New Helmet Rule Makes NFL Almost Unwatchable

[anotheridiot]

the good thing is the reason all these flags are being thrown in the preseason is, well the preseason does not matter. They want tape and apparently are getting all the officials together before the season starts and tell them which of these continue to get called, and which do not get a flag anymore.

I really think Defensive players will start to need to wear the horsecollar again, because if they have to keep their heads up, the will need them to stop snapping back. This will be as bad as concussions.

 

[Tjodalv]

Might they go to softer helmets, or helmets that aren't literally a big hard shell? Possibly, as technology increases decades down the line.

I could see that in, like, 50 years (if football still exists), the NFL having helmets made up of a material that's hard on the outside, but shifts its form when put under distress. Doesn't necessarily help us today, but kind of interesting.

You mean like this?

https://www.wired.com/2016/01/the-zero1-flexible-football-helmet-may-save-players-brains/

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

the good thing is the reason all these flags are being thrown in the preseason is, well the preseason does not matter. They want tape and apparently are getting all the officials together before the season starts and tell them which of these continue to get called, and which do not get a flag anymore.

I really think Defensive players will start to need to wear the horsecollar again, because if they have to keep their heads up, the will need them to stop snapping back. This will be as bad as concussions.

I'll wait and see whether or not the league tones down these helmet rule flags, I have doubts they will do the right thing.

 

[bears26]

They need to get rid of the rule now. It is going to make the games longer and cost teams games. Worst rule ever. My thought process around CTE is it is caused by the amount of powder and pills these guys take versus blows to the head.

 

[bears26]

There will be no changes to the rule, ugh. It is going to be terrible.

 

[Mitchapalooza]

This rule is so fucking dumb. Shazier almost paralyzed himself and now the league freaked out.

 

[Visionman]

The rule is fine...just needs to be called correctly, and consistently. And if those things don't happen, IT ISN'T THE RULE'S FAULT!

 

[xer0h0ur]

No. Just no. There is no such thing as "just needs to be called correctly" in this situation. Its a subjective rule. It inherently will be called inconsistently. Always.

 

[Chicoman]

Hopefully the new incidental contact language makes a difference.

NFL refuses to admit mistake while admitting mistake

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/08/22/nfl-admits-refuses-to-admit-mistake-while-admitting-mistake/
Getty Images
The new rule against lowering the helmet to initiate and make contact is very broad and all-encompassing. And the league refuses to change it.

Meanwhile, the league has changed it.

In this age of truth isn’t truth and crime isn’t crime, change isn’t change. Or maybe I should say not change isn’t not change.

NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent drew the short straw on this one, putting his name to a nonsensical, contradictory statement in which he says the rule won’t change while unmistakably changing it.

Here’s the rule, as passed in March: “It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.” Eight days ago, I suggested this addition to the rule: “Incidental contact by the player’s helmet with an opponent shall not be a foul.”

Today, the league adopted that language without actually adopting it. Because the league can’t actually adopt it without creating the impression that the league erred in March by not creating an incidental-contact exception in the first place.

“The committee also determined that inadvertent or incidental contact with the helmet and/or facemask is not a foul,” Vincent now says. Which necessarily means that the 21-word rule that makes no allowance for incidental contact has been changed.

The broader question now becomes whether other non-change changes have been made that didn’t make their way into Vincent’s comments. Most importantly, will the rule be limited to contact made by the crown/top of the helmet? While it’s not yet known whether anyone argued for that kind of specificity during the Wednesday conference call, the argument was expected to be made.

Also, with the league specifically not making formal replay review available to fix officiating errors in this regard, will the league allow senior V.P. of officiating Al Riveron to use the real-time pipeline to help game officials get the calls right? Hopefully, that will be the case, because with a controversial rule like this one on the books, the last thing the NFL needs is to have this controversial new rule applied incorrectly on a regular basis.

 

[Toast88]

You mean like this?

https://www.wired.com/2016/01/the-zero1-flexible-football-helmet-may-save-players-brains/

Very cool. The NFL needs to look into getting those.

 

[Hotwheelz24]

This rule is going to suck but it's not going to stop me from watches any Bears games. We'll be pissed off at calls that go against us while at the same time be cheering for the calls in our favor expanding a drive. There's nothing you or me can do about it. Nobody will boycott the NFL, you won't see a ton of people suddenly stop watching and the NFL surely won't just get rid of the rule now because they've already stated the main purpose is safety. To go back on that would make it look like safety isn't their primary concern. Some of the calls I've seen were clearly wrong but not enough to make me want to change the channel.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

The rule is fine...just needs to be called correctly, and consistently. And if those things don't happen, IT ISN'T THE RULE'S FAULT!

Since you yelled. right back at you.

IT ISN'T JUST FINE, AND WON'T BE CALLED CORRECTLY, IT WILL **** UP DRIVES, DEFENSIVE STOPS, SCORING PLAYS,AND THE OUTCOME OF GAMES.

What was your opinion on the tackler being flagged on the play when Shaheen injured his ankle?

 

[Tjodalv]

Very cool. The NFL needs to look into getting those.

I honestly don't know if there is some sort of legal hoopla or league approval process that equipment is required to go through in order to be deemed suitable to use on game-day, but those helmets were in that stage of development two years ago. Either someone proved the idea was flawed, the process of approval is getting in the way, or the handful of approved equipment makers are shutting this type of thing down. Whatever the case is, I find it incredibly hard to believe that -- with current technology -- the best we can do at this point is a shell with interior padding to absorb impact.

 

[Visionman]

Since you yelled. right back at you.

IT ISN'T JUST FINE, AND WON'T BE CALLED CORRECTLY, IT WILL **** UP DRIVES, DEFENSIVE STOPS, SCORING PLAYS,AND THE OUTCOME OF GAMES.

What was your opinion on the tackler being flagged on the play when Shaheen injured his ankle?

Would prefer those to not be called...and they probably won't be when the games COUNT.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

Would prefer those to not be called...and they probably won't be when the games COUNT.

So there it is, a big probably prediction on NFL refs getting this new rule right. Not a lot of people agree with that, the outcry says so.

 

[Tostada]

Since you yelled. right back at you.

IT ISN'T JUST FINE, AND WON'T BE CALLED CORRECTLY, IT WILL **** UP DRIVES, DEFENSIVE STOPS, SCORING PLAYS,AND THE OUTCOME OF GAMES.

What was your opinion on the tackler being flagged on the play when Shaheen injured his ankle?

I've rewatched it several times.. Shaheen also drops his head..this is incidental...a good football play .unlucky injury.

 

[Adipost]

I honestly don't know if there is some sort of legal hoopla or league approval process that equipment is required to go through in order to be deemed suitable to use on game-day, but those helmets were in that stage of development two years ago. Either someone proved the idea was flawed, the process of approval is getting in the way, or the handful of approved equipment makers are shutting this type of thing down. Whatever the case is, I find it incredibly hard to believe that -- with current technology -- the best we can do at this point is a shell with interior padding to absorb impact.

A bunch of players started using zero1 helmets last season.