Richard Sherman shreds new NFL rule with a perfect analogy
The NFL’s newly enacted rule prohibiting defensive players from lowering their heads and leading with their helmets while tackling does not seem to be particularly popular among the players it affects the most.
Violations of the rule could lead to fines, or in some cases even ejections.
As stated by NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, “It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent. The player may be disqualified. Applies to any player anywhere on the field.”
Playing Rule Article 8: It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent. The player may be disqualified. Applies to any player anywhere on the field. The player may be disqualified.
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) March 27, 2018
Technically, the rule does not single out defensive players, but as they’re usually the ones doing the tackling, the way they play will likely change the most.
And many defensive players aren’t happy.
Newly signed San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, a four-time Pro Bowler, used an interesting driving analogy to explain why he’s against the rule.
“It’s ridiculous. Like telling a driver if you touch the lane lines, you’re getting a ticket,” Sherman said in a text message to USA Today. “(It’s) gonna lead to more lower-extremity injuries.”
Other players expressed concern that it will be impossible to play defense without being penalized.
“It continues to put us in a predicament,” said Buffalo Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander, a 12-year NFL veteran. “In our mind, it makes it hard to play defense in this league. In my mind, there needs to be more of a common-sense approach to it.”
“It is football at the end of the day. There are going to be injuries that you can’t avoid. You can’t legislate everything out,” he added.
Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman, meanwhile, wondered aloud “how you’re going to play the game?”
“If your helmet comes in contact? How are you going to avoid that if you’re in the trenches and hit a running back, facemask to facemask and accidentally graze the helmet?” Norman asked. “It’s obviously going to happen. So, I don’t know even what that definition looks like.”
NFL executives seem to recognize that the change is a significant one, but they remain convinced it’s necessary to improve player safety — particularly in order to avoid head injuries.
“For us this is a pretty significant change,” NFL Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay said Tuesday, according to NFL.com. “This one technique, we saw so many hits when a player lowered his head and delivered a hit and either hurt himself or the player he was hitting. It was time for a change of this magnitude.”
As noted by 247 Sports, the new rule was enacted partly because of a 13.5 percent in diagnosed concussions from the 2016 season to the 2017 league year.
And though there are a plethora of opinions on the new rule, one thing is not up for debate.
Football, as we know it, is being overhauled.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 28, 2018
“Football, as we know it, is being overhauled,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted Tuesday.
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