DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Officials to begin ejecting players for helmet-to-helmet hits

NEW YORK -- The NFL has told its officiating crews to start ejecting players for flagrant helmet-to-helmet hits.

The new policy was outlined Saturday in a memo from supervisor of officials Mike Pereira, which was obtained by The Associated Press. It followed two fines last weekend for what the officiating department had determined were hits against players in defenseless positions.

One fine was against Washington Redskins safety LaRon Landry, who will forfeit a game check of $16,764 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on New York Jets quarterback Kellen Clemens. The other was against Philadelphia defensive tackle LaJuan Ramsey, who was fined his game check of $21,176 for spearing Dallas' Julius Jones.

Two weeks ago, San Diego cornerback Drayton Florence was fined $15,000 for a helmet-to-helmet hit that gave Houston quarterback Matt Schaub a concussion.

"Officials will be reminded this week to pay strict attention to these rules and disqualify the fouling player if the action is judged to be flagrant," Pereira wrote in the memo sent to the 32 NFL teams. "Actions that involve flagrant helmet to helmet contact are the likely acts that will include disqualification. Our commissioner and this office remain very focused on the safety of our players."

In the memo fining Landry and Ramsey, NFL director of football operations Gene Washington said emphasis would be on hits against players in defenseless positions.

Landry previously was fined $7,500 for two unnecessary roughness violations on Oct. 21 against Arizona. Ramsey was fined $5,000 on Oct. 14 for roughing the passer against the Jets.

After Florence was fined, the Texans complained that the punishment wasn't severe enough.

"We are disappointed in the sense that we have lost our starting quarterback for at least one game after the player took the crown of his helmet and delivered an illegal blow to Matt's jaw and the fine levied is only a small fraction of the player's weekly pay," general manager Rick Smith said.

"Is that equitable? The punishment doesn't appear to fit the crime when all factors are considered."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press


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I'm glad they will be doing this, but it is going to be difficult for officials. There are a lot of gray areas with some helmet to helmet hits. Sometimes these happen when both players lower their helmets. While the defensive player should never lead with his helmet, I would not call all of them flagrant.

I wonder if officials will work together to make this call, instead of one official determining if a hit is flagrant.

I wonder if they will go to the replay or not. Sometimes it's hard to judge if a player was actually hit by a helmet. I would hate to see a player ejected for a legal hit.

Like for instance last year. It looked like Russell hit Chad Johnson with his helmet but it was his shoulderpad.

If this policy is instituted fairly, then I think its a good thing. It seems somewhat inequitable in my opinion that a defensive player can hit a player (such as a QB) helmet to helmet hard enough to remove him from the game, which drastically alters the complexion of a game, and the only remedy the team gets is a 15 yard penalty.

Let's just make the NFL a flag football league...

Tossing players for tackling that results in helmet to helmet contact is BS.

Spearing is another thing and I have no problem tossing a guy for spearing but since the beginning of football, players have made helmet to helmet contact intentionally.

What is being proposed is to change the physical nature of the game and putting the burden on the officials to make the call as to what is too rough.

If the NFL wants to cut down on head injuries, change the material the helmets are made of. Use a material that cushion the helmets so the blows are absorbed instead of the rock hard plastic now used.

Also, improve the cushioning inside the helmets...

Improve the fit of the helmets. Too many helmets come off way too easy.

Anyone see Jason Witten of the Cowboys lose his helmet last weekend?

Maybe the chin straps need to be reworked so the helmets stay on better?

The NFL needs to be looking the quality of the helmet material and make a safer helmet rather than change the physical nature of the game, IMO.

Again, blatant spearing, I have no problem with ejecting a player.

But helmet to helmet contact has been part of the game since helmets were first used in the late 1890's.

Engineering better helmets that meet today's needs is the answer....WOOF...mac

Half way through the season and NOW they want to enforce this rule,,, Gees..

Quick somebody,,, the horse got out,, Close the Barn Door

lol... I personally thought the guy who hit Schaub should have been suspended a game... but that was just me...

I'm ok with this rule if it's a true helmet to helmet hit that was flagrant... if it is in the heat of the battle and doesn't look intentional then I would hate to see someone get tossed.

Football, and tackling specifically, is a game of leverage. The RB is going to run as low as possible to prevent such tackle. The defender will attempt to get as low as possible to tackle the legs. Helmet to helmet hits will happen. It’s the nature of the game.

As stated before, I agree intentional flagrant fouls should be prone to ejections, but this will be so difficult to be judgmental on what constitutes an ejection and what does not.

The NFL is setting themselves up for more scrutiny.

I'm a little concerned in just how this is going to be called. I can't see people getting ejected and being out for a big game for a questionable hit. Sometimes, even if helmet to helmet, it's not purposeful. And sometimes it's a shoulder pad. I'm all for preventing head injuries, but they really need to be careful with this one, or there could be some backlash.

Well, I guess the ball carrier should get his head as low as possible when approaching a hit. That way the defender has to stand taller than the ball carrier or risk making helmet to helmet contact and possibly getting tossed.

jc

this is stupid, how can you change a rule MID SEASON!!??

it means that half of the season doesnt match this half...and this is a major game-changing move.

silly silly stuff espeially on a judgement call that is not reviewable.

I think that league stars getting preferential treatment is always a fear.. not sure how often it really happens.. never really paid that much attention..

wines hard better watch out

Can This Football Helmet Save Lives?

Brett Zarda

To bet on whether the NFL will give its players concussion-sensing helmets next season, see our new PPX IPO.

Andre Waters, 44, shot himself in the head after bouts with depression. Terry Long drank a bottle of antifreeze at 45. Thirty-six-year-old Justin Strzelczyk heard voices and died in a crash while fleeing police. All ex–NFL players, all dead before their 46th birthday, and according to autopsies performed by physician Bennet Omalu, all with signs of brain damage.

Omalu, a former neuropathologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, believes he's the first to pinpoint forensic evidence of a condition he has dubbed football-induced chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a variation of "boxer's dementia." Symptoms include confusion, mood disorders, slurred speech and memory loss. On the eve of football season, Omalu, along with a growing number of clinicians, argues that other players are at risk.

Now chief medical examiner for San Joaquin County in California, Omalu discovered abnormal proteins in each player's brain similar to those found in 90-year-old dementia patients. He believes that scores of players have analogous damage, but proving it requires postmortem brain sectioning. "These are not the first football players to develop dementia, become destitute, and suffer from depression," he says. "The novelty is that for the first time, we have direct, indisputable tissue evidence."

The NFL, however, isn't convinced. "No one is dismissing the work, but there are numerous inconsistencies and inaccuracies," says physician Ira Casson, co-chairman of the NFL's Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) committee. "We refuse to jump on the bandwagon with the first report."

Casson disagrees that the pathology is consistent with boxer's dementia. Omalu concedes that components of boxer's CTE are not evident, but notes that different impacts will yield different pathologies.

Kevin Guskiewicz, the research director at the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes, a frequent critic of the MTBI committee, says the NFL should consider evidence beyond brain slices. Surveying retired players, Guskiewicz found a three-fold increase in clinical-depression rates after three or more concussions. In June he presented his findings at the first-ever "concussion summit" in Chicago, a gathering of more than 250 clinicians, player representatives, and team doctors and trainers convened by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss traumatic head injuries. Casson dismissed Guskiewicz's results as well, saying the study relied too heavily on anecdotal information. "The data is there," Guskiewicz counters. "Now, hopefully, physicians and trainers will put it to good use."

The NFL has come under mounting pressure to step up the care of its players. Most recently, a congressional subcommittee threatened to enact legislation that would force the league to improve its player-disability plan. Slowly, the NFL is beginning to make changes. As of this season, all players must undergo neuropsychological testing, and the MTBI committee is initiating a study to monitor brain function in retired players. The league has also implemented a new medical plan to cover players diagnosed with dementia. (It has accepted 50 of 104 applications to date.)

Meanwhile, the New Hampshire–based company Simbex is developing technology that could help prevent CTE altogether. It makes sensor-embedded telemetry helmets that can gauge in real time a concussive-level impact and notify personnel on the sidelines. In addition to helping staff decide when to bench a player, the technology is enabling researchers to better understand the biomechanical causes of head trauma, which in turn could lead to better headgear. Seven universities and five high schools now require players to wear the helmets. The NFL is considering the technology but has no firm plans to adopt it.

Guskiewicz, for one, insists that the NFL needs to do more. "Is it smarter to assume the risk is there, until proven otherwise, and treat the players more cautiously," he asks, "or should we assume it's not there and risk the chance?"

web page

Now thats an interesting article.

Moving forward, I'm not sure how anyone could be surprised that this action is coming from the NFL.. in this day and age of litigation, if a plaintiff could show that the NFL is negligent in protecting it's players they can and may be found liable.. thus the rule.. Being found liable of negligence would be a lotta cabbage..

J/c

Maybe some of you missed this...

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The NFL has told its officiating crews to start ejecting players for flagrant helmet-to-helmet hits.

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The way I understand it, these are hits where the clear intention is to lead with the helmet. If that's the way it gets enforced, I'm all for it.

I also would be all for the refs looking at a replay before disqualifacation.

Saint:

What you wrote pretty much says it all- about where things are... and it's also an indicator of where things are going. Ever since pro football became 'BigBiz,' the legal aspects of BigBiz were always lurking just around the corner. Now, we're seeing it.... and we'll see it more and more.

As much as it makes me want to heave a sigh sometimes, it's all part of the evolution of the game we love so much. Hell, there's a part of me that wants to see players chuck 60% of their present padding, don leather helmets and go at it the way they did when my father (r.i.p.) was a young fan. The rest of me knows that we should do everything we can to insure that these people can live productive lives after their short-lived careers as athletic young men.

It was only a matter of time before the legal industry started to effect the way fans watch games... and we're seeing some the first evidence of it in policies like this.

Prediction: If I know Human Beings, we'll "legislate" this game into something that bears little resemblance to the game we now watch. I will "evolve" into a entertainment that fans will eventually lose interest in. At that point, they'll go elsewhere to find their thrills, and some of us will be telling our grandchildren about this old-timer's game called "football." It will be a shame, but really- we've all heard those kinds of stories from our Grandfathers already. Football ain't exempt- it's just another part of life. And life changes all the time.

Bummer too... because I LOVE me some Pro Football.


- and PDawg: you worte:

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I also would be all for the refs looking at a replay before disqualifacation.

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I expect it to come to that sooner than laters. Now that replay is a permanent feature of the game, it stands to reason that it will (and can) be used for more applications than we see at present. At least in theory, I don't have too much of a problem with it. If it makes the results of the game fairer, or helps to keep an innocent player from being ejected, I'm for it, too.

One thing's for sure- we haven't seen the last of this game changing. If anything, the pace of that change will increase- as we get/use more technology and change our society's culture. After a point, I'll just stop trying to "keep up"... and find something else to do on Sunday afternoons...



...but the Browns will have won a Super Bowl before that...

... I hope.

.02,
Clemdawg

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Let's just make the NFL a flag football league...

Tossing players for tackling that results in helmet to helmet contact is BS.

Spearing is another thing and I have no problem tossing a guy for spearing but since the beginning of football, players have made helmet to helmet contact intentionally.

What is being proposed is to change the physical nature of the game and putting the burden on the officials to make the call as to what is too rough.

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Yes and no.....I don't think they are changing it into flag football, but they are taking corrective action where they feel there is a need to do so. Overkill? Perhaps, since the rules ALREADY in place allow for this to occur. But, with the influx of injuries, they feel that something must be done to force the zebras to look at certain areas of the game with a harsher eye.

Rules already in place you may ask? Players can already be ejected under the current rules if their play is deemed flagrant.....

15 Yards (and disqualification if flagrant)

1. Striking opponent with fist.

2. Kicking or kneeing opponent.

3. Striking opponent on head or neck with forearm, elbow, or hands whether or not the initial contact is made below the neck area.

4. Roughing kicker.

5. Roughing passer.

6. Malicious unnecessary roughness.

7. Unsportsmanlike conduct.

8. Palpably unfair act. (Distance penalty determined by the Referee after consultation with other officials.)

15 Yards and Automatic Disqualification

1. Using a helmet (not worn) as a weapon.

2. Striking or purposely shoving a game official.

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Improve the fit of the helmets. Too many helmets come off way too easy.

Anyone see Jason Witten of the Cowboys lose his helmet last weekend?

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A properly fitted helmet should NEVER come off during play unless the player's head comes with it. Never. This is an area where players are not being properly monitored would be my guess.

Sorry, link for the rules quoted above:

http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/penaltysummaries

This will without a doubt be called, for the purpose of making and example of someone, this week. This is just another example of the league offices letting the league down by meddling. I believe Tagliabue or Rosell would have found a way to call attention to this in a way better than midweek midseason.

I vote for two extra games, no games played overseas, and an extra bye week; other than that the League ain't broke, so don't fix it.

SMACK PORTION OF POST DELETED BY MODERATOR

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Meanwhile, the New Hampshire–based company Simbex is developing technology that could help prevent CTE altogether.

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Is this one of those stock scam emails that come arouind every so often...

The company seems to exist: http://www.simbex.com/products/index.html

I say that because of this line in particular:

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To bet on whether the NFL will give its players concussion-sensing helmets next season, see our new PPX IPO.

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If It's from a legit news letter,,cool,, but if not,, then you gotta throw out all the data they talk about.. I don't want to research it myself.. but if someone want to, check the validity of the and existence of these people:

Bennet Omalu, chief medical examiner for San Joaquin County in California,

Ira Casson, co-chairman of the NFL's Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) committee

Kevin Guskiewicz, the research director at the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes (I didn't know that center even existed)

nothing for hines ward ?

just clicking...

I'm convinced that the best way to cut down on head/brain injuries is to change the materials today's helmets are made of, especially the outer shell of the helmet.

When football decided to move forward with a new helmet material, plastic, they relied on better cushioning inside the helmet to offset the increased concussion of the harder plastic shell.

But football players have become bigger, stronger and faster and the intensity of the collisions has increased along with physical abilities of the players themselves.

But you can only do so much with the inside of a helmet in the way of padding..and we may have reached that level years ago.

I'm sure those making plastic helmets don't want to see any changes to the outer material used for today's helmets but if the NFL and football in general, are "serious" about reducing the threat of injuries from helmet to helmet contact, they must change the material used for the outer shell of today's helmets.

Asking the refs to "police" the field and ticket those they deem as making intentional helmet to helmet contact is like putting a bandaid on a 6 inch open wound.

This is a safety issue, not a rules enforcement issue.

Think about this...on each play, we have 22 players who may be making helmet to helmet contact with each other. The game moves so quickly that most of the helmet to helmet contact is missed...the stuff that goes on in the trenches. What is seen by the refs and fans is the contact in the open field.

If the NFL believes that enforcing helmet to helmet contact rules will improve the safety of the game...what about the contact that goes on in the trenches on every play that remains hidden by the mass of bodies in that area?

Flagging only the helmet to helmet contact a ref can see, is not the answer!

Again, IMO, the NFL can't improve the safety on the field (from H-H contact) by making or enforcing new or existing rules.

If they are truly serious about protecting the players, improve the quality of today's football helmets.

Anyone remember the helmet a Kansas City Chiefs LB used to use, back in the 60's?...I think it was a plastic helmet that had a wide cushioned area from front to back.

Obviously the NFL knew as far back as the 60's that cushioning the plastic helmets would decrease the severity of collision or they would not have allowed the KC LBer to use that style of helmet.

No doubt, plastic helmets as we now know them are on the way out. The politics involved (helmet manufactures) in such a change could slow the progress but a more shock resistant outer shell is an improvement who's time has come.

Don't rely on the officials to make football safer...that is not the answer.

...jmho...WOOF... mac

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Asking the refs to "police" the field and ticket those they deem as making intentional helmet to helmet contact is like putting a bandaid on a 6 inch open wound.

This is a safety issue, not a rules enforcement issue.

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Actually it is.....you and others are whining about "the game" being turned into flag football with this memo to the officials when the rules are already in place to achieve the desired effect. It is their job to police the field.....

There are those that are working on developing safer helmets, but the rules are in place to deter injuries such as these. They should be used......

"While the defensive player should never lead with his helmet"

Actually when you explode into tackles...just like a runner you have to have a lean...of course the helmet should always be leading in these perfect tackle scenarios.

The object is to not lower the head and make it "SPEARING". If you keep your face mask up - I've always taught my players to attack the facemask to the ball...see it in all the way to impact - it should be effective and legal.

But you are correct as I've seen on more than one occasion a QB lower his head so that the tackler has a perfect facemask on the chest but the QB lowers his chin into the top of the helmet (not on purpose just a natural reaction and the result that it occurs).

I sure as heck hope the refs can differentiate from those occurances to those of blatant spearing.

Actually its the spearing if too low is where the back of the neck can get damaged and paralyzing occurs.

JMHO

Good points.....very accurate post.

Stop it...I might be accused of an air of superiority

You'll recover......

It will be interesting to see how this "new" rule gets applied in games today. Who will be the first player to go down for the count? Will it affect (effect??) the outcome of a game? The playoff race? Hmmmmm.......

Shep...tell us, have the rules your speaking of worked in the past?

Can the refs see all the helmet to helmet hits on every play?

All it takes is for the "refs" to enforce the rules on the books and the NFL will cut down on head injuries to it's players..right?

Like I said, IMO, the refs can not flag the NFL into a safer place that is free of the helmet to helmet contact that causes the head injuries that take a toll on a players health.

You and other miss the point...it's the helmets...not the refs..

I stand firmly by "my" opinion...the NFL has not kept up with technology when it comes to helmet safety.

Using a refs flag as a bandaid won't work either...

Rock hard helmets being worn by players that are bigger, stronger and faster might be the problem...ya think?...WOOF...mac

Mac, believe me I see and agree with your point wholeheartedly....100%. It's no different than NASCAR using technology to make the walls at tracks and the cars themselves safer for drivers, and I am a staunch supporter of that.

My point is that there was no need for this memo to be issued....the rules are already in place for ejections. There should be an enforcement of the rules on the field to deter these illegal cheap shots until the helmets can be changed.

And I apologize for my "whining" comment, as I know you weren't whining. We both want it to remain "football" and that was the essence of your post.

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It's no different than NASCAR using technology to make the walls at tracks and the cars themselves safer for drivers, and I am a staunch supporter of that.

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\shep...It really is about "common sense" and the fact that the NFL seems to be so far behind the curve on helmet safety.

Your NASCAR comment makes me think back to Dale Earnhardt's death.

It took something that dramatic to shock NASCAR officials into making the necessary safety changes that would protect their drivers.

Like I said earlier, you can only put so much padding "inside" a helmet.

Here is another idea...leave the outer shell alone and put a layer of shock absorbing material between an outer shell and an inner shell.

No how hard is it for helmet engineers to come up something better than the rock hard helmets now in use?

We have the technology to make helmets safer...but the NFL is lacking the leadership to implement improvements.

The leagues answer...tell the refs to throw more flags...just a bandaid approach, IMO...WOOF...mac.