Upcoming Rule Changes...

[slickdtc]

You have a lot more faith in the officials than I do. Given the number of phantom roughing the qb and illegal hit on a defenseless receiver penalties we see every sunday, what reason is there to believe the refs won't go overboard with this as well?

Because this is an offensive penalty.

[MikeMcMahon]

Helmet rule FAQ

Posted this on another forum, so might as well post it here as well.

Q: What is the rule?
A: See the quote blow...

Under the rule, it will be illegal for either a runner or a tackler to initiate contact with the crown of his helmet while outside the tackle box (the area between the two offensive tackles when they line up) and more than three yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Such an action will result in a 15-yard penalty.

Q: Why will this improve safety?

A: Because research has shown that it's exactly these kinds of hits that cause catastrophic spinal injury.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc1250253/

The mechanism for injury that has received the most attention in athletics is axial loading. Only 13% of the 209 football-related injuries that resulted in permanent cervical quadriplegia between 1971 and 1975 resulted from hyperflexion (10%) and hyperextension (3%), whereas 52% were attributed to axial loading.34 according to the national center for catastrophic sport injury research, a total of 107 cases of permanent cord injuries in football occurred between 1977 and 1989, with most resulting from tackling.10 more recently, 15 cases of quadriplegia were reported in high school football between 1991 and 1993, with the principal cause attributed to axial compressive loading.35

axial loading occurs when the head and neck are flexed to approximately 30°, as in a head-first tackle. In this position, the normal lordotic curve disappears, which removes the energy-absorbing elastic component of the region. when contact is applied to the crown of the head or helmet in the football player, the cervical spine experiences a compressive load from the torso. As the padding provided by the helmet reaches its absorptive limits, the head then reverses direction, resulting in an increased compressive load as the cervical spine is compressed between the head and torso. When this compressive force exceeds the spine's absorption capabilities, soft and hard tissue components fail. compressive load limits of the cervical vertebrae have been calculated at 3340 to 4450 n.25–27 interestingly, the upper compressive load limits of the cervical spine have been reached in less than 11 milliseconds during simulated impacts using a speed and mass equivalent to approximately half those of a conditioned athlete.36 moreover, csi occurs when the compressive loads on the cervical spine are increasing at an increasing rate, demonstrating that during an axial load, the potential for serious neck injury exists independent of neck strength.36

too frequently, these injuries are brought about by a conscious effort to spear, or use the crown of the head as the initial point of contact during a tackle. Despite rule changes, equipment improvements, and an overall decrease in the number of catastrophic injuries that result from these significant epidemiologic findings, spearing appears to be as prevalent now as it was before.37–40

Q: How often is this going to be called?

A: Not that often. A film study showed that in 32 games studied, there were only 11 would-be violations. Even if you assume that this penalty will be called twice as much as it should be, it would only mean an impact of 5 yards per team per game.

That's a really really really small price to pay for reducing the risk of:
-Broken vertebrae
-Permanent paralysis
-Brain trauma.

Q: Will this make the game wimpy?

A: You're insane if you think that. This is still a game most of us wouldn't dare play against these athletes. Injuries will still be common and hits will still be hard. We'll just have fewer of these terrible hits that don't belong in the game.

Q: Won't the refs screw it up?

A: Refs will make mistakes when calling any penalty. Most are worth it though because the penalties change behavior.

Q: Why can't the players just sign a waiver? They know the dangers!

A: Many reasons.

One, the NFL is a leader in safety. College and high school don't always make these kinds of changes unless the NFL steps first. Think about ALL of the college and high school athletes. Most of them will never get any money at all to play this game. Some of them would make it the the NFL but don't because they suffer serious spine injuries. So when you talk about the guys who make it to the NFL, you ignore the vast vast vast majority of people who played this game and didn't get there. Some of them have serious injuries too.

Two, NFL players don't get to run the league, the owners do. You can dislike owners, but they are human beings and they do sometimes care about other people. They may not want one of their players to end up paralyzed or dead.

Three, there is a culture of insane toughness among players. There pretty much has to be to play this dangerous game. That culture makes it very hard for players to accept these changes, but that doesn't mean the game won't end up better and stronger because of it.

Q: Won't this now be illegal?

How terrible!

A: False, that would still be legal. That play did not occur outside the tackle box and 3 yards of the LoS. It's mainly the open field tackles that this rule applies to, presumably because open-field tackles tend to take place at much higher velocities.

[C the Lyte]

Re: Helmet rule FAQ

I would like to see those "11 would be violations."

[MikeMcMahon]

Re: Helmet rule FAQ

I would like to see those "11 would be violations."

It would be nice if every organization released every internal study like this, but that's not the world we live in. I'm very inclined to believe their number though. I've been watching RB film and violations seem rare.

It won't be called perfectly, but as I said, even if they call it twice as often as they should it won't be a big deal.

[bigbob]

Re: Upcoming Rule Changes...

That running back would be an idiot, as would the rest of the team for letting time somehow expire with a minute to go down 3 on the 20. RBs can still go through people, they just can't T-Rich them. If you have a hard time understanding that watch the Brandon Jacobs video, after watching it once I don't think it would have been called on a single run yet he still he plows through a couple people.

Comparing Brandon Jacobs to Trent Richardson is like comparing Calvin Johnson to DeSean Jackson.

They're two completely different players in the way they're built and it's going to be a hell of a lot easier for Calvin Johnson to go up for a ball than it will be for Jackson, just like it's going to look a hell of a lot easier for Jacobs to run through a player with his shoulder than it is for Richardson.

[cjonesfan921]

Re: Helmet rule FAQ

There's a thread for this. /thread

[p_rushing]

Re: Upcoming Rule Changes...

You have a lot more faith in the officials than I do. Given the number of phantom roughing the qb and illegal hit on a defenseless receiver penalties we see every sunday, what reason is there to believe the refs won't go overboard with this as well?

Yep. If you aren't one of the top "protected" teams, you will see a lot of flags. Just look at what happens when a player gets near a protected QB, almost an automatic flag, even with no contact.

What I want is for the NFL to release all videos and explain how the rule will be called. The same explanation and training they give to the refs needs to be released to the public. That way the knowledgeable fans will at least know how it should be called.

They probably won't though as the refs would get pissed off when the fans have proof they are screwing up.

[mestevo]

Re: Upcoming Rule Changes...

It's the crown of your helmet, it's pretty easy to see if someone's screwed up.

"protected teams" - really?

[TracerBullet]

Re: Upcoming Rule Changes...

Were those Brandon Jacobs runs past 3 yards downfield? I can still see a bunch of lineman in both so that's why I'm asking.

[p_rushing]

Re: Upcoming Rule Changes...

It's the crown of your helmet, it's pretty easy to see if someone's screwed up.

"protected teams" - really?

Its also pretty easy to see contact to the head, late hits, and contact to the knees, but the refs routinely give calls to the top protected QBs.

If your QB isn't one of those, they don't get the same calls. Even in the same game the protected QB will get a call for contact to the head when the defender brushes the head. Then the bum QB will get clubbed and get no call.


I may not like the rule, but I can at least demand they call it the same, every game, every team, every player.

[mestevo]

Re: Upcoming Rule Changes...

You mean penalties like roughing the passer? I wasn't aware Miami, Carolina, Oakland were so special, they were the teams that benefited most from roughing the passer calls last season.

http://www.nflpenalties.com

[slickdtc]

You could argue that Tannehill (promising rookie), Newton (#1 overall), and Palmer (along with Brady, face of knee injuries to QB) are among the protected.

I do think some guys get specific treatment, but definitely not to the degree some posters here would have you believe.

On the flip side, I've also seen Vick get destroyed play after play the past 2 years, and I would consider him a star in the league even if he hasn't played like one of late.

[Hooe]

Re: Upcoming Rule Changes...

I merged the Helmet Rule FAQ thread into this one because it contained useful information for this discussion.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Upcoming Rule Changes...

If you can't see how what Richardson did there is unsafe, I don't know what to say.

I love football. It is a passion of mine, like most of you. I appreciate everything these guys leave on the field. However, I also have come to realize that this game punishes their body.

I compare it to wrestling and seeing how some of those guys look like after their careers. Anything that can make the game(or anything) a tad bit safer, I am for. I will still watch and be entertained.

In that specific gif alone and specific situation, what else could Richardson have done since you're saying it's "unsafe"?

On the flip side, do you notice anything that Coleman did wrong in that situation?

Mike Brown hit the nail right on the head regarding this and so did coogr. We(Fans)barely trust the refs as it is(unless the calls are benefiting are team)so NOW we're going to trust them to call this one accurately and correctly? All I'll say is thank goodness we no longer have the Replacement Refs otherwise, this would all have fail written all over it.

[ghettogeeksta]

Re: Upcoming Rule Changes...

That running back would be an idiot, as would the rest of the team for letting time somehow expire with a minute to go down 3 on the 20. RBs can still go through people, they just can't T-Rich them. If you have a hard time understanding that watch the Brandon Jacobs video, after watching it once I don't think it would have been called on a single run yet he still he plows through a couple people.

You're not watching football anymore anyways, so what's it matter?

The problem is it's up to the refs judgment.