 |
| James Harrison hits Mohamed Massaquoi in their game Sunday. |
The NFL recently said that it would be doubling down on their efforts to avoid helmet to helmet hits after some of the shots taken and concussions given this past Sunday October 17, 2010. The majority of players interviewed on the subject have said this is a bad rule change. That's where they're wrong. With all the controversy, questions and fears of what this may do to the game, one major issue has been lost.
THIS IS NOT A RULE CHANGE! The NFL is simply doubling down on their efforts to limit concussions, which has been a major theme with changes in the NFL lately, and is making the penalty for such hits more severe. If you don't know what change I'm talking about, well, maybe you should pay more attention.
 |
| DeSean Jackson is helped off the field in Sundays game. |
The NFL handed out $175,000 in fines this week to three different players. The media has said only one of these was "dirty". I'm going to tell you differently. The hit that warranted suspension was the hit by the New England Patriots' Brandon Merriweather on the Baltimore Ravens' Todd Heap. The hit I don't think was a dirty play was the hit by the Atlanta Falcons' Dunta Robinson on the Philadelphia Eagles' DeSean Jackson in their game this past Sunday. The two hits by the the Pittsburgh Steelers' James Harrison on the Cleveland Browns' Josh Cribbs and Mohamed Massaquoi are two individual cases.
Here are both hits in this video. The second hit is about as dirty as they come for me. Why? Well, when you watch the video, you can see Massaquoi catch the ball. While he does that, you can see Harrison line up for the hit and break for the receiver. It's what he does when he gets to Massaquoi that makes this such a dirty play. Rather than wrap him up or blow through him and leave him in a heap of pain on the field, Harrison decides to rise as he's hitting on top of flailing his arms. The importance of the arms to me is that he never intended to tackle. He intended to injure. If he wanted to tackle, he would have used his arms and at the very least kept him where he was. Harrison, instead, pushes his arms up after ramming his head into the defenseless Massaquoi.
 |
| Meriweather hits Todd Heap in their game Sunday. |
Some have suggested ways to change the game to fix the helmet to helmet problem. Some are saying that getting rid of facemasks or helmets altogether are the way to do it. Let me think about that. Um, NO! The helmets are there to protect the players. getting rid of them would cause MORE harm to them. The only way to change the game is to enforce the rules and make the players adjust their style of play.
Is it odd timing for this change? Yes. Is it purely reactionary? Yes. Do I agree with the timing? No, but I do agree with the further enforcement of the rule. Overall, I think this will be a good change for the NFL and all of football from the NFL down to 5 year olds kids playing. It will decrease the number of concussions in the league and overall health of the players later in life after football when the fans no longer care about them and all that's left of their career are memories. It will take time to get used to the new way. I give it about a week or two for these NFL players to adjust. Football has changed so much since the time when they started that to think they can't adjust to this simple change is ridiculous as is thinking that this will change the game as we know it and love it.
