shark city.
i wish i could talk about this but i'd prob get fined!!!!!!!!!!! thank goodness most folks understand! Preach on Shadow!!!!
Jeff, Having been paralyzed from the neck down for 15 minutes when someone DOVE into a pile and ht me directly on the top of the head, I don't see a problem at all....... Learned I had spinal stenosis (same type that put Nick Buoniconti's son Marc in a wheelchair). FWIW, I set a school record for tackles the following week and then missed 6 wks. with nerve compression in my Left shoulder, that to this day I still have burning and tingling occasionally from, and is the reason I shoot a bow RIGHT HANDED even though I'm actually a LEFTY..... My body would've never let me play football much past what I did, because as my dad used to say, I may be "made cheap," but at the same time, I've experienced the scary things that can happen on on of those "dangerous hits." The problem is, these guy ARE hitting guys trying to HURT them, and they rarely are doing good tackling. I agree that SOME of the hits are not dirty, but there are a LOT of dirty hits out there. The NFL is lacking very much in good tackling and good sportsmanship as far as I'm concerned. Late hits and after the play actions should be flagged more often as far as I'm concerned. The NFL doesn't look like the kind of football I remember growing up. It looks like a bunch of thugs and punks out there, many of whom are GREAT athletes, but don't play a good CLEAN game as it should be played. Brett, While I somewhat agree with what your saying, I DO believe they need to clean it up a bit. Remember, kids watch this stuff and try to emulate those pro athletes. Don't get me wrong, I liked to hit people so hard they'd not want to get anywhere near me again, and did sometimes, but I agree that when these guys are taking shots at guys heads or with their heads there is definitively a level of danger that could at some level be prevented. I once hit a kid so hard that I knocked him out COLD and he schit his pants, but that was a completely clean hit and I believe his head hitting the hard ground was what knocked him out. The problem is that if the NFL doesn't do something, then they'll be probed like a new prisoner by some lawyer when somebody gets seriously hurt on one of these hits that could be considered questionable, and at the same time, how happy would any of us be if our favorite player were hit on one of these dirty hits and paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life???? Or maybe even our own kid??? I know laying motionless on that field looking up at faces with sick expressions that night 20yrs ago was a VERY scary thing, not something I'd ever want to experience again, nor wish upon anyone else.
So Doug....I didn't discern where you stand on my post, from what you wrote. Are you for more rules? Or, do you wish they'd just enforce the rules they have on the books. Are you against the clean, hard hits? Or, are you just against the ones that are unsportsmanlike? There are rules in place RE: unsportsmanlike conduct.
Doug, unless the league reviews and outlaws chop blocking, then I do not think there should be any foul awarded to a defensive player for trying destruct an offensive player. I remember my first playoff game in college as a senior. I was just starting to come into my own after years of knee injuries. By the first quarter I already had 3-4 tackles until.....some WR came down and chop blocked me and tore my MCL. No foul was given because it is/was legal. Until the NFL changes the rule on chop blocking I could care less about some WR or anyone unless getting decapitated. BUT, I do understand your concerns about teaching kids the right way to play football. Play violently, but play clean. That can actually be achieved if kids are taught the right techniques, but as they say "crap happens" when sports are being played.
I don't really watch the NFL, but I'll add my 2 cents. It looks like they are adding new rules to protect their investments, ie the players. More importantly, the players most fans want to watch. The ones playing the skilled positions. They sell more tickets and get higher TV ratings when the offensive super stars are on the field. They appear to be concerned with head injuries. It seems there have been a lot of them this year. I don't think they are concerned with hard hits, as much as they are with direct hits to the head. I look at professional sports different from most fans. I look at it as a business, not as a sport. They want to protect their employees. I don't care either way as far as the rules, but I guess I understand why they are doing it. There is a reason I much prefer college sports.
Hey, we are trying to talk about sports here. Start a soap opera or who-has-the-fastest-car thread if you want to talk about nascar.
I don't get the outrage either. Are they not just fining players for leading with the crown of the helmet? If so, I have no qualms with that whatsoever. And any player complaining about that is just a blatant retard. The NFL is just looking out for the safety of it's players. Now if the NFL is fining for hard, form tackles, well then that's just absurd and needs to be ridiculed.
Jeff, I sort of cleared that up here.... I agree with ENFORCING the rules as they are, but am not opposed to something that potentially protects the hitter and the hittee.... Beyond that, it would be nice to see some good clean play rather than the crap that we regularly see on Sundays. No argument Brett, I thought chop and crackback blocks were "supposed" to be illegal. I played as legal as I could, broke a couple guys legs, broke a couple guys ribs, knocked a few guys out, etc, but I also paid a price in the end on a play that really was a good clean sack until the ball spurted out of the QB's hands as I was tackling him from behind, I was on top of him and a whole pile came in after the ball, someone (not sure if it was my own teammate or other team) hit me directly on top of the head diving in, and for 15minutes I got to wonder if I'd ever get laid again, drive again, wipe my own ass again, etc..... Not cool at all. I never played after my Jr. year in High school, as the Doc said I very easily could end up paralyzed the next time..... Again though, that's my body, and it's not completely normal, nor was Marc Buoniconti's or former OSU and New England Patriot's LB Andy Katzenmoyer, one is in a wheelchair, the other retired before he ended up in one. From what I see regularly in Football, the officials don't really have CONTROL of the games, and it would be more enjoyable to watch if the game were played more cleanly, and the officials had the game under better control. After play pushing and shoving, etc, should be flagged, it would keep those guys in line a bit better if they got tagged with 15yds every time they acted like an A$$hole. I think Goodel is taking a step in the right direction. Initially I was not so sure, but seeing James Harrison's attempt to decapitate Josh Cribbs and later Mohamed Massequioi, changed my thoughts a little. I haven't seen the Todd Heap hit, but supposedly it was pretty bad as well. I love the game, love the hard hits, but I also like 'em clean. These dirty shots are sort of like a boxer who repeatedly has "accidental headbutts," questionable. Found the Merriweather / Heap hit, yeah, it was dirty.....Dirty enough that Belicheck pulled him from the game, and the ball was obviously past him, an incomplete pass and a guy goes and hits a guy like that??? That's TRASH as far as I'm concerned, and he'll likely get his somewhere along the line for that. See around :40 into the video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb1CmHk9GK0
Doug: You and I see the NFL through the same lens. I wish they'd cut out all the "fringe", also. Problem is, we're in the minority. There are plenty of grown men and women who just love the antics and celebrations. I'd like to have shock collars on all of them and a big control panel on my lap.
why would I go and do that?? more fun to hijack this one... na, I agree that it can be pathetic, I'm also another who watches more college ball anymore... nfl players are getting completely pussed out now days... most of these primadonnas would have never made it back in the days when players actually hit each other...
