My god what have they done to this game? I’m watching the Texans game and they have completely destroyed this game with all of the rule changes. The amount of penalties in NFL games is egregious! And the penalties are never consistent, rarely make sense and have ruined the experience of watching an NFL game. For instance on the kickoff to start the second half of this 49ers VS Texans game they call two penalties, one on the 49ers(the kicking team) for an illegal formation on the kickoff and the other on the Texans(the receiving team) for an illegal two man block. And so the penalties offset each other and the Texans choose to redo the kickoff. Now that’s all fine and dandy but let’s look deeper... both of these rules were put in place to help protect players on what many consider the most dangerous play in football, the kickoff. But isn’t it funny that in an effort to protect the players they actually ended up just making them redo the most dangerous play in football and inherently put the players in more danger?!?!?!?? And not to mention it took the refs about 4 minutes to figure out what the hell penalty they were going to call. There is probably more time spent in referee hudles than there is actual live game action in an NFL game.
It's the NFL that is broken. Today against the Vikings, AJ Bouye got flagged for lowering his helmet on a tackle where the offensive player bulled him over, helmet first. Initially I thought the offensive player was being flagged. Was Bouye supposed to just stand there and let the guy with the ball drill him in the rib cage? The NFL has focused all their energy on making the helmet safer as protection for the head and radically changing the definition of a legal tackle. There is merit in both of these things. However, the huge item missing is making the helmet less lethal as a weapon. IMO, the NFL has to slightly pad the crown on the helmet so it is less weaponized. I've been saying this for several years. 2-3 years before the NFL finally started reacting, James Harrison mastered the art of using the crown of his helmet to purposefully inflict concussions by hitting runners on the side of their helmet. I called him a criminal on the football field because of it. If the league doesn't add clarity to these new rules very soon, NFL ratings will plummet even faster. But they seem clueless.
Remove the facemask and the "hard shell" on the helmet. How much do you think people would be smashing their heads into one another if this was the NFL helmet? You want a helmet that prevents incidental contact from being severe, but you don't want a helmet that gives players carte blanche to use their face and head as a weapon. Broken noses and busted teeth can be fixed. Broken brains cannot. Also, while we're at it, minimize shoulder pads too.
I watched a lot of Jags/Vikings but missed this play somehow. The NFL can't legislate the game to be played like ballerinas. They can't afford to tinker much with the natural, instinctive aggression of hitting and tackling. Fans will walk away in droves. It made perfect sense to penalize pancaking a QB after the ball was released. It makes little sense to do so when it's a sack. A tackler in the process of bringing someone down should have the right to play all-out until the whistle.
It's a mess. There are ways to be protective without destroying the entire nfl brand, like those 30 seconds where a "neutral" doctor in a patriots game observes brady for 20 seconds then lets him go back in. Once the replay shows where head makes contact, he should be taken out for the entire game. But a tackle where you place the helmet on the side of the body and drive? That's not causing any harm and it's safe. Players would like that more than diving at the knees which will eventually happen more and more. They need a new nfl commissioner. Allowing the DBs to get 10 yards instead of 5 for contact would also help in saving some of these bad rules. Okay, I just had to stick my yearly rant on discrimination against dbs.
I’m with you man they have made the game impossible to defend... there was another set of plays in the Texans game where Tyler Ervin got drilled on a punt return but the tackle was textbook and a very clean hit and they called a penalty on San Francisco for “lowering the crown” but on the very next play Alfred Blue is running with the ball and clearly lowers his helmet to truck the defender and there is no call... I guess defenders are supposed to just get ran over now.
Just a joke... it really sucks that when the Texans finally find a QB it doesn’t even make me excited because the damn game is unwatchable and unplayable anymore.
Idk, the guy did drive the QB into the ground when he had him all but down, I bet that's why it was called. Watch close, there's an extra bit of nasty in the play @ the end..
Nah, gotta pull of the QB tho, can't drive the dude into the ground. Watch other players do the same play, the will pull up or get flagged. If that's a WR maybe it's not called, but that's the QB man...
I don't really think the league is broken, players are just going to have to learn to tackle without dropping their heads. They are the reason why the league has to protect itself since they made such a big deal about concussions.....those actions have consequences. Now they aren't going to be able to lower their heads anymore. Now (and for a while really) they aren't going to be able to drive QB's into the ground. The league is forced to get softer due to the threat of being sued by the players after they retire, go broke, and are looking for one more payday.
he didn't pick him up and drive him into the ground. textbook tackle to me leading with the shoulder for a clear hit. looks worse bc the qb has no idea its coming which isn't the tackler's fault at all. and I don't expect that to be called in the regular season. preseason has always been an issue with ridiculous calls like that.
+1 That was about as clean of a tackle as you will see in the NFL. The only even remotely questionable thing about it is the guy put his head down a fraction of a second before impact, but he didn't "lead" with his head.
If that is a penalty, then what isn't? That's clean. He did slam him a little bit, but that is what you get when you get a clear shot at the QB. I don't need the big hits to be interested in football, but I do need to know what the damn rules are because I get more and more confused every day.
Just make the qb wear a flag and be done with it already, that’s if you still care anything about the sport at this point.
Yeah but they rules don’t make sense... Guys with the ball are still lowering their heads to truck defenders and defenders are supposed to just get ran over.
