The NFL has changed tackle football forever this year

[Rayman70]

We used to refer to it as the Murray rule when ball carriers weren't supposed to be lowering their helmet to initiate contact a few years ago.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...i-get-fined-for-the-helmet-rule-romo-can-pay/

yes...but that was outside of the tackle box...I was ok with that...but THIS new rule sure looks like and sounds like ANYONE lowereing their head anywhere on the field will be penalized...That eliminates the RB almost completely.

 

[glimmerman]

RB are taught to lower helmet coming through to get low and not get blown up by a LB or safety. Don’t come through with pads up.

 

[bud914]

The catch rule change is getting all the attention, but this next rule change will be more destructive to the NFL than the Blandino debacle.

Pssst. You're hearing this from me, someone who has argued the catch rule for months at a time!!!

Running backs and blockers and tackler can no longer lower their head to initiate contact. The NFL is changed forever if this is upheld. Tackle football might as well be flag football now. Get these clowns out of the NFL rule makers circle!

The NFL will be unwatchable as this goes forward, and Directv will feel the financial pain.

Very short sighted post IMO. Below is just a couple of many sad stories. I guess it's ok with you though?

Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett, who first announced in 2013 that doctors at UCLA had diagnosed him with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, opened up more about the effects of the disease in a recent interview with Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News.

"I'm fighting CTE," Dorsett told Machota on Saturday. "I have good days and I have bad days. The unfortunate thing sometimes is I have more bad than good. It is what it is. I'm trying to maintain and handle it."



BOZEMAN, Mont. — Former New York Giants linebacker and Montana State star Corey Widmer has declined his nomination to the Montana Football Hall of Fame, saying the sport “destroyed my life.”

Widmer said after numerous concussions he fears he suffers from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease. He has depression, memory problems, suffers from mood swings and seeks to isolate himself. Recently, he said, his thumb has started twitching.

 

[Rayman70]

He can lower his head as he’s going to the ground but not to fend off a tackler.

Why does this generation insist that the helmet is needed to play football ?

So why have helmets...HELL....just play flag football. Zeke cant be effective under this new rule...he wont be the same.

 

[CouchCoach]

The NCAA did it and it's worked fine.

Agree and while it does slow down the game while they determine targeting, it is reducing the number of fouls....they're learning

What about the ball carrier that has a style similar to Zeke's? You expect them to change after all this time? Its not realistic.

He, and others like him, will have to change or get penalties. The helmet was never intended to be used as a weapon.

What is surprising is that anyone is surprised by this rule. Have they not been paying attention to what could be the most damaging thing to the game since it's inception? The players turned down the settlement because they know the league knew more about concussions and the league has been trying to prevent their lawyers from getting closely guarded information. The NFL has to at least make it look like player safety is the number 1 priority and with what the NCAA instituted with success, they have 0 choice.

Some may be pissed at the rule and think that hurts the game and I disagree completely. And I'd bet every players' wife and family agrees with me.

 

[Diehardblues]

RB are taught to lower helmet coming through to get low and not get blown up by a LB or safety. Don’t come through with pads up.

And that’s a huge problem as coaches have taught to lead with their helmet which hasn’t always been the case.

 

[CATCH17]

Womens Soccer has concussions at a higher rate then Football players.


Turns out if you play sports you are at a high risk for a concussion. It's not a NFL problem. It's a sports problem.

 

[fansince80_dc]

going to become a serious game of speed, not physicality. It may look like the pro bowl over and over

 

[Rayman70]

Agree and while it does slow down the game while they determine targeting, it is reducing the number of fouls....they're learning
He, and other like him, will have to change or get penalties. The helmet was never intended to be used as a weapon.

What is surprising is that anyone is surprised by this rule. Have they not been paying attention to what could be the most damaging thing to the game since it's inception? The players turned down the settlement because they know the league knew more about concussions and the league has been trying to prevent their lawyers from getting closely guarded information. The NFL has to at least make it look like player safety is the number 1 priority and with what the NCAA instituted with success, they have 0 choice.

Some may be pissed at the rule and think that hurts the game and I disagree completely. And I'd bet every players' wife and family agrees with me.

Biting my tongue...the aggressiveness is being taken away from the sport...Maybe the wives agree...but they aint the ones on the field.

 

[Rayman70]

Womens Soccer has concussions at a higher rate then Football players.


Turns out if you play sports you are at a high risk for a concussion.

Isnt that fascinating? lol...Turns out more rules don't help...

 

[Rayman70]

going to become a serious game of speed, not physicality. It may look like the pro bowl over and over

Unwatchable games comin very soon possibly,depending how this new rule is enforced.

 

[Diehardblues]

Agree and while it does slow down the game while they determine targeting, it is reducing the number of fouls....they're learning
He, and other like him, will have to change or get penalties. The helmet was never intended to be used as a weapon.

What is surprising is that anyone is surprised by this rule. Have they not been paying attention to what could be the most damaging thing to the game since it's inception? The players turned down the settlement because they know the league knew more about concussions and the league has been trying to prevent their lawyers from getting closely guarded information. The NFL has to at least make it look like player safety is the number 1 priority and with what the NCAA instituted with success, they have 0 choice.

Some may be pissed at the rule and think that hurts the game and I disagree completely. And I'd bet every players' wife and family agrees with me.

Many of today’s generation aren’t old enough to appreciate how the game has evolved and the violence with the helmet isn’t necessary to play football.

 

[erod]

Frankly, they should just forget all this, and bring back 1995 hit rules.

There will ALWAYS be guys signing up for this league. There will be fewer among the well-to-do neighborhood kids. Kind of like what's happened to the military over the past 70 years.

It either is football, or it isn't. The softening of society and the political research surrounding the game is determined to kill it off.

It's up to the NFL. I, for one, won't be there if these kinds of rules apply.

Can you imagine a touchdown being called back because Zeke lowered his head to drive into the end zone? I'd get up and leave right then and there.

 

[Point-of-the-Star]

What's the over/under on the Cowboys getting skrewed by this "judgment" call twice as much as their opponents?

 

[Rayman70]

And that’s a huge problem as coaches have taught to lead with their helmet which hasn’t always been the case.

WRONG. Go grab some very old footage of the NFL and college...all the way back to the 40's....THEY ALWAYS USED THEIR HEADS...Jim Brown lead with his head...for CHRIST SAKES!!! Jim Friggin Brown and Walter Payton ran the same way!!! They would NOT be able to play under this rule...cant do it!!

 

[CouchCoach]

RB are taught to lower helmet coming through to get low and not get blown up by a LB or safety. Don’t come through with pads up.

glimm, unknown as to how they apply that because the horse collar rule is not applied around the los.

There is no way they're going to eliminate helmet to helmet contact but they can cut down on some of the obvious helmet hits and this will be scrutinized closely to see how it is applied. The first year the targeting rule was installed, it was not applied across the board and the NCAA got called on it by a parental advisory group that monitors the games to see if the players are being protected.

 

[Diehardblues]

going to become a serious game of speed, not physicality. It may look like the pro bowl over and over

That’s how the game used to be played . I certainly don’t see 300+ lb guys with guts hanging over their pants as progress . Lol

 

[Rayman70]

What's the over/under on the Cowboys getting skrewed by this "judgment" call twice as much as their opponents?

I'm ahead of you. You watch...its coming. Thus its the Zeke Rule.

 

[Rayman70]

Many of today’s generation aren’t old enough to appreciate how the game has evolved and the violence with the helmet isn’t necessary to play football.

YES IT IS NECESSARY. Its what makes the NFL special.

 

[Diehardblues]

WRONG. Go grab some very old footage of the NFL and college...all the way back to the 40's....THEY ALWAYS USED THEIR HEADS...Jim Brown lead with his head...for CHRIST SAKES!!! Jim Friggin Brown and Walter Payton ran the same way!!! They would NOT be able to play under this rule...cant do it!!

I certainly don’t recall the head to head contacts back then. Brown was so big for that era he probably didn’t need to use his head.