But some of these hits are not legal. You’re not allowed to spear or hit a defenseless receiver for starters. If necessary they can alter the rules on helmet to helmet hits. You don’t knock the ball out by hitting the guy in the head. A big hit can do that, but so can punching the ball out or putting your helmet on the ball.
It seems to me that often the defender puts his head down to put his helmet on the ball, and the receiver puts his head down while bracing himself for the hit, and they end up with helmet to helmet contact that neither intended. And it all happens in a split second.
I don’t disagree at all about helmet to helmet hits or spearing. There was a call against Bengals safety Chinedum Ndkuwe for “hitting a defenseless receiver” in a recent game and it was a big TE, in the middle of the field with his back to the safety, Ndukwe drills him (no helmet, nothing illegal at all), the ball pops out and Ndukwe gets flagged. Its bullshit: that’s football.
That happens too. How do you penalize the defender in a case where there just isn’t enough time to alter the position of his body in relation to what the receiver just did?
I don’t think improvements in safety equipment are that decisive. Here’s some big hits from rugby and the NFL side by side. Although the NFL hits are harder they’re not that much harder. Personally I think it’s down to the NFL players being bigger and faster as a rule.
It is too brutal. There is no way out of it though. Almost nobody gets out of a pro career in tact. The endless concussions have resulted in players getting brain malfunctions regularly. They have knee and hip transplants at relatively young ages. They wind up scrambled and crippled. But most say they would do it again.
The Detroit game resulted in the QB getting a broken arm and another player getting carted off on a back brace.
IMO, if OSHA governed football like it does the workplace, there would be no NFL Football, or College Football, or even High School or PeeWee Football.
The lost time injuries are enormous.
I didn’t catch who said it but I just saw an interview with a player who said the fines mean nothing but a suspension was a different matter.
I believe that was Rodney Harrison, not unfamiliar with being suspended and fined for hits himself.
IMHO, I think it’s always been brutal. Remember, college football was banned in many places around 1900 after not just injuries but deaths.
What’s changed is in part muscles are getting bigger relative to bones, etc. so injuries are easier, but at least as importantly we’re learning how much brains are damaged by hard hits. I think that research is a big part of the current concern.
well, it sure is brutal, but i don’t think it’s TOO brutal or has gotten significantly MORE brutal. I can watch a good football lick, even helmet2helmet without cringing but i have problems watching MMA/Boxing where the guys are all bloodied and puffy.
One thing I also think is going on is there a lot more emphasis on creating turnovers these days, so what happens is while one guys is holding a guy up trying to tackle him annother guy comes in and tries to hit him as hard as possible. I beleive that is exactly what Harrison did to Joshua Cribbs.
Let’s not forget that what happens in the NLF filters down to college, high school and Pop Warner. So if the NFL is erring on the side of caution here it is because they know that if this continues as it is then mothers are not going to let thier sons play football.
The increasing brutalityis why they passed so many rules protecting QBs. They are too valuable to the franchise to lose them. But a few go down every year. I suppose the rest of the players are more expendable.
They passed those rules to heighten offensive play and scoring. They wanted star quarterbacks slinging it down the field making money for league. For that same reason they limited the defenders ability to guard the receivers.
Now they reap what they sow, big hits coming out of zone defenses because the rules make it almost impossible to cover man to man. Relatively safe running games reduced in importance and only used to keep the defense honest.
We will always have kickoffs and punt returns. They get a real head of stem up before they collide.
This is a fantastic point.
I think the difference is… in that Quentin Coryatt (Texas A&M) hit on that guy from TCU (1991 season, BTW), the receiver’s jaw was broken, and he was knocked out cold for several minutes.
The rugby hits are hard, I don’t doubt that, but they’re different. The players aren’t using their heads as weapons, and aiming for the other guy’s head. If they did, they’d end up concussed, brain damaged, or worse.
That’s the issue in today’s football- it isn’t so much the speed and athleticism, but rather that the helmets and facemasks allow for player to use their heads with a lot more abandon than previously. You just didn’t see players in the 1960s hitting head-first; the helmets likely weren’t as protective, and they knew it.
The NFL didn’t suspend anyone for the hits last week (I didn’t expect them to), but it handed out larger fines - $75K for James Harrison, and $50K each for Dunta Robinson, who concussed DeSean Jackson, and $50K for Brandon Meriweather, who really seemed to be aiming for Todd Heap’s head when he hit him Sunday. It looked like Heap’s mouthpiece flew about 15 feet on that play. The league also says it will stop selling posters of these kinds of hits.
“[James Harrison] 4/13/2009: Signed a six-year, $51.175 million contract. The deal contains $20 million guaranteed, including a $10 million signing bonus. 2009: $800,000 (+ $2.555 million roster bonus), 2010: $755,000 (+ $2.8 million reporting bonus), 2011: $3.66 million (+ $900,000 roster bonus), 2012: $5.315 million, 2013: $6.32 million, 2014: $7.325 million, 2015: Free Agent. Cap charge: $6.2 million (2009).” cite
“[Dunta Robinson] 3/5/2010: Signed a six-year, $57 million contract. The deal contains $25.5 million guaranteed, including a $7 million signing bonus. Robinson will also receive $5 million in option bonuses. 2010: $5 million, 2011: $5.5 million (+ $3 million roster bonus), 2012: $6 million, 2013: $7 million, 2014: $9 million, 2015: $9.5 million, 2016: Free Agent” cite
“[DeSean Jackson] 7/20/2008: Signed a four-year, $3.058 million contract. The deal included a $1.353 million signing bonus and a $391,000 roster bonus in the second year. 2010: $470,000 (+ $335,000 roster bonus), 2011: $555,000, 2012: Free Agent” cite
“[Brandon Meriweather] 7/27/2007: Signed a five-year, $8.75 million contract. The deal contains $6 million guaranteed, including a $500,000 signing bonus and a $3.72 million “option” bonus in the second year. Another $2.75 million is available through incentives, $1.025 million of which is likely to be earned. 2009: $460,000 (+ $150,000 workout bonus), 2010: $550,000 (+ $150,000 workout bonus), 2011: $650,000 (+ $150,000 workout bonus), 2012: Free Agent” cite
I don’t think anyone is going to notice their fine, except maybe Jackson.
the key is in the technique used to make a tackle… players are taught to use a Head’s Up approach, in which they can see the person they are tackling… this prevents axial loading in the spinal cord, and thus, paralysis…
anyone ducking their head to make a tackle is risking catastrophic injury
Harrison was fined 33% of his game check. If I fined you 33% of your gross pay this week, would you notice?
For context, if these guys were making, say, $75k per year (just to pick a random regular-joe salary out of the air) then the same relative fine for Harrison would be around $1500.
I gotta say, if I were making 75k and my company fined me $1500, I’d damn sure notice it that week.