The NFL could be ruining the sport in the name of safety

Image: Houston Texans Facebook

By: Michael Kaplan

Let me start off by saying that I am all for player safety as a logical, empathetic human being. I love the physical aspect of football just like any fan, but I also cringe when I see hits that cause injuries such as the Ryan Shazier hit. However, as I enter my tenth year of closely following football, I have realized that these hits are a part of the game, and they can’t really be stopped. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice your body to make a touchdown or first down saving hit, and you can’t make a clean wrap-up. With the speed of the game, sometimes players can’t avoid helmet-to-helmet contact, and it just happens.

It is almost impossible to regulate helmet-first hits and determine what the intention of the hit will be, which is why it is very risky for the NFL to do. For example, let’s say your team is in the playoffs and they’re up by two points with just 90 seconds left. The opposing team runs the ball on fourth and inches at the 45-yard line, and your best defender in the secondary makes a tackle where he dives into the scrum and happens to hit the running back square in the head. Both players are okay, but the defensive player gets ejected and the opposing team marches to the 30-yard line, eventually kicking a game-winning field goal. Is that fair? Nope. But this could be the game-altering reality that players and teams face because of this rule. At the same time, this defensive player learns nothing, because a clean wrap-up wasn’t possible during that play.

There are some situations where this rule will end up hurting teams instead of helping them, and then nobody is safe and teams lose. Obviously, there are situations when this rule can be effective, like if a game is in garbage time and a defensive player decides to try and injure a helpless receiver just for the hell of it. Then, of course, that would apply. However, the old targeting rules would also apply to that situation, and that player would still get ejected. I guess what I am trying to say in regards to this rule is that players and teams will only suffer, because head-to-head contact is an unfortunate aspect of the game, and there is no way to escape it. The old targeting rules may not be perfect, but at least they will allow for players to play, and won’t give intense advantages to opposing teams for incidental helmet contact. The game is too fast and too physical to completely eliminate the elements of a helmet-to-helmet hit with some fines and penalties. This contact is instinctual with most players, and it can’t be fixed. Sure, I guess you could maybe try and see how this works like First Take analyst Max Kellerman proposes, but in a year that the NFL could have so much potential with players returning from injury and such a strong draft class coming in April, it seems too costly to put game-altering, nay, potentially season-altering rules in the sport at a critical time.

Image: Baltimore Ravens Facebook

I know this fear is a tad biased from someone starved to see guys like Deshaun Watson, JJ Watt, and Whitney Mercilus play a full season, but I just see a lot of unnecessary penalty flags thrown during games where there really was just incidental contact. The NFL referees are notorious for throwing penalty flags for the wrong calls, and I’m worried that this will continue with higher stakes.

We may not even need this change to the rules because the NFL has already done stellar work to try and reduce head injuries, such as changing practice schedules, increasing rest for players, strengthening concussion protocol, making safer helmets, and prioritizing new blocking and tackling techniques. It is stupid to intensify all of these measures just a year before making more preventive rules. If I were Roger Goodell, I would let the league figure out what the formerly new rules passed just a few years ago will do before making even more change, like suspending someone for an incidental helmet-to-helmet hit.

I also want to talk about the proposed rule about eliminating kickoffs that may get a serious look from NFL executives this spring. This is just stupid, and there is no excuse to defend it. I understand that a lot of injuries occur on kickoffs, but this would eliminate a ridiculous amount of strategy to the game. Think about it, what would the NFL be if there were no onside kicks during critical moments in a game, or no opening kickoffs. Eliminating kicking eliminates the entire foot aspect of football, and it offers no positives. Pooch kicks, onside kicks when you are down by two possessions late in games, or just simply letting your fastest guys run for touchdowns to start games: those would all be gone. Players like Devin Hester who is considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, kick returner of all time, would never have played more than a few seasons in the NFL because he wasn’t a good wide receiver.

I understand that organizations, players, and teams want to save face and try to limit injuries, but maybe this noble task is a little too impractical, and change should come slowly through small, practical measures that have been instituted before. The NFL isn’t in jeopardy because of injuries, so this isn’t something that needs to be upended immediately. Youth football still has over 1,000,000 participants, and although there may be a decline over the coming years, football is too big to just die. It has been a lifestyle, nay, a religion, for over 60 years since it first became a huge national sport. Football will probably decrease in popularity more if the game becomes too soft because the intensity and physicality of the sport are what drew the attention of fans in the first place. Let’s be honest, who cares about the Pro Bowl? The answer is nobody because it lacks the same intensity and passion that a normal football game entails, yet that could be the slippery slope that the NFL is sliding down as it keeps proposing drastic changes to the way the game is played. Sponsors could pull out, media coverage decreases, attendance decreases, and soon, the NFL could have bigger problems than just injury settlements.

Again, I am all for increasing player safety and making sure these guys can play for as long as they want. However, I understand that football is a beautifully violent game, and if the league does too much to increase player safety, it could compromise the authenticity and passion of the game so many people enjoy.