Be Careful What You Wish For

Added on Oct 21, 2010 by Scott in

NFL

The NFL is finally going to enforce harsher punishments for helmet-to-helmet hits. Whether you agree with the decision to levy increased fines and suspensions for head-hunting, safety has to be first and foremost in the minds of league officials and fans. The sight of motionless players being carted off fields is never pretty, so lowering the risk of severe injuries caused by avoidable collisions should be supported.

While the fallout from this recent controversy won’t be determined right away, one thing we can expect to see on gamedays is a rise in unnecessary roughness penalties. Some of these infractions will be legitimate, but it’s inevitable others will be either questionable or just plain wrong.

The same thing happened a decade ago when the mandate came down to protect quarterbacks from absorbing late hits. As it stands now, if a defensive player hits the quarterback high, low or a second after the ball is released, odds are a yellow hankie will fly. It’s rare to get through an entire game these days without at least one late hit penalty being enforced. The same can be said for horse-collar tackle infractions, which have become all too common just a few years after being added to the rulebook.

It’s safe to assume a similar trend will develop in regards to helmet-to-helmet shots. The first line of defense in protecting exposed receivers is throwing a flag. Players and coaches might not like it, but once a game is lost due to a handful of roughing penalties, head coaches will have no choice but to tell their guys to clean it up.

I’m in favor of eliminating purposeful helmet-to-helmet contact, but only if its warranted. There’s already too much laundry tossed around on Sundays; adding more will disrupt the flow of action and increase the chances of referees affecting the outcome of games.

Players need to be protected, but so does the integrity of the game. Removing the physical element from football is removing what makes the sport entertaining and unique. The NFL wants to do the right thing. However, the right thing can sometimes be wrong.