NFL owners ... what have you done?

[Neroon]

New rules creates new player safety rule, but ...

I understand that this is to protect the Tom Bradys, the Peyton Mannings and other marquee stars in the league. And surely there need to be safety considerations for players, especially when you see how many of them have aged poorly. plus, there have been some frightening hits right up in the head area, which probably needs to be addressed in some way. But American football is a sport built upon collision. There has to beyond which this intervention becomes too much, and the sport no longer resembles what it's supposed to.

Setting even that aside, there's the question of just how the officials are going to adequately evaluate what is a "lunge"?, are those kickoff team personnel far enough apart?, etc. If things were tough calls before, we aint' seen nuthin' yet!

 

[Roger Wilco]

Those rules sound quite sensible to me.

 

[Neroon]

The first two, perhaps. But the last two? How enforceable do you think that will be, to measure how close each player is to the other? And this bit about "no lunging" ? Protecting the players from unnecessary dangers is a good and noble thing, but these aren't so needed imho. It's a hard-hitting and violent sport. Injuries are going to happen.

 

[Pegaritaville]

I'm having a hard time seeing how some of those will even be enforcable on a consistent basis. And even if all ref crews do interpret the rules the same way, isn't that making it kind of hard for the defense? It'd suck to get a 15 yard penalty just because you were unable to stop your momentum.

 

[SmoothieX]

I've watched the Brady hit a million times. I agree its important to protect the players' knees. There are some real cheap shot artists out there that will take you out at the knees. And I think those should be severely penalized.

But Pollard wasn't doing anything dirty on that play. He's just trying to bottle Brady up and keep him from completing his pass. What's he supposed to do? Sit there on the ground and let him throw the bomb?

 

[CorporalClegg]

Welcome to the Nutcracker Fairies and Leotards.

 

[Neroon]

Protecting the stars makes sense... but more from a business perspective than a competition perspective. The contracts signed by these guys could be their own stimulus package, so it makes sense that the people offering said contract would want that investment protected at all costs. However, from a competition POV... uh uh I don't buy it. This is where the organization is supposed to be doing its job - finding and signing the needed talent as backup. The Pats may not have been world beaters without Brady, but they were still pretty darned good with Matt Cassel. It's quite reasonable to expect teams to find a decent backup - notice I didn't say equal - for just such an occasion.

 

[TheMurph]

The last two are stupid IMO.

 

[Kolrad]

The hypocrisy of it annoys me. If their main concern were really the players' safety, the NFL owners wouldn't be pushing to extend the season to 18 games when the players are against that.

 

[Neroon]

The hypocrisy of it annoys me. If their main concern were really the players' safety, the NFL owners wouldn't be pushing to extend the season to 18 games when the players are against that.

Very true. I thijk yesterday was the first I'd heard about Goodell's desire for another game or two to be added to the schedule? Are they going to keep the full slate of four pre-season games, or cut back on that?

 

[SmoothieX]

Same number of overall pre+regular season games. Just cutting back on the preseason in favor of more regular season games. Season ticket holders complain about paying full price for preseason games. Also, more regular season games means more TV revenue.

I don't see them starting the season before they currently do. Week 1 on August 15 just seems weird. So if they start around Labor Day, like they currently do, it puts the title games to around Feb 1 and the Superbowl around Feb 15. This takes advantage of a pretty dull time in sports. You're knee deep in the NBA and NHL season, but not quite at the playoff push, and the NCAA tournament and MLB are far off.

 

[archeryguy1701]

I'm not sure I like the "Brady Rule". Basically, all an offensive lineman has to do is get the defender to the ground, and he's out of the play. It wasn't even a dirty play, just a freak accident. The next two rules are fair enough, but I don't like the kick off rules. Both seemed like fair strategies, and I honestly don't see those rules improving any thing.

 

[Neroon]

Interesting how Tom has now fomented the creation of two rules in the NFL rulebook.

 

[SmoothieX]

QBs are the face of the league and sell seats, gotta protect them.

 

[Neroon]

Well, I was also referring to the "tuck rule" which didn't involve protecting the quarterback.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

How much longer will it be before the quarterbacks are out there wearing pink pennies over their jerseys and be off limits for any touching?

 

[archeryguy1701]

^I say that they have 5 more years of vulnerability, tops. However, I can kind of see the ideas that the owners are having. Even completely ignoring the "The QB's are the faces that put butts in seats" arguement, they do pay those guys a hell of a lotta money, and they're just trying to protect their investment. But you know what I think is a better way to protect the investment without "softening" the game too much?

Buy a better offensive line.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

Which is one of the things Cutler will miss in Chicago. Say what you will about the Donkeys, Cutler stayed upright a lot last season.