"Devastating" hits are now going to result in suspension? First you can't hit the quarterback, then you can't even "lunge" at the quarterback, now you can't hit anyone. WTF? Maybe they should just put em all in skirts and flags. I understand not hitting the head but this is crazy. Steve Young just said they should call it rugby with helmets.
Really it's the helmet thing and the defenseless player thing. I don't think you've ever been able to lead with the helmet and the defenseless player penalty is almost necessary now that these guys are so big and so strong. Did you see some of the hits this past week? I hate to take big hits away from the game but damn, someone's gonna get killed out there. This problem with concussions is only going to get worse. As much as I hate to say this, I really hope my kid doesn't grow up to be some stud wide receiver. As far as the quarterbacks go, they go too far protecting those guys. That's not about preventing injury as much as it is protecting investment. It really shouldn't be a penalty if your hand grazes the qb's helmet.
They're not trying to take big hits out if the game IMO. They're trying to eliminate these BS cheap shots that are completely unnecessary that get guys seriously and permanently hurt. Stopping a guy from making a catch, or getting that extra yard is what defenders are supposed to do. Attempting to injure another player permanently by spearing, tackling high, or taking a guy out when he can't protect himself is what they're trying to do. I think that how the league is going about it is somewhat knee-jerk because of done of the incidents from this past weekend.
I'm going off of the discussion between Stu, Matt Millen, Steve Young and Trent Dilfer after the game last night. The way they laid it out was that the league is going to "legislate" out the "big" hit. How else can you define "devastating" Millen was pissed. Young understands but doesn't so much agree. I don't agree with helmet to helmet, they should enforce that but come on, this is "football" you can initiate a "tackle em soft" policy. WTF?
Brandon Merriweather should be suspended, this is the same dude that was kicking people and stomping them in that Miami FIU (i think?) scrum a few years ago. He is a dirty player and should be suspended for the hit on Heap. The other ones I am ok with. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNypDGoC_8M]YouTube - miami florida international brawl[/ame]
If some of these animals would play within the spirit of the rules of the game this wouldn't have happened. If you're on D, by all means hit him. Hit him hard. Don't target a guys knees when he's off balance. Don't spear a guy with your helmet so as to cause permanent brain damage or physical disability. Make the tackle. Knock the ball loose. Strip the ball. Don't use your body as a torpedo to try to break a guys bones. I look at it like this: If you make a hard tackle where your opponent gets up slowly and tells you "Good lick, man" as he walks to the sidelines, that's fine. If your hit knocks him out for 7 minutes, if his teammates or coaches run over to fight you, if you have his helmet paint on top of your helmet, then you're doing it wrong. Everyone who has played football at even a HS level knows a good, clean, hard hit from a dirty hit. Some of these maniacs today are acting like they don't know the difference. However it's going to be hard to make judgment calls. A hit that may be illegal and get flagged isn't necessarily something a guy should be suspended for. I hope they have someone who uses good judgment making that call.
See this is the problem right here. Again, I'm basing all of this off of what these guys were talking about in the post game. The way Steve Young described it was "if the hit makes you go "Ohhhhhh" then it is going to be one that gets you suspended" He (Young) also blamed it on the inexperience at QB and that many of them are so young and don't know how to read zone vs man coverage and they are throwing thier WR's into traffic. Dilfer said eh not so much because the packages are so complex and hard to read that they can actually be in something that looks like man coverage but actually be a zone. That doesn't matter to me, I'm just saying you can't "tone" down the defense or force them to let up. This could change football in a huge way and not for the better.
I agree. The hit by Merriwether was nasty and not in a good way. His was deliberate, outrageous, egregious, and preposterous. . The others were just hard-hitting football.
Might as well strip off the pads, and throw on the flags, or put green shirts on the QBs and let them just play pitch and catch all game.
