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OMG the NFL is trying to be a flag football league with their new "targeting" rule. I already hated that rule in college football making games almost unwatchable but the NFL too???

Say goodbye to the NFL and hello to having free weekends in the fall.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/new- ... ntroversy/

Coming soon, flag football.

if the choice is moving toward the 'new world order' in football or NO football at all... I'll take the changes to the rules and at least have football.

I suspect this is going to be like the rule they passed that supposedly prohibits running backs from using their helmets as a battering ram. How many times have you seen a running back flagged for that rule violation even though nearly every running back lowers their head whenever a tackler is approaching.

Sweet.... they've done such a bang up job on the helmet to helmet shots, this should go incredibly smoothly... lmfao

Will soon be Nude Flag Football

That will be a sight!

I wonder, the NFL has had multiple issues with flagging legal hits, maybe get to the point where you can actually implement the rules already in place with few mistakes, instead of adding more complicated rules that there's little hope of correctly calling?

Just spitballing here....

Feels like just another offensive production boost to me. Alleviating big hits even further than the imaginary safety roles already implemented.

Here's another good one. They supposedly improved what their idea of a catch is.

And they included the magnificent verbage of "football move".....Whatever the hell that is supposed to be. We've seen them try and figure it out, they can't even with replay but yet, it remains.

We'll have to see how the changes are applied to really get a feel about the impact.
It could be huge, but it might also be almost insignificant in that penalties might only be called in extreme cases.

Tt's hard to see how the 'lowering your head' rule is going to be played out, but it seems difficult to enforce. I will say, however, that the idea of taking the head out of the game is one that is through all of football from Pee-Wee to HS and college. All levels have rules about 'targeting' and things of that nature. The hard part is too often when watching college football you see a perfect hit and not only is that play penalized but the player is also ejected. To me this rule is about Checking Their A$$ and nothing more. They want to give the appearance of moving forward for player safety but this one has the potential to create some really bad calls.

mykc14 wrote:Tt's hard to see how the 'lowering your head' rule is going to be played out, but it seems difficult to enforce. I will say, however, that the idea of taking the head out of the game is one that is through all of football from Pee-Wee to HS and college. All levels have rules about 'targeting' and things of that nature. The hard part is too often when watching college football you see a perfect hit and not only is that play penalized but the player is also ejected. To me this rule is about Checking Their A$$ and nothing more. They want to give the appearance of moving forward for player safety but this one has the potential to create some really bad calls.

I say this half jokingly, but if you want force players not to use their helmuts as a battering ram, then get rid of the facemask. My old man played back in the leather helmut days in the early 40's and used to say that you had to tackle with your shoulder and make sure to wrap them up rather than simply knocking a ball carrier off his feet by launching at him like a missile. You saw more defenders going for a ball carrier's legs rather than hitting them above the waist where more force is necessary to stop them.

I'm all for rule changes to enhance player safety when practical, but this one is going to be extremely difficult for players to adjust to.

Apparently it's going to apply to all players on the field, not just those tackling the ball carrier or the ball carrier lowering his head to power forward for extra yards.
I wonder how it will affect blocking and DL aggressiveness where they can't fire off the ball and stick their helmet into the chest of the OL.
It would seem like some of the shorter DL might lose some leverage and different techniques might have to be found.

NorthHawk wrote:Apparently it's going to apply to all players on the field, not just those tackling the ball carrier or the ball carrier lowering his head to power forward for extra yards.
I wonder how it will affect blocking and DL aggressiveness where they can't fire off the ball and stick their helmet into the chest of the OL.
It would seem like some of the shorter DL might lose some leverage and different techniques might have to be found.

They already have a rule prohibiting the ball carrier from lowering his head outside the tackle box, but they all do it anyway and it never gets called. That's why I think that there's the possibility that this rule becomes like the 55 mph speed limit on a California freeway.

There will have to be some type of judgement or situational awareness by the Officials to make this work.
For instance, if you have a RB running a sweep type of play and the defender tries to tackle him. If the Defender drops his head to tackle at the waist and the RB sees that and stops so the defenders head makes the initial contact, will a flag be thrown? The helmet would in this case be the first point of contact, so technically it would be a 15 yard penalty. Smart players could make a living creating such collisions.