link
3 deal with blindside hits and those are fine, I’m more intrigued with this one:
(bolding mine)
Will this make for a more ‘open’ onside kicks (easier for the viewers to watch), or just make the onside kick percentage drop like a stone?
I would thing that this decreases the likelihood of success in onside kicks, which used to be among the most exciting plays in football–especially with the old formation.
A possible reason for this new bunch rule on onside kicks:
Did any players actually get hurt with “cluster formation” this year?
Given that such a formation has more than mild resemblance to the old flying wedge, I’m not shocked it would be eliminated.
I’m sad to see that wedges on kickoff returns are essentially broken up. It was rarely highlighted or noticed, watching the wedge do their work was one of the more interesting and brutal parts of the game.
The “no lunging while on the ground” rule is a horrible idea…so a quaterback now can scramble and run all around a player on the ground and he can’t tackle him? If the quaterback is leaving the pocket, a player on the ground has to watch him go by?
And the “no blindside hits to the neck or head” is going to be a nightmare to call…if the blocker hits the other player shoulder to shoulder and momentum makes their helmets contact, will the official throw a flag? What if the other player ducks, and ducks his helmet into the blocker’s shoulder? Too many judgment variables…
And both of these rules are being put in place to “protect players”…how many players have been injured bad enough to even miss a single game in the above manners? Tom Brady…and…who else? Watch Hines Ward’s block on Keith Rivers in slow motion…he hits him shoulder/forearm to shoulder/forearm first, and their helmets hit as he runs through the block…so this isn’t even a penalty under the new rule.
Carson Palmer, most recently.
I think the rule is stupid.
Actually Pereira was on Dan Patrick’s show, I believe, and specifically said that the rule would NOT have applied in Carson Palmer’s instance, because the defender was blocked down into the QB…he wasn’t already down, and then, making a 2nd move, lunging into the QB. The new rule has a section which states that a rushing defender, making contact with a QB below the knee as he is falling down from a block, is not committing a foul.
I think this rule is idiotic as well. I suppose now there’s even more incentive for pass blockers to just knock defenders down instead of blocking them, since that takes them out of the play even more than it previously did. What happened to Brady was unfortunate for his team, but wasn’t such a crisis for the game that the NFL needed to make “don’t hurt the star quarterback” a rule. :rolleyes:
I got that, but I didn’t see any difference between the Palmer hit and the Brady hit. The Chiefs safety who hit Brady was also blocked into him.
The hit on Palmer was, if anything, dirtier than the Brady hit.
If the rule re:hitting QBs below the knees while on the ground is called the Brady rule, because he was on the receiving end, shouldn’t the “don’t block defenders too hard” rule be called the Ravens rule, and not the ‘Hines Ward rule’? Basically the only people in the league crying about being blocked too hard are Ravens players, and now they have their rule.
Hines Ward is a cheapshot artist. I don’t think people complain because he blocks “too hard”, but that he “blocks” from the blindside away from the player, or after the play is over… and then the announcers sing his praises.
You’re a lowdown dirty Squeeler fan, aren’t you?
Link to videos of him doing any of the above? Blindside blocks and hits are part of football, and should not be outlawed…unless you think the blocker should obtain written permission from the defender before blocking him?
I have seen exactly 1 block from Hines Ward that was late, and it wasn’t egregiously late, the play was just ending, and he popped someone. It was a dirty hit. Most players in the league have been guilty of dirty hits. Not a single hit against any of the Ravens players was dirty, or late, or away from the play. The same Ravens players who jerk off when they talk about the time they blindsided Ben R. and knocked him out of the game and the same cowards who cry about a WR blocking them from the blindside…it’s pathetic.
Here’s a link to some of Ward’s blocks…only one of them is late, and I agree is wrong…the others are all in the flow of the play, against defenders actively chasing the ballcarrier, and should not be penalized or cried about.
only the 2nd block is late and dirty…but find me one other player in the NFL who has never hit another player as the whistle blew.
Of particular interest is the Bart Scott hit, since that’s the one that all the Raven’s fans love to cry about…Scott is 2 yards from the ball carrier, actively chasing him, and yet somehow blocking him is dirty and should be illegal? Should ward drop and chop his legs instead? What do the Ravens want, a little “hit zone” like the QBs have that you are allowed to block in? Basically, the BIG BAD Ravens defense wants to be able to run all over the field and hit people without ever having to worry about being blocked. Hell the hit on Scott was shoulder to shoulder, and wouldn’t be illegal under the new rule anyway.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=hines+ward+daven+holly&emb=0&aq=f#
0:26-0:39. The play is over - Hines Ward is facing the direction of the ball carrier and can see it’s over. He then looks at Daven Holly, who is clearly slowing down because the play is over, and begins to accelerate toward him, leading with his helmet at Holly’s neck. The play is clearly over, Holly is clearly slowing down and done with the play, you can’t hear it in the video but the refs blew the whistle before Ward even started charging at Holly, and Ward spears him in the neck anyway. He had a nasty concussion from that cheap shot.
Edit: Looks like you linked the same video as me. I just searched google videos for “Hines Ward Davin Holly” and ended up getting the same one. Was the Holly hit the one you agree was late? That’s the one that most pissed me off - that could’ve been a career ender for Holly if his neck was in a worse position. That’s the only one I could remember offhand and find video for, but it’s certainly not the only one I’ve seen him do.
I just noticed I said “blindside away from the player” when I meant to say “blindside away from the play” - as in, it’s a stretch run to the left, ward is off to the right, and when the cornerback away from the play turns and starts jogging towards the play (that he most likely won’t be involved with) Hines Ward will nail him in the back.
That hit on Reed was dirty. Hines clearly led with his helmet. The hit on Rivers was dirty…helmet again.
It literally made me ill watching that video as it was presented. “Who Dat” and “Hines Ward: Football Player First, Wide Receiver Second”.
What a crock. Yeah, the guy is a tough physical player, and yeah he’s valuable in the running game as a blocker (that block on Ferguson was a good one, for example), but ultimately the guy is a cheap shot artist.
Payback is going to be a bitch for that guy. I can’t wait until someone knocks that cherubic grin off his slimy face and makes him cry like he was in Korea.
God, I hate that guy with a passion.
Or like after he won the Super Bowl?
If the Reed hit is dirty, then Reed is just as guilty. THe players are FACING each other. They make contact up high…of course their heads are going to hit…some of you have never played football and have no idea what leading with the crown of your helmet means. And on the Rivers hit, he hits Rivers with his forearm/shoulder to Rivers’ forearm/shoulder, and then their helmets hit…the penalty as it used to be written was not to lead with the CROWN of the helmet…players are tought from PeeWee football that you lead with the helmet and put your facemask on the ball(not the crown of the helmet). When you are running, your upper body is engaged at an angle forward. Since your head is at the top of your upper body, it is obviously going to be farthest along. Are you proposing that anyone who is sprinting to block someone suddenly lean back, so that their helmet is now farther away than their upper body, and attempt to block in this manner? That is simply ludicrous.
When you are springing across a field to block someone, you are bend in a roughly 45 degree manner at the waist. When you contact someone, it only makes sense that the initial contact is with the shoulder/arm/helmet area. Dozens and dozens of hits like this occurr in every game. Very few of them are truly ‘helmet to helmet’…most are shoulder to shoulder, and any helmet contact is incidental as the players momentum carries them through each other. At any rate…with this new rule, officials will be tasked with judging if the blocker hit the defender with his helmet or arm in the defenders helmet or neck area as the initial point of contact. Are you all comfortable with NFL referees making that judgment call at full speed without the benefit of replay to confirm what body parts happened to contact first?
Also…we now have proof of 1 Hines Ward hit which was late. It was by the play, but late…surely, in the history of his “dirty” play, all his detractors can find more of his dirty, vicious hits to show us?
Online football highlights tend not to show star players making dirty plays, so it’s difficult to find video evidence. I was somewhat surprised that the egregiously dirty Daven Holly hit was included on that already linked highlight reel, since you’d think that’d be something shamefully buried rather than shown proudly.
Most of Ward’s dirty plays aren’t glaringly obvious potential career enders - mostly he’ll just take someone down from behind when they’re playing half speed when not really involved in the play, or a bit after the play is over.
FWIW, based on that video, I have no problem with the Rivers hit… the result was just unfortunate. The Ed Reed hit is probably okay, but the points of the previous post aside, he’s leaned foward enough that you could make a case it was spearing. He lowers his head right before the hit so it isn’t just leaning for speed. But it does look like he intends to hit the shoulder level more than the helmet. The Bart Scott hit looks okay, although it might look worse from better quality video or a different angle.