So you think it's worse to have a leg injury or whatever then to die 20 years early because your head is tapioca pudding?
the problem is it is ludicrous to jump to the conclusion that because defensive players can't hit at the head they will simply aim for the knees, rather than the more reasonable conclusion that they will actually attempt to tackle the players. looking at the four hits in question from this weekend, at what point would it have made more sense for the defender to go after the knee rather than go high? none of them. the difference is now when they go high they will go for the torso not shoulders and above.
Where are the suspensions? Cheapshots to the head or neck area should get an automatic 2 game suspension. According to what the NFL spokeman said today, a hit doesn't have to be helmet to helmet to be illegal. He said that a hit by the shoulder pads, forearms or helmet to the head or neck area is illegal.
I remember those theories. They didn't make much sense then and they make less sense now. A shorter series actually helps the weaker team as the variance factor is higher. You are right though that that Laker team was barely above .500 when the rule went in, but that wasn't exactly all that surprising for those Laker teams because despite the 3-peat, they were known for coasting. It was all Kobe and Fisher in the reg. season. Shaq nursing his big toe all season, Horry not showing up till May. No depth because of Shaq's contract, etc. Besides, in February, it affects all teams equally anyway, doesn't change the playoff picture because who the heck knows who's going to finish where with 42 games left. Bottom line, Stern did it for money(obviously). Lakers smoked the T-Wolves by 30 in Game 5 to go up 3-2 and then smoked them again by 20+ in Game 6 to win.. Who this change really killed was Tracy "2nd round Virgin" McGrady. His Magic were up 3-1 on Detroit and ended up losing the series.
I finally saw the Merriweather hit last night. That was a good example of a suspension type hit. Those type hits I can understand the penalty.
Suspensions were never going to be retroactive. Do it this week though and you can bet you will get suspended.
Alright so, if you committ an illegal hit you get ejected and you lose your game check...problem solved.
I'm not sure you lose it if you start the game and then get thrown out. I can't imagine the union ever agreed to that.
That doesn't work. The team with the injured player gets a huge leverage because they can mess around with the injury report. The team with the player who committed the hit is held hostage because they can prepare the player and not have him play...meanwhile his back up gets no first team rep preparation or the player who committed the hit doesn't prepare and the person who got hit plays the next week and the player who committed the hit is eligible to play with no preparation...see what I'm saying? Thus the teams are being penalized for an individual's actions they cannot control...not fair.
If I'm the commish...I'm saying..look NFLPA...you take the ejection with loss of game check OR your players would be subject to multiple week suspensions with loss of multiple game checks...you choose. We are trying to help your players by preventing serious injuries from occurring and also by localizing the punishment for the offending players to the game in which the infractions occur. Let's not draw these things out longer than they need to be.
He has no authority to do that. EVERYTHING is bargained for. That is why the NFL made it so clear that this is not a new rule they announced yesterday, it has been on the books for years. What is new is that they are going to strictly enforce it going forward which they haven't been doing now.
The CBA is up after this season..? I know the suspension stuff is no new rule (Eric Smith-Anquan Boldin 2008?). The NFL is negligent for not enforcing this shit but the rule need to be changed because suspensions are bogus. Players should just be ejected for the game they are playing in instead of drawing it out.
Along the lines of what Hobbes was saying though, if the defense can take out the opposing player in the CURRENT game with a dirty hit...it's such an advantage for the offending team because the team who lost the player didn't have any time to prepare for not having the player injured. I know it's the NFL and the documented injury rate is 99.9% and teams "prepare" everyone but if you game plan around Andre Johnson and he gets murdered on the field and can't return...you can't overcome that.
Yes, I played City League and High School football. I played Wingback on offense and D-Back on defense. There is a big difference between tackling a player and just trying to hit him as hard as you can. The primary reason that you see so many missed tackles in the NFL is that players are trying to knock the ball carrier out rather than tackle him. If the League made a sincere effort to stop the unnecessary violence and rigidly enforced the rules, the players would learn the proper tackling technique. These players are supposed to be athletes. They can control where they hit if they try. If you look at the replays of Robinson's hit on Desean Jackson and James Harrison's hits, you can see that they made no effort whatever to tackle the opposing player. They deliberately hit them high, leading with their shoulder pads and in Harrison's case, his forearms.
NFL to announce removal of all contact. Looking hard at a player will now constitute a tackle. This will usher in a new era of intimidating looks.
