NFL: Helmet to Helmet aftermath

[Mr Janny]

NFL praises players for clean play in Week 7 - ESPN

So, the first weekend of games since the "crackdown" is nearly complete, with nary an incident. I watched several hours of football yesterday, and it appeared that they weren't in fact playing two-hand touch. What gives? All those players/media types/message board posters claimed that the new harsher penalties would ruin the game, and that the NFL was overreacting. Well, the game seemed fine this weekend. Perhaps they were the ones who were overreacting?

 

[Tre4ISU]

It's still stupid. This is football. If you aren't willing to take the risk, don't play. It's football and people get hurt. They always have and always will unless we go to flag football which could happen in the next 15-20 years at this rate. Will it ruin the game? Probably not, but it will certainly change how people play and these rules will continue to help offenses until it is basically a shoot out. Forgive me for liking defensive football games. If you don't think the rules being made change the complection of the game, then you are kidding yourself. A guy like Ray Lewis won't be Ray Lewis. Same with someone like Rodney Harrison or James Harrison or Troy Polumalu. Can they adjust? Sure they can, I won't argue that, but it becomes less enjoyable for me to watch a bunch of attemted leg tackles and watching DB and LBers having to pull up and sometimes allow catches to be made over the middle of the field.

 

[Mr Janny]

It's still stupid. This is football. If you aren't willing to take the risk, don't play. It's football and people get hurt. They always have and always will unless we go to flag football which could happen in the next 15-20 years at this rate. Will it ruin the game? Probably not, but it will certainly change how people play and these rules will continue to help offenses until it is basically a shoot out. Forgive me for liking defensive football games. If you don't think the rules being made change the complection of the game, then you are kidding yourself. A guy like Ray Lewis won't be Ray Lewis. Same with someone like Rodney Harrison or James Harrison or Troy Polumalu. Can they adjust? Sure they can, I won't argue that, but it becomes less enjoyable for me to watch a bunch of attemted leg tackles and watching DB and LBers having to pull up and sometimes allow catches to be made over the middle of the field.

of course it will change things, but that's exactly what the NFL wants. I don't think anyone is arguing that this new enforcement isn't going to change the way the game is played. Quite the opposite. It's supposed to change things.

And as far as offense is concerned, the league has been giving offenses advantages for some time now. This is nothing new. They do it, because that's where their money is made. Shootouts are exciting. They draw ratings. Defensive struggles, while entertaining to hardcore football fans, (myself included) are generally pretty boring to the casual audience. It doesn't matter if it's fair. It doesn't have to be fair.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

if you are athletic enough to play in the NFL, you are athletic enough to turn your damn shoulder when you are hitting someone. Incidental contact is one thing, but leading with the helmet intentionally has no place in the game. If you are really a good football player, you don't need to rely on your helmet to add force to your tackles.

 

[Senolcyc]

if you are athletic enough to play in the NFL, you are athletic enough to turn your damn shoulder when you are hitting someone. Incidental contact is one thing, but leading with the helmet intentionally has no place in the game. If you are really a good football player, you don't need to rely on your helmet to add force to your tackles.

You are correct. A proper tackle is harder and more physical than leading with the top of the head. All of the ******* and moaning by the players last week was pathetic. Do it right, morons.

 

[Rural]

This was the highest scoring weekend in over 20 years.

 

[besserheimerphat]

This was the highest scoring weekend in over 20 years.

That's weird, because league wide, completion percentage was down and average yards per pass were the same. Interception percentage increased. There were 14 more turnovers that week than in an average week, though, and turnovers tend to lead to points. Maybe it was the increased turnovers and the helmet-to-helmet thing was unrelated...

Threat of Suspensions Not Responsible For Increased Scoring in the NFL Last Weekend | The Big Lead

 

[VTXCyRyD]

Maybe the NFL needs to do what NASCAR did and redesign the outfits. Make them less areo dynamic and slow the players down. A big spoiler on the helmets might help or maybe make them all wear the blow-up sumo suits.


For those who can't read sarcasm,

 

[edr247]

It's still stupid. This is football. If you aren't willing to take the risk, don't play. It's football and people get hurt. They always have and always will unless we go to flag football which could happen in the next 15-20 years at this rate. Will it ruin the game? Probably not, but it will certainly change how people play and these rules will continue to help offenses until it is basically a shoot out. Forgive me for liking defensive football games. If you don't think the rules being made change the complection of the game, then you are kidding yourself. A guy like Ray Lewis won't be Ray Lewis. Same with someone like Rodney Harrison or James Harrison or Troy Polumalu. Can they adjust? Sure they can, I won't argue that, but it becomes less enjoyable for me to watch a bunch of attemted leg tackles and watching DB and LBers having to pull up and sometimes allow catches to be made over the middle of the field.

So, basically, the only way to play football well is to play it in a manner that puts players at risk for serious injury or death. What football needs is to have guys flying full speed at each other, and smashing into each other head first. Gotcha.

 

[clone52]

It's still stupid. This is football. If you aren't willing to take the risk, don't play. It's football and people get hurt. They always have and always will unless we go to flag football which could happen in the next 15-20 years at this rate. Will it ruin the game? Probably not, but it will certainly change how people play and these rules will continue to help offenses until it is basically a shoot out. Forgive me for liking defensive football games. If you don't think the rules being made change the complection of the game, then you are kidding yourself. A guy like Ray Lewis won't be Ray Lewis. Same with someone like Rodney Harrison or James Harrison or Troy Polumalu. Can they adjust? Sure they can, I won't argue that, but it becomes less enjoyable for me to watch a bunch of attemted leg tackles and watching DB and LBers having to pull up and sometimes allow catches to be made over the middle of the field.

My only problem is that pass defense became more about hitting people and jarring the ball loose rather than actually using football skills to break up a pass or make a tackle.

 

[Wesley]

This was the highest scoring weekend in over 20 years.

Pass receiving has just become a safer job.

 

[Mr Janny]

Pass receiving has just become a safer job.

Did you read the link provided below that post? That's not the reason scoring was up. And this past weekend's scores also demonstrate that the one week spike was a fluke.

 

[edr247]

Pass receiving has just become a safer job.

More like playing pass coverage just became a safer job. Catastrophic head and neck injuries that occur in football happen overwhelmingly to players on defense. And, not surprisingly, defensive backs are the ones who suffer more injuries, followed by linebackers.

 

[Rural]

It may have been total coincidence but the fact remains that scores ballooned the week after players were fined for cracking pass receivers. The Big Lead could change it's name to the Big Garbage.

 

[CycloneWanderer]

It may have been total coincidence but the fact remains that scores ballooned the week after players were fined for cracking pass receivers. The Big Lead could change it's name to the Big Garbage.

Somewhere a stats professor is crying.

Correlation <> Causation

or

Correlation != Causation

 

[Mr Janny]

It may have been total coincidence but the fact remains that scores ballooned the week after players were fined for cracking pass receivers. The Big Lead could change it's name to the Big Garbage.

That doesn't mean there is any correlation between the two.

The fact is, there isn't any data to support the idea that the crackdown caused the spike other than loose conjecture. If the crackdown was hampering defenses, wouldn't you expect offenses to complete more passes? Or get more yardage per pass? But, that didn't happen. Completion percentages were the same as previous weeks. Yards per pass attempt were too.

Like the article said, the only big statistical difference was an increased number of turnovers forced, which suggests that defenses may actually have been playing better.

And look at week to week scoring:

Week 1- 36 total points per game
Week 2- 41
Week 3- 43
Week 4- 41
Week 5- 45
Week 6- 43
(Helmet to Helmet crackdown)
Week 7- 52
Week 8- 41

If the crackdown is holding defenses back, then why did scoring go down by 11 points per game between week 7 and week 8? Why didn't the numbers stay inflated as they were in week 7?