NFL expanding penalties for contact involving helmets
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What the Shmuck? Why has this story not been posted here yet?
So what are RB's supposed to do, run into the line backwards?
QB sneaks now illegal?
This season is gonna be an abortion.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- NFL owners passed an unexpected rule Tuesday that will expand penalties for contact involving helmets, one that is more significant and far-reaching than the NCAA's targeting rule.
Under the change, a player will be penalized 15 yards and potentially ejected any time he lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent. It will apply to tacklers, ball carriers and even linemen, and it will take the place of a previous rule that limited the penalty to contact with the crown of the helmet.
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NFL owners approve new catch, ejection rules
Owners on Tuesday unanimously approved a new catch rule and authorized senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron to eject players from games for egregious non-football acts.
The NCAA's targeting rule penalizes players only when they hit opponents who are in a defenseless position. It calls for mandatory ejections, but the NFL's competition committee has not yet addressed how ejections would be adjudicated, according to chairman Rich McKay. There is little doubt, however, that the NFL is determined to aggressively address a 2017 season that included 291 concussions, its highest total on record, and a severe spine injury to Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier on a play that would fall under the new rule.
"It just seems that players at every level are getting more comfortable playing with their helmets as a weapon rather than a protective device," McKay said. "Therefore, we need a rule that is broad and puts that in context, and that's what we think this does."
Players, coaches and fans were left guessing on how the rule will impact the game. NFL Players Association president Eric Winston took to Twitter to share his thoughts.
According to NFL research, nearly one out of every two helmet-to-helmet hits caused a concussion in 2017. That's up from a ratio of one out of every three in 2015. NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills said in February that the current concussion data had sparked a "call to action," and on Tuesday he said this rule would be a key part of reducing head injuries in 2018.
"We spoke previously this year of having an all-time high of concussions," Sills said. "And we said that wasn't acceptable, and that we would respond to this, and this was part of the response. This is a very key component of the injury-reduction strategy on how we can reduce concussions immediately."
The hit on which Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, bottom, suffered a severe spinal injury would fall under the new rule passed Tuesday. Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The competition committee initially planned to make lowering the helmet a 2018 point of emphasis rather than a rule change, McKay said. But after a leaguewide discussion Tuesday, owners instructed McKay to convert it to language that could be added to the rule book immediately. The league called a late-afternoon news conference and acknowledged that some parts of the rule still must be fleshed out.
At the top of the list is how to merge a long-standing league ethos against two issues: wide-ranging ejections of players; and using replay to review what are considered subjective calls by officials. McKay said the league is trying to effect a change in "behavior" and thus likely needs the weight of an ejection to communicate its sincerity. And given the potential impact on a game, a replay review is almost certain to be necessary to ensure proper enforcement.
"If you put replay behind [officials]," McKay said, "then I think that you do have the opportunity to feel more comfortable in ejecting them. But in this rule, we just need to do a little work to understand a little bit more how the mechanisms will work. But I think we do feel comfortable that if there is an ejection that replay would probably play a part of it."
The NFL will spend the next two months further developing the rule and likely will alter it to address replay and ejections at its May 21-23 meetings in Atlanta.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...contact-helmet -
So, Shazier walking yet?
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There's no cold like a cold Dutch Oven cold...
"When you have a shared vision it is a lot easier to make unpopular decisions." - Paul DePodesta "When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less." - Paul Brown Complete 2017 Browns Board Mock: http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46196 -
They have to do this. I started a thread, What Is The Future Of Football. They have to do this. (even if they didn't really want to)
They have to do this.
No... not this. It does not solve the problem. It only confuses things.
Stinky's examples are illustrative, if not, rational. Truth is that after one series the entire OL for the first team on Offense and DL for the first team on D will be ejected if the rule is taken literally and strictly enforced. After a punt then the opposite OL/DL combo can begin to be whittled down.
Defenseless, Heads up and Helmet to Helmet were the way to go with the addition of mandatory ejections subject to video review... a/k/a the NCAA way.
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when the stars of the game, take butts out of your seats, you own it NFL owners..Guess who collects these fines on these Players?
..Sorry Stink,Mike Tomlin is a major player in this safety committee..I'd be damm, as a former TE, that your normal brain reaction to taking a hit from a Safety is to curl your body extriminity in.(head included).Not letting someone bobble-head your head from straight up to ear holes in the back yoak of your jersey ..with crown or facemask🥷..Owners/League with Players Union members in room will finalize these changes behind close doors with no media..Let's hope for better clarity..
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Next they are talking about completely eliminating the kickoff....which I call BS on.
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Next they are talking about completely eliminating the kickoff....which I call BS on.
Next they are talking about completely eliminating the kickoff....which I call BS on.
I think they know that they are tinkering with some of the fundamental parts of American tackle football.
But I also think that they do not want to deal with the long term costs of concussions financial and "other". Is this starting to resemble soccer? You wonder where NCAA or high school football will go with this next.
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Next they are talking about completely eliminating the kickoff....which I call BS on.
I think they know that they are tinkering with some of the fundamental parts of American tackle football.
But I also think that they do not want to deal with the long term costs of concussions financial and "other". Is this starting to resemble soccer? You wonder where NCAA or high school football will go with this next.
I think they know that they are tinkering with some of the fundamental parts of American tackle football.
But I also think that they want to deal with the long term costs of concussions financial and "other". Is this starting to resemble soccer? You wonder where NCAA or high school football will go with this next.
Fuyuck Soccer.
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I think they know that they are tinkering with some of the fundamental parts of American tackle football.
But I also think that they want to deal with the long term costs of concussions financial and "other". Is this starting to resemble soccer? You wonder where NCAA or high school football will go with this next.
Fuyuck Soccer.
Fuyuck Soccer.
I remember talking to a high school football coach many years back and he said he was just starting to lose occasional players to futbol back then it was DBs and those kind of positions. I wonder what it is now? Same with good athletes choosing baseball or basketball over tackle football.
.......oh I started flag and later tackle football with full uniforms in the 5th grade, single bar facemask, hmmmm.
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