Remember When Football Was a Contact Sport?

[zoogs]

Banks: http://sportsillustr...e/?sct=uk_wr_a2

 

King:

I think the prohibition of players attacking other players with the crown of the helmet is a good one. Many of you disagree with that. I would ask you these questions:

a. Is the art of lowering the head and, at full speed, using the top of the helmet to pound into another player, taught at any level of football? The answer to that is no, unless the coach is a sadist.

 

b. Do you understand the rule? Do you understand that the rule doesn't apply to a running back grinding for an extra foot in the guard-tackle hole, in a scrum, or to a linebacker trying to hold the point of attack on 3rd-and-short? It applies to the jarring hits in the open field, when an offensive or defensive player uses the top of the helmet -- not the front of the helmet, but the crown of it -- as a battering ram.

 

c. Will players still be able to deliver blows to knock opponents away? Yes -- with the shoulder and the front of the helmet and the stiff arm. "We need to bring the shoulder back into the game,'' said Rams coach and Competition Committee co-chair Jeff Fisher. Just as defensive players have been taught to aim lower on defenseless receivers in the open, so too will all players be taught to use their shoulders more in delivering impact blows.

 

d. How many plays do you think this rule applies to? I figure, extrapolating the NFL's contention that a penalty for violating the crown-of-the-helmet hit would have been called 11 times in two weeks the NFL went back and examined last year, that this translates to the violation being flagged about once every three games. Imagine now, with teams emphasizing this new rule to the players in mini-camps and training camp this summer, the result in the number of calls. I think it will be diminished. Again, we're not talking about a wholesale change to the way running backs carry the ball in the open field, or the way safeties attack tight ends. We're talking about a slight adjustment that affects very few plays in the course of an NFL weekend.

 

e. Will the officials be able to call it right? You're right about that -- I'm dubious they will. But in the end, it's worth being zealous to try to prevent head and neck injuries.

 

 

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130325/elvis-dumervil-baltimore-ravens-peter-king-monday-morning-quarterback/#ixzz2Obz4qqx9

[HuskerShark]

The repeated dings and dents don't really occur in rugby

 

Tell that to my buddy who played rugby for a couple years at Wayne State and got so many concussions that his doctor essentially told him he needed to quit or he would sustain long-term brain injuries.

 

Give me his email address.

 

Why?

[HuskerShark]

Banks: http://sportsillustr...e/?sct=uk_wr_a2

 

King:

I think the prohibition of players attacking other players with the crown of the helmet is a good one. Many of you disagree with that. I would ask you these questions:

a. Is the art of lowering the head and, at full speed, using the top of the helmet to pound into another player, taught at any level of football? The answer to that is no, unless the coach is a sadist.

 

b. Do you understand the rule? Do you understand that the rule doesn't apply to a running back grinding for an extra foot in the guard-tackle hole, in a scrum, or to a linebacker trying to hold the point of attack on 3rd-and-short? It applies to the jarring hits in the open field, when an offensive or defensive player uses the top of the helmet -- not the front of the helmet, but the crown of it -- as a battering ram.

 

a. No, it's not taught. But lowering your shoulder IS. And guess what's attached to your shoulders... Your head.

 

b. The intent is good, but interpretation of it has potential of ruining the game. I truly think that this rule makes the game less safe because running backs sometimes need to lower their pad level to protect their bodies. I GUARANTEE you that it will be flagged several times this year in that exact situation. And that's a joke and a travesty.

[Husker John]

“Football isn't a contact sport, it's a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.”