I've waited a few days to update. I was going to on Monday, then on Tuesday, but decided to wait until today. I've been mulling over some thoughts as the NFL has come to the controversial decision to start suspending players who deliver big helmet-leading hits. Many players and former players are outraged. Some say it's about time. There are certainly plenty of opinions floating around about this.
I think that the bottom line about the rule change is this - how will the officials enforce it? Let's remember that it is in the rulebook that you are not supposed to lead with your helmet on a hit. However, this often goes unenforced. My biggest concern - and I think this is what most players are feeling - is how does this impact a defensive player's ability to make a play on the ball? After all, football is a game of impact and most impact is incidental. I dislike the idea of incidental conduct resulting in possible suspensions.
On that note, how funny is it that this is an issue now? The most horrific hit I've ever seen landed was in 2008, when Anquan Boldin was leveled by a NY Jets safety on a helmet-to-helmet hit. The safety was trying to make a play on the ball. So was Boldin. Both were airborne. Boldin went up to catch it; the safety launched himself to get in front of Boldin and perhaps knock down the ball. Boldin, upon making the catch, was drilled from behind by another Jets player - the impact of that hit pushed him into the trajectory of the airborne safety, resulting in a the safety's helmet coming up on the underside of Boldin's jaw, breaking it. This was not his intent. He would have been fine had Boldin not been pushed into his trajectory from another hit. While a horrific impact without a doubt, it was an unintentional play with no intended malice. The player - a second string safety, as I recall - was fined $15,000, a significant amount for a backup. I felt this was undeserved.
So anyway, how come that hit didn't trigger this discussion? Kurt Warner, after that game, openly contemplated retiring then and there, he was so effected by what he saw. Where was the outcry then? The NFL has been profiting on these hits for years. The NFL has encouraged these hits for years. Why the sudden change? I don't think this week was so much worse than any other - yes, the Dunta Robinson hit on DeSean Jackson was brutal (but also incidental, it seemed to me), as were the others, but let's be realistic... they happen every week. So why now? A friend of mine and I were discussing today that hey, it seems convenient that this concern with player health happens to coincide with the push for an 18-game season. Seems very convenient... after all, 18 games will be easier to play with tougher rules on impact, right? Funny, that...
Which brings me to my next point. The NFL has proven one thing to me to this point - it's all about the money. I have no doubt in my mind at this moment that the NFL has virtually no concern for player safety and health, regardless of what they say. The NFL is pushing more games - increased risk. The NFL has been encouraging "big hits" for years. In fact, just today, the NFL was selling pictures of the Brandon Meriweather hit on Todd Heap and of the James Harrison hit on Mohammed Massaquoi on NFL.com. For anywhere from $15-$200 each. Of course, the league apologized profusely once this was noticed by the national media. But let's get real. The NFL is in it for money. End of story. And now that there's enough noise about concussions, I think they're only enforcing their rules to aid their own agenda - the increased revenue of an 18-game season. Mark my words here and now that if these rules do reduce concussion risks, which they ought to, they will use that as fodder to promote the 18-game season and use it as an argument regarding their concern for player health and how the game is now safer for more games.
And remember that the NFL could have changed this anytime with far less hoopla - by simply coming down on the officials to call more helmet-leading hit penalties. But the NFL didn't enforce that, because it was profitable. The true culture of the NFL isn't about the way the rules are written, but how they are enforced on the field by the officials. And really, that's the ultimate question about this - how will the officials enforce these rules now? There is, believe it or not, a chance that this ends up being the biggest non-story of the year, for that reason.
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