RULE CHANGES : NFL NOT USING ITS HEAD

Left is Correct                                     Right is Incorrect

Over the last three days, the NFL's 32 franchises sent their coaching staffs and general manager's to an annual coaches meeting, this year conducted in Phoenix Arizona.  During this event, coaches and other NFL executives discussed the state of the league, financial future, continued league viability and rule interpretation and evaluation.

This year, several topics were discussed, not least of which was new proposed rules and rule changes.


The first rule that was discussed by the coaches dealt with what is referred to as the "Tuck Rule"
"Talk Rule" Defined: NFL Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2. When [an offensive] player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble.
This rule was created without a lot of forethought and over the years, it has been discussed ad nauseam and now it is been abolished my almost every franchise except for; the New England Patriots (by proxy) and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The other rule hotly debated concerns player safety: in specific, "helmet to helmet" contact of the ball carrier and would be tackler.  Until now, defensive players have been called for unsportsmanlike conduct or unnecessary roughness penalties yielding 15 yards against the defense of a player or players who violate this very subjective called infraction.  It is by the discretion of a particular field official or officials as to the severity and location of the hit and whether or not the player hit was indeed deemed "defenseless" at the moment of impact.  

Obviously, this has become a very unpopular rule topic with linebackers and defensive backs, players most affected by this rule interpretation.  Defensive players have had a difficult go with the proposed and adopted rule changes during the last several years. Due to the the violent nature of Pro football itself and the numerous lawsuits levied against the NFL by former players, the league officials are continually trying to make the sport as safe as possible. Over 2000 former NFL players have become litigants in a huge lawsuit claiming the NFL did not take the subject of player concussions seriously enough and therefore left them with a variety of acute chronic symptoms that are synonymous with people who have sustained multiple concussions. Now, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell along with what is likely a regiment of lawyers are trying to accomplish their own mega version of "damage control".  In other words, the NFL as an entire entity must show a series of deliberate intent to make the sport of tackle football as safe as possible, in particular a sensitivity to the subject of concussions.  Already, defensive players have been warned and financially penalized for delivering illegal hits as defined by the league in their own legal terminology.  However now, the league is turning its attention to the offense.  A new rule has been voted on and passed by team owners and coaches that a ball carrier cannot use his helmet as a weapon when purposely colliding with a would be tackler use the crown of a helmet at the point of impact.  One caveat about this rule: The rule only applies to impact initiated outside the "Tackle Box", or in other words; outside the right and left offensive tackle on the offensive line.  A ball carrier can lower his body, including his helmet, inside the tackles when running against the defensive line.  The rule will be implemented on open field tackling anywhere on the field, also. 

This rule has created immediate opposition by offensive running backs, wide receivers and quarterbacks alike.  Many of those players recite the original coaching as they were taught to make their body as small as possible when about to be hit or tackled, wrapping around the ball to protect it as well as hopefully avoiding the tackle.  One of the most difficult parts of this adopted rule change is in the interpretation.  It is not certain exactly how officials well interpret exactly what is considered the helmet to helmet initiated hit and whether or not it was purposeful or just incidental contact.  This will be one of the most contested rules I think we'll see and it will be an experiment in futility as this is very much a subjective call deciphered differently by every official in the league.

But how do you feel about this new rule change and do you believe that it should be a rule affecting both the offense and the defense, just the defense, just the offense or neither?