NFL Going Soft Wiseman 1

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1 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 1 Rule Changes Making the NFL Soft Jake Wiseman Longwood University

2 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 2 Flashy plays and hard hits are a couple of reasons why fans everywhere love to watch the game of football. Fans want to see their favorite players go out and hit the opposing team with all of their body, knocking them forcefully to the ground. It s violent, which is exactly why we enjoy to watch football. These brutal hits over the years have caused many injuries to players, which has opened the eyes of commissioner, Roger Goodell. Goodell has made some changes to the game to try and improve the safety of players, but at the same time they are destroying the game and all of the reasons why fans like football. Concussions are the number one reason all of these safety rules come into play. It seems players throughout the league, as well as retired players are coming forth with evidence and lawsuits against the NFL because of health issues related to concussions. To reduce the number of concussions, the first step the league took was by offering a new style of helmet, called the Revolution. This new style of helmet was not mandatory, but many of the players immediately switched helmets. The Revolution helmet now is worn by almost 75 percent of the league, and is supposed to reduce the risk of a concussion by 30 percent. While the new helmet did reduce the number of concussions, Goodell took further measures by drafting up some new rules. One new rule that was passed was that players could no longer tackle by launching themselves and using their head as a battering ram. This is still a rule that gets broken today. When players grew up as children they were taught to tackle a particular way by their coaches. Since then, players have practiced those ideas and concepts of tackling so much that it is pure habit now. Now the rules of the game are changing and asking them to change the way they were taught to play, which has many players as well as fans upset.

3 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 3 James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers is known to be one of the hardest hitting linebackers in the game today. He is portrayed as the bad guy to the fans because of his high fines by commissioner Goodell. The rule change that stopped launching of bodies is why Harrison has been fined so many times, due to his vicious hits. Harrison was docked $75,000 for a now infamous Oct. 17 hit on Browns wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi. He would eventually rack up $100,000 in fines in seven week (Layton, 2011). Head Coach, Mike Tomlin delivered a message to his team that was part warning and part defiance. "Coach said you can't control what the refs are calling, and you can't control what the NFL is trying to do with the rules," recalls cornerback Ike Taylor. "You can control how you play the game, and you've got to fight through this. The refs are in a tough situation right now, but we can't stop playing our style of football (Layton, 2011). The NFL also implemented another rule for safety, which was to try and protect the quarterbacks. With this new rule players are no longer allowed to tackle, let alone touch the quarterback below the knee; no player is allowed to run into the passer after the ball has left his hand either. This might be arguably the one rule that fans hate the most. Fans want to see the big hits, which can be very vicious especially coming from the quarterback s blindside. Jokingly fans have suggested ways to improve this rule for the quarterbacks, by making the defense count to five Mississippi, before even crossing the line of scrimmage or wearing bubble helmets. That way there are no concussions, but only popped bubbles (Eckstein, 2012). This illustrates the impact of the new rule change relating to quarterback safety. The most recent rule change has fans upset, but more so the players, particularly running backs. This new rule makes it illegal for offensive or defensive players to initiate "forcible contact" outside the tackle box by delivering a blow with the crown of the helmet (Domowitch,

4 NFL Going Soft Wiseman ). Current players as well as retired players spoke out negatively about the new rule. "As a runner, your whole goal is to get lower than the tackler," said former Eagles running back Brian Westbrook. "Part of it is putting your head down. It's hard to play the sport without being able to do that (Domowitch, 2013). It is going to be difficult to tell the difference between if a player is leading with a blow from the head, or protecting himself or the ball. Enforcing this rule properly is going to be difficult, because there will always be those questionable plays that can go either way; Goodell can t even manage the defensive head rule properly, so it will be interesting to see how this new rule plays out this upcoming season. With these new rule changes, the past perception of football has changed. The league is no longer based on hard-nosed running games and a championship defense, now it s a quarterback s league. All of the safety rules have made the game this way, giving the quarterbacks all the power. The intention of the game has changed from trying to stop the offense from scoring by any means, to seeing how many points the offense can put up on the board. Even the wide receivers have more of a window to get away with penalties than the defensive backs guarding them. The slightest contact from the defensive player is ruled as pass interference, while the offensive player can get away with more pushing and not have a penalty called. The way the game is changing, is ruining the sport itself. The reasons fans watch the game are slowly drifting away. There has been talk about even doing away with kickoffs, because the players are running full speed towards one another, which could potentially cause injuries; which is why people watch football in the first place, to see big, violent, hits. Roger Goodell didn t just get up and change these rules because he was bored, he did them help protect the players; hopefully giving them the chance to play longer, as well as not have health problems later in life. Players are claiming that their health related problems are a

5 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 5 result from concussions, from when they played in the NFL. To prevent more players from doing this as well as current players, Goodell needed to do something to reduce the amount of concussions. The players may have to change the way to play, but in the end it will benefit them from a health standpoint. He has dished out fines to those who do not abide by his rules, and if they continue to go against the rules the fines increase. Dr. Ann McKee is an associate professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University who has been studying the brains of deceased football players. She showed slides under a microscope of a cross-section of a human brain, magnified 100 times, showed scores, maybe hundreds, of tiny brownish triangular bits of a toxic protein called tau, choking off cellular life in the brain (King, 2010). Over a 3 year span, McKee observed 14 brains of deceased, former NFL players. Of the 14, 13 were diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). She has also done a few high school and college players that also showed evidence of CTE. It is almost certain that they obtained this trauma in the brain from playing football. McKee went on to say, "In fact, I have never seen this disease in any person who doesn't have the kind of repetitive head trauma that football players would have (King, 2010). In the past 8 months, 4 former NFL players took their own lives including former Chargers standout Junior Seau and Cheifs Jovan Belcher. There's no evidence indicating that football had anything to do with the Belcher tragedy (Gregory, 2012). Still the fact that he was a current NFL player raised the eyes of Goodell as well as other individuals on the committee. What if? The Belcher tragedy may be another warning sign: Are the pressures of pro football worth our cheers (Gregory, 2012)? Future precautions seem likely due to the severity of the tragedy.

6 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 6 Then again why make any changes to the game? Football is brutal by definition; every play is a synchronized multivehicle crash. "I just think we're trying to take some things out of the game that are staples of football," says Jets safety Yeremiah Bell. "Football is football. It's contact. I mean, how much safety is there (Gregory, 2012)? The players know the risk going into the game, and they know the consequences that can happen. But then again if you can protect the players, but keep the points of the game the same, why not make some minor changes? What seems interesting is there are fewer injuries in rugby than there are in football. In football there are all different kinds of pads and protective gear, while in rugby there is barely anything. The main difference is no helmet or shoulder pads, which is interesting because those are the two main body parts that players use to tackle with. However if the NFL switched from so much armor to hardly any, I bet players would not launch with their heads. Eddie Pells gives a convincing argument, for if the NFL should in fact do away with helmets rather than making safer helmets. On the football field, the uniform is a suit of armor that makes players feel invincible and has the NFL in a sudden scramble to make the game safe. On the rugby pitch, where the action is every bit as vicious, they've been playing for decades with little more than a paper-thin set of shoulder pads (Pells). I never would have thought that having no pads could potentially be safer than having no pads at all. It all makes perfect sense though, especially to those who have actually played football before. Wearing pads gives players the superman feeling, to where they feel unstoppable because they are wearing pads. "I don't think people would strike with the head as much," Mike Ditka said during the week. "You would learn to strike with the shoulder pads if you didn't have

7 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 7 a helmet on your head (Pells). When I see footage of football from back when it was first played, they barely had helmets. It was almost a leather hat, with flaps that covered the ears. I can t imagine those guys making tackled like James Harrison or Ed Reed with those helmets. Bringing back the basics of tackling would help solve a lot of this. It all starts with Roger Goodell, he ultimately has the power over the league. It seems that he sees some valid evidence of his players getting hurt, but instead of all of these outrageous idead for safety, why not just go back to the basics. Start with role models in the NFL, going out to teach youth football players the proper way to tackle. Teach the coaches the proper way to tackle, so that when these children get older they have learned the proper fundamentals to tackle. Also the NFL players themselves need to take some accountability. Try and set a good example for the youth of today, because these children look up to these athletes as role models and heros. Recently the New Orleans Saints have been involved in a bounty system, where coaches and even other players would set a price, and pay a player money to try and take another player of the opposite team out of the game. This also is not helping the cause for safety or for being a role model. This is a serious matter, because players of both teams could get severely injured, possibly ending the career of someone; or even worse their life. I think that Mr. Goodell did a good job of disciplining the organization for what they had done. Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entire season, general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended 8 games, assistant coach Joe Vitt for 6 games, while the organization as a whole was fined $500,000 and lost second round draft picks in the next two drafts (Smith, 2012). Like I said, I agree with the sternness of this punishment, however I do not agree with how Goodell enforced this severe issue throughout the NFL.

8 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 8 With the awareness of what the Saints did, I was shocked to find out that Roger Goodell, this harsh punishment giving commissioner, did absolutely nothing when he found out that the New York Giants were doing something similar. The New York Giants admitted to officials that they had targeted 49er s Kyle Williams, because they knew that he had a previous history of concussions. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, in addressing the recent punishments levied against the Saints, offered the league s official position: We are all accountable and responsible for player health and safety and the integrity of the game. We will not tolerate conduct or a culture that undermines those priorities. In case you were wondering, the Giants faced no league discipline for their actions, and that hypocrisy is startling (Smith, 2012). If he truly was concerned with the safety of players, then why did he not only disregard what the Giants did, but investigate the other 30 teams in the league. I can only think of one reason why this may be, money. Money is changing everything, not only in football, but in all sports. It is helping sports grow and become more known, while being able to broadcast more live sporting events. While doing all of these great things, it is also destroying the game of football and making it soft. I really don t think Roger Goodell could honestly care less about the safety of former NFL players until they sued the NFL. When the lawsuits came in, along with the interviews in the media, the little light bulb in Goodell s head cut on. To stop the lawsuits and bashing of he and the NFL, together they must do something to improve the safety of the game. Money doesn t just stop with what he might owe these former players, but in stopping the lawsuits. By changing the rules of the game that players have played by their entire lives, it would be near impossible to change the way in which they play so quickly. James Harrison for instance, has been fined a total of over $200,000 for these brutal hits (Gregory, 2012). If other

9 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 9 players break rules then he might eventually get enough money to pay back the former players in their lawsuits. The equipment for the players of today has to be the safest, to reduce the chance of injury; whereas if the rules changed to a thin leather helmet, costs of equipment will go down, as will the number of concussions, merely because players won t feel like superman with their body armor on. Also the rules that are implemented, making the players not be able to hit hard. That is what the people who watch football want to see; hits so hard that you hear the pain from the blow. It s in our nature and is exactly why we like football. It s why there were gladiators in ancient times, because even then violence was entertaining. Football today is being downgraded. From not being able to hit with your head, not touching the quarterback, to not even being allowed to lower your head to protect yourself, the game is declining. If this rate continues, maybe soon the NFL might do away with tackling altogether, just because someone got a concussion. Players won t wear any pads, but will wear flags on their waists like children. The NFL might change their name to the NFFL (National Flag Football League). It is just sad to see such an exciting game go downhill. Back in high school if one were to ask why a person plays football, most of the team, if not the whole team would say because they get to hit people. Clearly players in high school, even in Pop Warner football know the risk of playing football; it s violent, and the very reason some parents do not let their kids play football. But those that get the chance to play know that it is violent and that they can get hurt; they even see their favorite players on television get hurt. These rule changes for safety really seem pointless. The players know what they are getting into and it is the very reason why they play. I understand the reasoning for these new safety rules, as

10 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 10 do the players, but it is ruining the game. If the players were really that concerned about their health and safety, they wouldn t play football; but they do play football, so just let them play.

11 NFL Going Soft Wiseman 11 References Domowitch, P. (2013). NFL hopes rule change protects against concussions. The Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved March 25, 2013 from: fc3782c8%40sessionmgr13&vid=4&hid=5&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc 2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=n5h&AN=2W Eckstein, B. (2012). Safety measures, sprinkled with intrigue. New York Times. p. 5. Eddie Pells Associated, P. (n.d). No helmets in rugby; injuries are common but not as severe. Toronto Star (Canada). Gregory, S. (2012). Can Roger Goodell save football? Time, 180(25), King, P. (2010). Concussions. Sports Illustrated, 113(16), 34. Layden, T. (2011). The hits keep coming. Sports Illustrated, 114(4), 32. Smith, C. (2012). Roger Goodell is not serious about player safety, and it's because of money. Forbes Magazine, 35.