The NFL’s Hall of Fame game against the Baltimore Ravens and the Chicago Bears saw the debut of a couple new helmet rules.
The first: a player cannot lower his helmet to initiate contact.
The second: ramming, butting or spearing with the helmet will now be called for unnecessary roughness.
As a video on NBCSports.com explains, these new rules have left many confused. Over this past offseason, the NFL already made some to revisions to the rules of what a catch is. This helped put an end to the most annoying problem facing the game. Apparently, though, the NFL did not like the idea of the game being too simple and easy for fans, players, and coaches to understand. This tweet from Jac Collinsworth is an example of a hit from the Hall of fame game that resulted in a flag being thrown.
If this is a personal foul they need to erase the safety position pic.twitter.com/vBvak4AojK
— Jac Collinsworth (@JacCollinsworth) August 3, 2018
How Could This Affect the Game?
Now for many, this looks like a textbook hit. And that is part of what makes this new rule so worrisome for fans and players alike. I mean how else is the defender suppose to make a tackle a play like that? Plus these calls are going to be incredibly hard for officials to call on the field. That will then lead to several discussions between referees, which will just slow the game down.
So that just makes it more than clear that the NFL is simply not in touch with Millennials. We want speed, and action! Why do they think less and less people are watching baseball?
I get that the basic point of the rule is to prevent head injuries, but I think it is possible that this may cause more injuries than it saves. It is definitely going to take defenders quite some time to get used to this new rule and they could end up stopping awkwardly and break an ankle or something when trying to legally tackle. In the long run, as players (try) to adapt to this new rule, the game is going to become much less exciting with fewer big hits or sensible tackling. I believe these new helmet rules are really gonna change the way football is played.
Also, playing defense just got 100xs harder. This will likely eventually trickle down to our beloved college game as well. Hopefully this will sooner rather than later lead to scientists finally developing a concussion resistant helmet, because at the end of the day you are just not gonna be able to argue against protecting players from head injuries.