What about this play?:




Should Church be ejected?

No, though this is clearly helmet to helmet, at no point does Church lower his helmet or attack Gronkowski with the crown of his helmet.

The point of this rule is to prevent hits like the one that caused Shazier's injury, when you lead with the crown of your helmet you risk tremendous injury to your spine and neck. That's what the NFL wants to get rid of.

Understand and totally agree. But Church was in fact flagged for the hit and had this rule been in place last year he would’ve been ejected immediately. My point is we are relying on refs to get this bang bang play right (and they erroneously flagged Church on this play as you indicated) and it’s going to cost someone some games.

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"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

Agree, that is exactly the kind of play we are talking about. Using a helmet to helmet as a weapon.

What about this play?:




Should Church be ejected?

Thats more of accidental contact. Church didn't drop his head down like Richardson did to plow into gronk. He may have mistimed a bit but compare the amount of time Richardson had to both look ahead and drop his helmet to waist high level, he was always leading with the helmet. Churches helmit is nowhere near that level and is definately not projectile like.

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What about this play?:




Should Church be ejected?

No, though this is clearly helmet to helmet, at no point does Church lower his helmet or attack Gronkowski with the crown of his helmet.

The point of this rule is to prevent hits like the one that caused Shazier's injury, when you lead with the crown of your helmet you risk tremendous injury to your spine and neck. That's what the NFL wants to get rid of.

Said it better than I did. Leading with the crown is exactly the point. Its like Vic said, you make the helmets smaller and guys would stop doing it in a hurry.

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Yes, it's improvement, but it's Blaine Gabbert 2012 level improvement. - Pirkster

http://youtu.be/ouGM3NWpjxk The Home Hypnotist!

http://youtu.be/XQRFkn0Ly3A Media on the Brain Link!
 

Peyton must store oxygen in that forehead of his. No way I'd still be alive after all that choking.

 

No, though this is clearly helmet to helmet, at no point does Church lower his helmet or attack Gronkowski with the crown of his helmet.

The point of this rule is to prevent hits like the one that caused Shazier's injury, when you lead with the crown of your helmet you risk tremendous injury to your spine and neck. That's what the NFL wants to get rid of.

Understand and totally agree. But Church was in fact flagged for the hit and had this rule been in place last year he would’ve been ejected immediately. My point is we are relying on refs to get this bang bang play right (and they erroneously flagged Church on this play as you indicated) and it’s going to cost someone some games.

He was flagged because (like I said) it was a helmet to helmet hit. And even under the new rule he wouldn't be ejected because he didn't lower his head.

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If NY has the ability to call down an ejection, do they have the ability to override a ref's judgement ejection and put a player back in?

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IT WAS ALWAYS THE JAGS

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...lmet-rule/

Tried to tell y’all the nfl is about to ruin the game of football as we know it. The 3 point stance is all but gone now.

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"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

We’ll see. They added a subjective feature to it like always so it could lead to even more controversy. 

In regards to the OP, i’m curious as to how the league plans on handling situations on the field such as 4th and 1 and we hand the ball to Fournette who lowers his head and ends up getting penalized. Maybe even ejected. And when Bortles goes for the QB sneak and gets ejected because he fought for that extra inch.
.

Perhaps I am over reacting, but it seems to me they have pretty much legislated the three and four point stances and drive blocking out of the game.

What in the world has happened to our game?

Just when we get good again, they make it illegal to be us. 

Shaking my head in dismay.

This was my initial thought as well, but I believe I read somewhere (and I don't recall where) when the new rule was proposed, it was proposed to say that "If the head was lowered with the intent to lead with the head, or make contact with or to the head first" it would be a penalty...So as I understand the rule to be, it is you can still lower the head if the head is off to the side so the shoulder hits first...Kind of hard to block, tackle or for a runner to power run without dropping the head at all

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Perhaps I am over reacting, but it seems to me they have pretty much legislated the three and four point stances and drive blocking out of the game.

What in the world has happened to our game?

Just when we get good again, they make it illegal to be us. 

Shaking my head in dismay.

This was my initial thought as well, but I believe I read somewhere (and I don't recall where) when the new rule was proposed, it was proposed to say that "If the head was lowered with the intent to lead with the head, or make contact with or to the head first" it would be a penalty...So as I understand the rule to be, it is you can still lower the head if the head is off to the side so the shoulder hits first...Kind of hard to block, tackle or for a runner to power run without dropping the head at all

Hockey and basketball are pretty fun to watch right now.

If these rule changes turn this more into flag football than the game I've loved for years, I'll just start following the other sports more heavily.

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Coughlin when asked if winning will be a focus: "What the hell else is there? This is nice and dandy, but winning is what all this is about."

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...lmet-rule/

Tried to tell y’all the nfl is about to ruin the game of football as we know it. The 3 point stance is all but gone now.

If a lineman comes out of their stance with their head down they are basically useless to the play anyway.  I can't imagine this will be a big deal with lineman.

They hit heads every single play without putting their heads down.  Imo, the players most susceptible to head injuries are lineman because of the repeated blows to the head on almost every play, and that's with their heads up.

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What about the new rule for kneeling for the national anthem? Players are allowed to stay in the locker room during the anthem but if they are on the field they have to participate and stand, if they don't they/the team are fined by the NFL.

Personally being English, I don't care much for my own national anthem but that's just me.. We only have it for the finals pretty much, not every league game bar international football.

I understand that almost all American's are patriotic and I get that. I would be too if I were American!

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If NY has the ability to call down an ejection, do they have the ability to override a ref's judgement ejection and put a player back in?

They would most likely review the play before making an ejection, so this incident doesn't occur.

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Tried to tell y’all

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"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

the fans should kneel in protest of the new hitting rule.

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The rule is playing out badly. Maybe someday they will roll some of these rules back.

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Yes, it's improvement, but it's Blaine Gabbert 2012 level improvement. - Pirkster

http://youtu.be/ouGM3NWpjxk The Home Hypnotist!

http://youtu.be/XQRFkn0Ly3A Media on the Brain Link!
 

Peyton must store oxygen in that forehead of his. No way I'd still be alive after all that choking.

 

Stupid new rule

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I'm about ready to enter the league concussion protocol trying to decipher what a ref is seeing to make the subjective call.

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This is going to be the slow and painful demise of the nfl. Even Mike Zimmer sent the Bouye hit to the nfl, no one knows how the rule works lol.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000...eople-jobs

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A former player turned talking head on ESPN was saying today how crappy this is going to be. He said that short of being able to detach one's head from their shoulders just in the nick of time there is no way this is going to be good for the game.

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We’ll see. They added a subjective feature to it like always so it could lead to even more controversy. 

In regards to the OP, i’m curious as to how the league plans on handling situations on the field such as 4th and 1 and we hand the ball to Fournette who lowers his head and ends up getting penalized. Maybe even ejected. And when Bortles goes for the QB sneak and gets ejected because he fought for that extra inch.
.

Perhaps I am over reacting, but it seems to me they have pretty much legislated the three and four point stances and drive blocking out of the game.

What in the world has happened to our game?

Just when we get good again, they make it illegal to be us. 

Shaking my head in dismay.

- Ref blows whistle and throws flag. -

“Head was down while shook in dismay. 15 yard penalty.”

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Sadly, this is the stuff that is going to occur when the NFL is forced to make large payouts for CTE. They will protect their precious coin purse. However, it does appear the NFL is paying attention to the players and fans by holding regular rules committee meetings until regular season. Maybe the helmet rule will get shelved until much later.

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Sadly, this is the stuff that is going to occur when the NFL is forced to make large payouts for CTE. They will protect their precious coin purse. However, it does appear the NFL is paying attention to the players and fans by holding regular rules committee meetings until regular season. Maybe the helmet rule will get shelved until much later the players and the NFLPA beg for a change and give up any future damages considerations to get it.

My thought...

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato