Tuck rule; gone; Crown of Helmet, in! Plus: dietary suggestions for Goodell!
 

Flag foottball anyone. ?

I fukcing can't believe this.

So Pollard's KO blow is now a penalty. I guess they had to throw the Pats a bone after taking away the tuck rule.

They are ruining the game.

Edit - I think this is to also stop the RBs from lowering their heads but it still doesn't make sense. They need to be able to get low and protect themselves. You are going to see more injuries to the legs now.

I think it's physically impossible not lower your head as you have 3 defenders B lining you in the open field. So what are you supposed to do? Stay straight up so you can get crushed? Goodell can eat a bag of dicks.

My understanding is that you can lower your head and even initiate contact with the helmet, but you cannot use the crown or very top of the helmet as a battering ram like the famous Earl Campbell run.

They are ruining the game. I am all for player safety but there needs to be common sense.

OAKLAND RAIDERS ‏@RAIDERS
Adios, Tuck Rule.

+1
Can't wait to see the season and how many of these ****in penalties change the outcome of games! :steamin:

Yet the NFL Competition Committee made up of Front Office & Coaches is the one that proposed and presented the rule change to the Owners for their approval.

When you are faced with 100s of lawsuits for $X million/billions from former NFL players and until NFL players waive liability from playing (they never will), you better make changes..

This will be a one year rule. It is impossible to enforce this consistently and effectively.

If I was a Refs union I would be pissed too. Sets them up to look bad.

And that is the only reason why they are doing this. To make it look like they care.

All this is going to lead to is more injuries. If RBs can't lower their pad level they will leave their bodies open to vicious hits.

Just 12 years too late for the Tuck rule... Still got to wonder if recent NFL history would be so different if that play was called a fumble.

The rule has nothing to do with Pollard's hit. This is for RBs in the open field, outside of the tackles lowering their helmet to the point where they are at a 90 degree angle, looking down at the ground and making impact with the absolute top of their helmet. The most ridiculous part about this "new" rule is that it is technically already illegal.

Check my edit.

And it is supoosedly for both the RBs and defenders.

I agree, but the situation you describe wouldn't be a penalty. Its more for an aggressive runner, seeking out contact in the open field and "spearing" the defender with his head down and not looking ahead. To me this protects the runner more than the defender since a runner doing this is opening themselves up for a spinal injury.

sorry, saw the edit after I posted.

I agree with you, its getting out of control. Spearing is already illegal, so I dont really get what this rule is about. What scares me is they said they looked at tape and there were 15 instances where they might have called this penalty in week 16 alone. I find that hard to believe since I cant think of any plays I saw last year where a RB should have been flagged for this.

How do they differentiate between a RB lowering his shoulder to absorb a hit and a RB lowering his helmet to spear a guy?? Are they expecting the RBs to run upright and just let the defenders level him? The NFL is running scared right now.

The answer is that they can't. And they are putting the refs in a position to look bad when they cost someone a game.

Can you imagine if we are trying to run out the clock and convert on a third and short only to have this penalty called and we are forced to punt?

WOW the Titans spent a lot of money on Shonn Greene for nothing now.

I guess the Jets picked the right year to get out of the ground and pound

We'll see this year how the penalties sort out. Some refs are worse than others