NFL Adopts New Safety Rules

[Joemailman]

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=531011

I wonder how much limiting the kickoff blocking wedge to 2 players will hurt the effectiveness of kickoff return units.

[Gunakor]

What were they concerned with regarding their change to onside kicks? I don't recall any injuries resulting specifically from the kicking team having more than 5 players bunched together in an attempt to recover the kick...

[red]

whats the deal with banning the wedge?

how did guys get hurt from that?

[Joemailman]

Maybe from guys diving into the wedge trying to break it up? I don't know, but that would be my guess.

[Bossman641]

whats the deal with banning the wedge?

how did guys get hurt from that?

The wedge is one of the most violent collisions in all of sports. I've seen a couple articles about it. When you have 250 pound players running straight towards one another with the goal to hit the other as hard as possible from 60 yards away there is a lot of force.

Wedge busters are insane.

[Gunakor]

They enacted the Tom Brady rule this year too, where a defensive player if falling/driven to the ground must now get up before he can attempt to make a tackle. You gotta be kidding me. If you are lying on the ground and the ball carrier runs right past you, you cannot attempt to make the tackle or you'll be flagged. I hope I'm understanding this rule wrong, because the way it sounds to me is absolutely ridiculous.

[MadtownPacker]

The brady one does suck. First he was allowed to fumble in the snow and now people cant even tackle him?

[cpk1994]

They enacted the Tom Brady rule this year too, where a defensive player if falling/driven to the ground must now get up before he can attempt to make a tackle. You gotta be kidding me. If you are lying on the ground and the ball carrier runs right past you, you cannot attempt to make the tackle or you'll be flagged. I hope I'm understanding this rule wrong, because the way it sounds to me is absolutely ridiculous.You are reading the rule wrong. You can't lunge into Quarterbacks like what happened to Tom Brady. Basically its an adustment keeping devenisve players from the QB's knees after they've hit the ground.

[Gunakor]

They enacted the Tom Brady rule this year too, where a defensive player if falling/driven to the ground must now get up before he can attempt to make a tackle. You gotta be kidding me. If you are lying on the ground and the ball carrier runs right past you, you cannot attempt to make the tackle or you'll be flagged. I hope I'm understanding this rule wrong, because the way it sounds to me is absolutely ridiculous.You are reading the rule wrong. You can't lunge into Quarterbacks like what happened to Tom Brady. Basically its an adustment keeping devenisve players from the QB's knees after they've hit the ground.

Right. You can't make a tackle when on the ground. You have to get up first. I'm listening to it being explained right now, and the guys on ESPN to a man are all blasting this rule change because it takes away from the fundamentals of the game on defense. How can you expect a guy to get up off the ground to tackle the QB if he's standing upright right next to him? Tackle the QB, even if that means going for his knees. He's a football player too.

So now it's just QB's. That makes it even worse IMO. You are treating players of one position differently than players at another on a JUDICIAL level. That's absurd! Rules are rules, and should be the same for everyone. If you won't protect a runningback from being taken out at the knees while running through the line, why should you protect the QB from being taken out at the knees while scrambling out of the pocket?

[cpk1994]

They enacted the Tom Brady rule this year too, where a defensive player if falling/driven to the ground must now get up before he can attempt to make a tackle. You gotta be kidding me. If you are lying on the ground and the ball carrier runs right past you, you cannot attempt to make the tackle or you'll be flagged. I hope I'm understanding this rule wrong, because the way it sounds to me is absolutely ridiculous.You are reading the rule wrong. You can't lunge into Quarterbacks like what happened to Tom Brady. Basically its an adustment keeping devenisve players from the QB's knees after they've hit the ground.

Right. You can't make a tackle when on the ground. You have to get up first. I'm listening to it being explained right now, and the guys on ESPN to a man are all blasting this rule change because it takes away from the fundamentals of the game on defense. How can you expect a guy to get up off the ground to tackle the QB if he's standing upright right next to him? Tackle the QB, even if that means going for his knees. He's a football player too.

So now it's just QB's. That makes it even worse IMO. You are treating players of one position differently than players at another on a JUDICIAL level. That's absurd! Rules are rules, and should be the same for everyone. If you won't protect a runningback from being taken out at the knees while running through the line, why should you protect the QB from being taken out at the knees while scrambling out of the pocket?Becuase the NFL regards the QB as the most important players in the league. They are the one position not easily replaced. You very rarely see a Cassell situation.

[Gunakor]

They enacted the Tom Brady rule this year too, where a defensive player if falling/driven to the ground must now get up before he can attempt to make a tackle. You gotta be kidding me. If you are lying on the ground and the ball carrier runs right past you, you cannot attempt to make the tackle or you'll be flagged. I hope I'm understanding this rule wrong, because the way it sounds to me is absolutely ridiculous.You are reading the rule wrong. You can't lunge into Quarterbacks like what happened to Tom Brady. Basically its an adustment keeping devenisve players from the QB's knees after they've hit the ground.

Right. You can't make a tackle when on the ground. You have to get up first. I'm listening to it being explained right now, and the guys on ESPN to a man are all blasting this rule change because it takes away from the fundamentals of the game on defense. How can you expect a guy to get up off the ground to tackle the QB if he's standing upright right next to him? Tackle the QB, even if that means going for his knees. He's a football player too.

So now it's just QB's. That makes it even worse IMO. You are treating players of one position differently than players at another on a JUDICIAL level. That's absurd! Rules are rules, and should be the same for everyone. If you won't protect a runningback from being taken out at the knees while running through the line, why should you protect the QB from being taken out at the knees while scrambling out of the pocket?Becuase the NFL regards the QB as the most important players in the league. They are the one position not easily replaced. You very rarely see a Cassell situation.

Boo freakin hoo. Doesn't matter in the least IMO. When a player gets injured, regardless of position, it hurts the team. If you are going to protect the QB you need to protect everyone, and if you protect everyone than you've destroyed the game. Let them play. And when they get hurt you go to the next guy. Sometimes you get unlucky and get hit with many injuries, as has happened a couple times here recently. But thems the breaks. This is football. It is not a contact sport, it is a violent collision sport. Injuries happen, which is why depth is so important. You got a star QB, great, now go get him a pretty good backup because odds are he's gonna get hurt at some point. That's football. Or at least it was.

FFS why don't they just put a giant pillowtop comforter over the damn field in case one of these guys actually DOES get tackled.

[cpk1994]

They enacted the Tom Brady rule this year too, where a defensive player if falling/driven to the ground must now get up before he can attempt to make a tackle. You gotta be kidding me. If you are lying on the ground and the ball carrier runs right past you, you cannot attempt to make the tackle or you'll be flagged. I hope I'm understanding this rule wrong, because the way it sounds to me is absolutely ridiculous.You are reading the rule wrong. You can't lunge into Quarterbacks like what happened to Tom Brady. Basically its an adustment keeping devenisve players from the QB's knees after they've hit the ground.

Right. You can't make a tackle when on the ground. You have to get up first. I'm listening to it being explained right now, and the guys on ESPN to a man are all blasting this rule change because it takes away from the fundamentals of the game on defense. How can you expect a guy to get up off the ground to tackle the QB if he's standing upright right next to him? Tackle the QB, even if that means going for his knees. He's a football player too.

So now it's just QB's. That makes it even worse IMO. You are treating players of one position differently than players at another on a JUDICIAL level. That's absurd! Rules are rules, and should be the same for everyone. If you won't protect a runningback from being taken out at the knees while running through the line, why should you protect the QB from being taken out at the knees while scrambling out of the pocket?Becuase the NFL regards the QB as the most important players in the league. They are the one position not easily replaced. You very rarely see a Cassell situation.

Boo freakin hoo. Doesn't matter in the least IMO. When a player gets injured, regardless of position, it hurts the team. If you are going to protect the QB you need to protect everyone, and if you protect everyone than you've destroyed the game. Let them play. And when they get hurt you go to the next guy. Sometimes you get unlucky and get hit with many injuries, as has happened a couple times here recently. But thems the breaks. This is football. It is not a contact sport, it is a violent collision sport. Injuries happen, which is why depth is so important. You got a star QB, great, now go get him a pretty good backup because odds are he's gonna get hurt at some point. That's football. Or at least it was.

FFS why don't they just put a giant pillowtop comforter over the damn field in case one of these guys actually DOES get tackled.I'm not saying I agree with the NFL. I'm just pointing out the NFL's MO when it comes to QB's. Quarterbacks are the stars and big names of this league. THe NFL treats them as such.

[gbgary]

They enacted the Tom Brady rule this year too, where a defensive player if falling/driven to the ground must now get up before he can attempt to make a tackle. You gotta be kidding me. If you are lying on the ground and the ball carrier runs right past you, you cannot attempt to make the tackle or you'll be flagged. I hope I'm understanding this rule wrong, because the way it sounds to me is absolutely ridiculous.You are reading the rule wrong. You can't lunge into Quarterbacks like what happened to Tom Brady. Basically its an adustment keeping devenisve players from the QB's knees after they've hit the ground.

we took out randal cunningham this way one year. who was it...bryce paup?

[texaspackerbacker]

If they must have a crap rule like this at all, it should be limited to when the QB is in the pocket.

[channtheman]

This rule is just absolutely absurd. They are working really hard to make football lamer every year. Like someone said it isn't just a contact sport it is a vicious contact sport. The players know they can get hurt and shit happens. UGH! This is actually very frustrating.

[Guiness]

I know, I know! Let's bring back the 'in the grasp' rule.

When I was a kid, I thought it was the 'in the grass' rule, and had no idea what they were doing smoking up during the game :P

[Tarlam!]

The owners view their QB's as the key to a play off run, even the SB. Frankly, the quality of the majority of back ups helps their case.

Also, they want to protect all those zillions of dollars that are tied up in that position. If you remember, there was a ton in the press about how to better protect QBs last season.

[SkinBasket]

I can see why they're changing this rule. Say what you want about the QB being another football player in a contact sport, but no other player on the field is so limited in space while having to be so entirely focused on what is happening dozens of yards down the field instead of immediately around them. So you can say that you're putting the D player at a huge disadvantage with the rule change, but you can also say that the nature of the rules of the game put the QB at a disadvantage as well when it comes to protecting themselves.

I for one think the rule change may actually create more interesting match-ups in the trenches if the defensive players know they can't simply get flattened, roll over to the QB and grab him. They're going to have to use better technique and keep their feet, making the battle between OL and DL more interesting than a bunch of fat bodies falling on each other.

On the other hand, I hope they also call OL holding more as a trade-off. I would like to see the end of guys getting away with wrapping up the defender and "falling" on top of them. If the rushers are going to be expected to clean up their game, it's only fair that some curb be put on the rampant holding going on in the league.

[Noodle]

So why is it that Skin is the only guy on this thread with enough sense to understand there's more to it than the "hey, it's a collision sport" mentality. I can't do better than Skin in explaining why this rule makes sense, so I'll just say a-men.


The game already has special rules for players who are in especially vulnerable positions and can't protect themselves, like roughing the kicker, and it's still plenty violent.

Are people here such in-bred mouth-breathing morons that they really think that this rule change is going to take hitting out of the game?

[KYPack]

Whoa, Noodle. Go gettum, pal. Didn't think you'd get hot about that point.

I don't know if these kick changes will change much. They won't all 4 guys to get shoulder to shoulder and form the wedge. As some have said, wedge busting gets guys hurt. Will only having 2 in the wedge really reduce all these injuries? I really don't know.

You will still have a two man wedge, so most teams will send 2 guys to bust the wedge. There will still be a buster and a chaser on Kick cover involved. The buster isn't gonna get hurt because there are less guys doing it? Why?

It's still a crazy guy running his ass off down field and plowing into his opposite number. That's a dangerous play that nobody wants to do, except for your wackiest rookie LB or safety, a young guy trying to get an NFL paycheck. I don't see less exposure for these guys unless there are other modifications to the rule they haven't released yet.

[Gunakor]

So why is it that Skin is the only guy on this thread with enough sense to understand there's more to it than the "hey, it's a collision sport" mentality. I can't do better than Skin in explaining why this rule makes sense, so I'll just say a-men.


The game already has special rules for players who are in especially vulnerable positions and can't protect themselves, like roughing the kicker, and it's still plenty violent.

Are people here such in-bred mouth-breathing morons that they really think that this rule change is going to take hitting out of the game?

I'm all about defense. Defense is what makes this game great, not high powered offenses led by QB's who have no fear of getting sacked because the DL isn't allowed to touch them anymore. I don't care what argument people make that this is a good idea, it's just another rule change that favors the offense and takes away from the INSTINCTIVE play of the defense.

Who cares if you've been blocked to the ground, if you see the QB and he's within reach, you lunge for him and bring him to the ground as well. That's what you do. That's what you're taught to do from pee-wee's all the way to the pro's. Now, instead of playing all the way to the whistle like you've been taught to do for years and years, once you are blocked to the ground the play is essentially over for you. If you do what you've been taught to do - get after the QB regardless - you'll be flagged. And all because Tom Brady got injured.

FFS, if it were a QB like Dan Orlovsky that took that hit and were injured for the year, does anyone think this rule change would have been made?

[cpk1994]

So why is it that Skin is the only guy on this thread with enough sense to understand there's more to it than the "hey, it's a collision sport" mentality. I can't do better than Skin in explaining why this rule makes sense, so I'll just say a-men.


The game already has special rules for players who are in especially vulnerable positions and can't protect themselves, like roughing the kicker, and it's still plenty violent.

Are people here such in-bred mouth-breathing morons that they really think that this rule change is going to take hitting out of the game?

Exactly. Roughhing the Passer hasn't made the game less violent. Neither will this rule change. This just eliminates the cheap shots.

[Gunakor]

So why is it that Skin is the only guy on this thread with enough sense to understand there's more to it than the "hey, it's a collision sport" mentality. I can't do better than Skin in explaining why this rule makes sense, so I'll just say a-men.


The game already has special rules for players who are in especially vulnerable positions and can't protect themselves, like roughing the kicker, and it's still plenty violent.

Are people here such in-bred mouth-breathing morons that they really think that this rule change is going to take hitting out of the game?

Exactly. Roughhing the Passer hasn't made the game less violent. Neither will this rule change. This just eliminates the cheap shots.\

I wouldn't call them cheap shots though. The hit that knocked Brady out for the year last year wasn't a cheap shot. It was a guy trying to make a play. It was unfortunate how it ended, but for crying out loud, he did exactly what he'd been taught to do. Get to the quarterback. I've never viewed hits like that as cheap shots.