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NFL expands helmet-hit rule, working on targeting rule

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000...-targeting-rule

The NFL approved the broadening of the helmet-hit rule that will penalize players who lead with the crown of their helmets to initiate contact against an opponent on any play, NFL Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay announced Tuesday.

Offending players would be penalized 15 yards and may be disqualified depending on the severity of the hit. McKay said the Competition Committee and the league "felt it was time" to make the change in order to better enhance player safety. Clubs will continue to work on a targeting rule similar to the college football rule in which players would be automatically ejected for hitting with the helmet. Nothing regarding a targeting rule has been finalized by the NFL.

"For us this is a pretty significant change," McKay said during a news conference at the Annual League Meeting in Orlando. "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," McKay said. "It was time for a change of this magnitude.

"This has very little requirement to it," McKay continued. "This is simply if you lower your head to initiate contact and you make contact with an opponent it's a foul."

The NFL plans to bring coaches, players and team officials to New York at some point in the next couple months to work out enforcement specifics regarding the rule, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported. They're hoping to have the disciplinary aspects of the rule finalized by the Spring League Meeting in May, Pelissero added.

The rule comes after injury data released by the league in January showed a 13.5 percent increase in diagnosed concussions from 2016 to 2017 (243 to 281) over the preseason and regular season. The increase comes after 28 percent of concussion evaluations were self-reported by players -- a nine-point increase over 2016.

McKay said the hit that led to Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier suffering a spinal injury during a game in December was not necessarily what spurred the league to expand the helmet-hit rule.

"I think the impetus was the research," McKay said, "because the more we saw of the concussion plays and the more there was a common technique, it became more apparent that we needed to get out of situationally saying, 'Well, if a player is targeted or if a defenseless player is in the air we need to get to the technique that can protect the person doing the hitting also.' It could be Ryan Shazier, it could be many others."

The NFL has made 49 rule changes since 2002 to protect players, improve practice methods, better educate players and personnel on concussions and strengthen the league's medical protocols. The NFL deploys 29 medical professionals on the sidelines for each game. Working with the NFL Players Association, the league enforces a concussion protocol for players that has been instrumental in immediately identifying and diagnosing concussions and other head-related injuries.

In addition to broadening the helmet-hit rule, the NFL also approved a simplified catch rule and made several other rule book modifications on Tuesday.

this might be another rule change that makes things more confusing

yeah, like the targeting rule in college. Good idea, but I've seen several that were clearly not targeting but they still booted the kid.

Another subjective rule that will slow down the game and lead to more controversy.

Yup, Richard Sherman and our own Joe Shoebert aren't happy about it at all

More friggen rules.




If we eliminated helmets, concussions would go down..

Safety play is dead in the NFL. How can you not lower your head in a sport where you need to get lower than your opponent to succeed? This is madness. I wish the XFL wouldn't be so horribly managed, but I know it will be.

All they need next, is an expansion of the "in the grass" rule and voila! Flag Football.

What about running backs who lower their heads?

It is a natural reaction when approaching a collision to make yourself smaller, more compact to take the hit. I remember this was talked about in the past, citing the possibility of penalizing a RB for lowering his head. That argument evaporated quickly but I could see the discussion revisited now.

Just make the rule kind of post facto after the game....especially if tied to injury...player gets hurt on Sunday then review the footage on Monday...if the injury was from an illegal hit (with heavy focus on helmet to helmet or leading with the helmet) then the offending player in question is suspended for next Sunday and will continue suspension until injured player returns...unpaid...

You don't lower your head in a tackle... that violates rule number one on proper tackling..

Unfortunately safeties tend to play for highlights and for the arena,not for sound smart football

Not only the player has to be fined, but the coaching staff also..

Amazing how poor tackling is spread across the NFL and college specially in DB's.

i am fine with the change to be honest. there are only a handful of players in the league that cant play within the rules. Most players keep their head up and form tackle.

Now what I dont like is when the offensive player lowers himself into what was a clean hit zone when the defender commited to the hit. it goes from a good tackle to top of helmet scraping the facemask and a 15 yarder.

Anyway, i like college rules better than pro rules in almost every single way.

This was the first thing that came to my mind when hearing this yesterday. When RB's run high they open themselves up to all kinds of injuries. Getting low gives you the leverage you need to gain momentum and break tackles.

We'll see how it goes but it certainly opens the door for a lot of problems.

It's a natural reaction to make your self smaller in preparation of taking a hit. You can't think of an instance where people don't do that. For a running back, getting smaller is getting lower. You can't get lower without lowering your head too. Unlike making a tackle the RB can't go in head up, face first. He's more of a battering ram to gain yardage.

Maybe it'll be like the rule that DL can grab and hold OL but OL cannot grab and hold DL. The RB can lower his head as an offensive ram but the D cannot lower their head as a defensive weapon.

That solved I'm going to take another nap. When I wake up from it I may not agree with anything I just wrote.

Chris Spielman on Twitter:

Simple solution to new target rules in NFL. 1. Eyes Up 2. Head Up 3.Wrap Up. We will see better tackling and the player will be safer. The game is NOT ruined. Coaches need to start demanding this from their players.


https://twitter.com/chris_spielman/status/979085132006133762

Hasn't this been called "Spearing"? And been illegal for a long time?

and neck injuries

I guess RBs can't lower their head to get the pads low?


Cool, as long as the rules go both ways.



If not, a BS rule.

I don't like how this is so subjective, and the application of the rule will probably vary wildly between different ref crews as well as at different points in the game. Add super-slow-mo replay, and it's not hard to see this being one of those rules that randomly come up to bite us (and only us) in the butt (along the lines of the helmet toss, pushout, challenges do(n't) get called on time, etc).

Just another way to rig games.

I agree - I don't like an official being asked to gauge "intent" by a tackler. They better be damn sure the defender is trying hurt someone before they eject him for this.

If they want to lower concussions they have to lower the force of impact. Mass x acceleration. You can't make the players slower but you can decrease the mass of the player. I've been saying for years they should institute a weight limit on players. 300 pounds to start, followed five years later with 275 and leave it there. That ought to put an end to the HGH crap too. Less weight is less stress on the joints, the players are all more active and athletic. It's a better game. Having two or three players all over 320 pounds falling on top of you would give anyone a concussion.

For years they have been instructed to aim their facemask at the target, wrap up the legs, and drive through the tackle. To tackle someone you have to lower your head. Now you don't lead with the crown of your helmet. That was called spearing back in the day and it was illegal even then. But if you are saying no part of a tacklers helmet is permitted to touch the offensive player? You just dramatically changed the nature of football and how it is played. Not sure it would be watchable. It BARELY is now. I watch the Browns plus a few playoff games if I think they might be good and the SB. I used to watch every game that was televised.

Why on earth would you lower your head to tackle someone?

No you don't lower your head, you don't take the eyes of the player or the ball...

j/c:

I think some people are missing a key element, probably because they never played.

The game is very fast. You don't always see who is about to hit you. Other times, you catch sight of them right before impact. Players move accordingly. Heck, I only played in high school and college and it was a long ass time ago.

I can't imagine how fast the game is in the NFL. Hits that upset some folks are going to happen. Targeting is a very subjective call that is no doubt going to add to the officiating problems that the NFL already has. Too many rules is not good for the game.

Only someone who never played could come up with statement like that...

Its because the game is fast that the training and coaching fundamentals arise and become visible..

The players who have sound tackling fundamentals will tackle properly, not leading with helmets,not drop the head, because that's all they train and what its hardwired on them.

Then you have players who have a punishing/highlight mentality, most of it developed by coaches who share the same school of thought...

Its not that hard to spot...sure in some instances you cannot avoid it, but a referee is able to spot it easily.

Its not about making the helmets safer,its about attitude..

Most of this hits are done by DB's on defenseless players, who are hitting to punish.

How is a back supposed to lower his shoulders to run behind his pads without lowering his head?

My guess is 95% of the calls will be on defensive players.

Unless I am badly mistaken, the rule does not apply to offensive players.

I just hope that they look at the whole play before tossing a player. LI seem to recall that, last year, a Browns player was tripped, and fell into the QB, head first, and was called for the personal foul.

Someone earlier on in the thread made the suggestion that this rule would be applied/enforced after a game has already been played (people in NY review a game after completion and hand out punishments if they find anything... in the form of fines/suspensions). I like that idea. It doesn't allow the refs to use this rule to affect the outcome of a game.

I'll have to go find it....I am pretty sure I read it applies to any player, and position.



If not, why? Offensive players can break their necks by lowering the head.


The problem I see is when you are about to make contact, lowering the head is a normal reaction. I'd say everybody lowers their head when about to get hit.

I'm sure you're right in that it applies to any player on the field.

This will replace the is-it-a-catch-or-ain't-it-a-catch as the new thing taking up so much game time trying to get the call right and causing week-long controversies either way.

If the player earned an ejection but the Refs cannot call that as the penalty then it is still effecting the outcome of the game. There could be a big difference in outcome with that player being there or not.

This doesn’t make sense since quite the opposite Ian true. If all the players were over 300 lbs, concussions would probably go down because of the decreased speed due to their masses.

All the concussions in the league come from the smaller guys - like safeties - because they move so darn fast and pop people at the blazing pace.