New Helmet Rule

[sandwedge]

(05-23-2018, 08:42 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Sorry, forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I never played line. How the hell can you play on either side of the line with your head down, making it impossible to see what your opposite number is doing anyway? Wouldn't an OT or OG need to have his eyes up to see what the D-linemen are doing, and wouldn't the D-linemen need to have their eyes up to see what the O linemen are doing? 

You should have your eyes up, but short yardage or goal line is a big scrum, where low man wins. You don't want your head up or it will get taken off.

[depthchart]

(05-23-2018, 08:42 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Sorry, forgive me if this is a dumb question, but I never played line. How the hell can you play on either side of the line with your head down, making it impossible to see what your opposite number is doing anyway? Wouldn't an OT or OG need to have his eyes up to see what the D-linemen are doing, and wouldn't the D-linemen need to have their eyes up to see what the O linemen are doing? 

(05-23-2018, 11:41 AM)sandwedge Wrote: You should have your eyes up, but short yardage or goal line is a big scrum, where low man wins. You don't want your head up or it will get taken off.

It is somewhat like two horned Rams battling it out in nature.

Their heads are down but they peer up at each other with their eyes to target each other and then just before impact they lower their heads enough to absorb the impact.

Depending on what kind of impact you are expecting, a lineman has to decide how much he wants to keep his head up, either a lot to just enough to peer if expecting a big collision.

If one guy slightly peers and then lowers like a horned Ram does in Nature while the other guy is mimicking the NFL Commissioner holding his "head up" to see, then the guy holding his head up Commissioner style is going to be hurting if he gets hit top of the helmet to facemask.

How high you hold up your head has to be on a case by case, play by play basis, depending on what is going on around you and you have to act quickly to position your head in the best way to absorb each unique blow.

[SunsetBengal]

(05-23-2018, 12:29 PM)depthchart Wrote: It is somewhat like two horned Rams battling it out in nature.

Their heads are down but they peer up at each other with their eyes to target each other and then just before impact they lower their heads enough to absorb the impact.

Depending on what kind of impact you are expecting, a lineman has to decide how much he wants to keep his head up, either a lot to just enough to peer if expecting a big collision.

If one guy slightly peers and then lowers like a horned Ram does in Nature while the other guy is mimicking the NFL Commissioner holding his "head up" to see, then the guy holding his head up Commissioner style is going to be hurting if he gets hit top of the helmet to facemask.

How high you hold up your head has to be on a case by case, play by play basis, depending on what is going on around you and you have to act quickly to position your head in the best way to absorb each unique blow.

Depending on how tightly they enforce the new rule on linemen, this could have a serious impact on short yardage plays, and well as runs between the tackles in general.  The big bruiser RB could become a thing of the past, but I certainly hope not.  

[depthchart]

(06-07-2018, 11:40 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Depending on how tightly they enforce the new rule on linemen, this could have a serious impact on short yardage plays, and well as runs between the tackles in general.  The big bruiser RB could become a thing of the past, but I certainly hope not.  

I have a bad feeling about where this will lead.

Officiating this will be a nightmare.  IMO

This guy on that team gets called but that guy on this team doesn't -or- called on similar hit in first quarter, not called on similar hit in 3rd quarter then called late in 4th quarter on similar hit altering the outcome of the game.

It seems the NFL decision makers will be constantly making changes year after year going forward to possibly make it appear that they are on the cutting edge of "caring" about player safety.

Making changes to "prove" that they "care" to the point of going too far.

The Miss America brain trust leaders just showed their cutting edge ability to "care" by eliminating the Swimsuit Competition which some fans of watching Pageants may not like.

NFL fans may not like where this all leads to, say within another decade.

[Au165]

I think the bigger issue here is now that sports betting is going to be more prevalent, will the fan base see these calls as attempts to influence games? The NFL has actually walked back this rule a bit since the sports betting case was final and I don't think it's a coincidence. They acted once upon a time that it was going to be very wide reaching, but recently they came out and said only 2 or 3 plays a game would have qualified last year after review. I think you won't see it called in the trenches barely ever, but more so left to open field tackling and such.

[Bengalitis]

(05-22-2018, 05:25 PM)pally Wrote:   I suspect there will be a slew of penalties for all teams. 

If our coaches focus on this for 70% of their training until opening day (and all other changes to the rules for this season), we will win the first 8 games guaranteed.  :andy:
This will be BIG!

We all know the refs will look at every opportunity to flag us. :paul:

[SunsetBengal]

(06-07-2018, 12:18 PM)depthchart Wrote: I have a bad feeling about where this will lead.

Officiating this will be a nightmare.  IMO

This guy on that team gets called but that guy on this team doesn't -or- called on similar hit in first quarter, not called on similar hit in 3rd quarter then called late in 4th quarter on similar hit altering the outcome of the game.

It seems the NFL decision makers will be constantly making changes year after year going forward to possibly make it appear that they are on the cutting edge of "caring" about player safety.

Making changes to "prove" that they "care" to the point of going too far.

The Miss America brain trust leaders just showed their cutting edge ability to "care" by eliminating the Swimsuit Competition which some fans of watching Pageants may not like.

NFL fans may not like where this all leads to, say within another decade.

I agree, in fact, I really don't like where it's going now.  So much to the point where I'm actually hoping that when the XFL returns, it actually makes money and provides a viable alternative to the NFL for professional football.  

[fredtoast]

(06-07-2018, 12:35 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I agree, in fact, I really don't like where it's going now.  So much to the point where I'm actually hoping that when the XFL returns, it actually makes money and provides a viable alternative to the NFL for professional football.  

NFL has hundreds of players lost each year to injury.  Personally I want to see the best players healthy on the field because that is when football is most entertaining.

XFL is not going to be a league designed to appeal to the people who just watch football for the head shots.