Danger Of New Rules
July 31st, 2018
Talks new tackling rule.
So this year may be a watershed season in the NFL.
New rules on lowering the head might not be more than a blip on the radar like targeting in college football.
Or it could be a total disaster and lead to playoff games being decided on nonsense, or push football towards the point of no return resembling flag football.
And this week is big for the Bucs as the NFL is sending officials to One Buc Palace to work with players. Today, they’ll offer a tutorial tape on the new ways to tackle.
Bucs coach Dirk Koetter doesn’t really know what to expect.
“We’ve already watched about a hundred videos on it with the team,” Koetter said. “It’s a huge part of it, and then on top of that we’ll have a full crew of officials here all [this] week. The officials on Tuesday will be going over the new-rules video with the team and then we’ll have five days to work with them. … Some of those [new] rules are still a little gray. … It’s a work in progress.
“I think it’s a great rule but it’s also a collision sport. Anything to try to help the players be safer is good and we’ll just have to see how they’re going to enforce it. You know, the ones that are shown on the video are obvious ones that anybody could see [and say], ‘Hey, we don’t want that.’ We want the players to keep their head up and see what they hit, and if they do that they should be okay.”
This new lowering-the-head rule is a pandora’s box to Joe. If it were reviewable, then Joe wouldn’t have much of a problem with it. But it is a judgment call. Depending who one talks to within the NFL, they seem to be interpreting the rule differently.
First, we couldn’t figure out what a catch is and now we won’t be able to figure out what a tackle is. Given how for years the catch rule was botched weekly, why should NFL fans much less teams believe the NFL can figure out what a tackle is?
Leave football alone! If folks are scared to hit or be hit, there is always exit-velocity/launch-angle baseball or beach volleyball to play!
Making safety a priority is a good thing. Fundamentally changing the game is quite another.
July 31st, 2018 at 5:39 am
Yep – more judgement calls are needed because the final outcome of NFL games are not yet quite susceptible enough to the whims of referees and/or “calls down to the field from New York”….
Pass interference, “holding” and “hitting too hard” alone were not enough judgement leeway for games to be manipulated without seeming obvious. A new subjective judgement call was needed that could be called on any play. Since helmets collide somewhere on the field on pretty much every single football play – and the subjective new rule could be touted as necessary for “player safety” – this was pretty much perfect.
Just in time for legalized gambling….
SMH
July 31st, 2018 at 5:51 am
I agree. I think players have to weigh the risks when tackling with their head down. It shouldn’t be a judgment call by the refs. The only time the refs ought to be involved is a spear above the shoulders (neck/head). Pete Carrol does a good job out in Seattle in teaching his players how to safely tackle…hope the Buccs follow a similar model in Tampa Bay.
July 31st, 2018 at 5:53 am
And the spearing penalty should be reviewable….as sometimes the offender ducks and it is accidental contact and/or the defender hits the shoulder/chest first before grazing the head/shoulder area so it appears to be an initial blow to the head because of how quickly the play develops.
July 31st, 2018 at 6:12 am
There are those who want to turn it into the mamby pamby get touched on the leg or knee sport other wise known as soccer. They want all the players to stay for cookies and milk (low fat of course)after the game. GO AWAY you delicate little do gooders and leave red blooded American football alone!
July 31st, 2018 at 6:15 am
Every play should be reviewable….If a coach want’s to use his challenges on a judgement call….so be it. Some judgement calls are blatantly wrong.
July 31st, 2018 at 6:17 am
I’m sure every one of us remembers playing sports with other kids in our neighborhoods using what we termed ‘Jungle Rules’. Didn’t have refs so we kept it simple, really simple. Seemingly tough, physical games (usually with no pads or helmets), but not once that I can remember was anyone carted off to the hospital. As I look back on those days (so long, long ago) the reason was because we tried hard NOT to hurt each other. For selfish purposes no doubt … ‘What goes around, comes around’ as the old saying goes.
BIG difference between those days and what we see in the NFL today. We were kids; many of these guys are HUGE. We were comparatively unskilled; these guys are masters at their craft. We were playing for ‘fun’; these guys are trying to make a living at this. Everyone got to play in the neighborhood games; only the very best get to play in the NFL. And unfortunately history has shown that there are those who do intentionally try to hurt ‘the other guy’ and knock him out of the game or cause him to think twice about coming into ‘your territory’.
As you wrote Joe … “Making safety a priority is a good thing. Fundamentally changing the game is quite another.” Playing by ‘Jungle Rules’ certainly isn’t adequate in today’s NFL; too many players would be hurt. If we the fans were the ones playing under rules like that, we’d be scared to death. And yet, as observers that’s precisely what so many fans want to see IMO … violent, ‘light em up’ collisions and BIG hits (preferably resulting in fumbles). Finding that balance between safety and maintaining the integrity of the game (aka, giving the fans what they want to see) must be a real ball-buster for the NFL. I don’t envy today’s players, coaches … or refs.
July 31st, 2018 at 6:46 am
Don’t think the tackling will be a big deal, not sure why guys have lowered their head anyways. Back in the early 90’s playing High School Football our coach always told us to keep your head up when tackling and tackle through the guy, imagine that lol. When you tackle with your head down is when bad things happen like severe neck injuries or worse. I’m all for making players safer and keeping the cheap shots out of the game too and not trying to make the highlight real.
The thing that intrigues me the most will be the new kick off rules and how they are supposed to line up now and which side of the ball will have the most advantage, looking foward to Pre-Season as I always do =).
July 31st, 2018 at 7:09 am
The only way to avoid injury is to take helmets out the game. After what happened to Shazier I knew the league would implement new rules.
July 31st, 2018 at 7:39 am
Pickskin I agree with you totally. With betting now legal in many places this allows them to manipulate games at the end to get “their desired” outcome. Less and less fans are going to watch especially if players continue to kneel.
July 31st, 2018 at 8:04 am
“Just in time for legalized gambling….”
Teams moving to Las Vegas…….Coincidence?! Hmmm!
“Leave football alone! If folks are scared to hit or be hit, there is always exit-velocity/launch-angle baseball or beach volleyball to play!”
I empathize with those who have been effected by their time engaging in this sport, I really do. However, players have a choice. The only “safe” way to play professional football is NOT to play. It’s a collision sport. There are going to be injuries.
Personally, I feel like this will be just a bump in the road, a feel-good rule for the NFL to say they’re doing something proactive. I cannot envision this rule permeating game-play on a weekly basis. I could be wrong, but I hope I’m not. It’s freakin’ football for crying out loud!!!!
July 31st, 2018 at 8:05 am
Evolving:
You are correct but tackling fundamentals have been trash in the NFL for years. Hardly anyone wraps up. Tacklers always trying to blow up a ball carrier instead.
July 31st, 2018 at 8:05 am
Yes!
July 31st, 2018 at 9:07 am
I agree with you Joe that this should be reviewable until the NFL finds a consistent answer as to what is or is not a penalty. The helmet should be for protection purposes only but for way too long players have been using it as part of their technique for running the ball, tackling, and in some cases darn close as a weapon (i.e. battering ram).
I also hate this nonsense when people say, “Just put flags on them” or “The game is getting watered down” or “This is more evidence of the sissification of America”. If you truly believe this you are not an intelligent person, at all.
July 31st, 2018 at 9:13 am
Speaking of new rules. Have the special teams been practicing the new kickoff rules? Thx Joe.
July 31st, 2018 at 9:16 am
dirk shave ya face, and demand that hargreaves does too…that funkadocious doo of his is causing him to loose a tenth of a second on his time for sure
July 31st, 2018 at 9:17 am
bring in tebow 😮
July 31st, 2018 at 9:18 am
ball out or gtfoh
July 31st, 2018 at 9:53 am
The new helmet rule is going to kill running games. If a RB cannot run with his head lowered, he’s not going to break as many tackles.
This is one of those rules they’ll wish they could remove mid season. They should only be testing it in preseason first.
July 31st, 2018 at 9:54 am
safety is important but the NFL is becoming a joke….
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!…#PRESSURESONTHECOACHES!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
July 31st, 2018 at 9:56 am
Joe Says
“You are correct but tackling fundamentals have been trash in the NFL for years. Hardly anyone wraps up. Tacklers always trying to blow up a ball carrier instead.”
You are so right, but to be honest, the fans kind of pushed it in that direction. For years, we loved the hard hits. John Lynch was very popular for them. So it’s was only a matter of time before players started losing focus on tackling.
July 31st, 2018 at 9:57 am
They know the risk. Don’t like it do not play. Go play flag or another sport.
July 31st, 2018 at 9:57 am
813bucboi Says
“safety is important but the NFL is becoming a joke…”
And no amount of complaining will change anything. The NFL does not give fans a voice. They are too concerned with the opinions of people who do not even like football.
July 31st, 2018 at 10:09 am
Booooooooooooooooooooooo!
July 31st, 2018 at 10:22 am
Buccaneer Bonzai,
pretty sure its the defender that can’t lower his head, not offensive players, i could be wrong but would make a lot more sense. I’ll have to find the exact wording on that rule.
July 31st, 2018 at 10:28 am
Nope i was wrong and stand corrected.
“Under the change, a player will be penalized 15 yards and potentially ejected any time he lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent. It will apply to tacklers, ball carriers and even linemen, and it will take the place of a previous rule that limited the penalty to contact with the crown of the helmet.”
July 31st, 2018 at 10:38 am
This might apply if the bucs ever make a tackle.
Watching the guy run buy and then score is still legal.
July 31st, 2018 at 10:56 am
It’s like they are trying to ruin the game.
Unreal
July 31st, 2018 at 11:22 am
I think this rule change sucks also. No more diving for extra yards when about to be tackled because you might hit a player in the leg with your helmet? Or is it just helmet hits to above the waist hits?
July 31st, 2018 at 11:52 am
This rule wouldn’t matter so much if the calls were going to be made evenly and fairly but we know some players will be focused on more than others from officials from the start. Some players will have a red target on their back before they even take the field. You just can’t reign in the amount of bias that will occur behind making that specific call. Don’t tell me officials don’t have some bias. This rule could potentially ruin the competitive spirit of the players because of the extremely high amount of mistakes made in interpreting the rule. There will be even some teams targeted more than others. The nightmare behind all that is when Goodell starts passing down punishment for multiple infractions, and some players could actually face suspension. This rule will have the most negative impact in my opinion.
July 31st, 2018 at 2:04 pm
D-Rome so nearly all the people in here feel like the league is getting watered down and going towards flag football. You are one of the few who doesn’t think that way. And the 90% of us that agree are the unintelligent ones. Gotcha so you are right we are dumb. Please explain to why us thinking this is sissification of America and there trying to ruin the sport is unintelligent. There changing a lot of rules where we don’t know what a tackl is anymore. Any big hit even if it is with the shoulder pads is a 15 yard penalty. You have guys purposely acted to be knocked out or injured to get a penalty then hop right up clapping after the flag is thrown. Yeah it’s getting bad when they throw flags on players reaction on the ground versus the hit they just seen and didn’t seem worthy of throwing flag.