Helmet rule may be head-scratcher
The NFL’s new helmet rule is going to drive football fans crazy. Maybe the players, too.
Veteran NFL referee Jerome Boger and his crew stopped in East Rutherford on Thursday to explain new league rules and points of emphasis to Giants players, coaches and local media. And though the helmet rule is intended to improve player safety, some of the video examples of future fouls under the new guidelines were baffling.
One play showed a cornerback diving to knock a receiver out of bounds — a routine play in an NFL game. His helmet hit the receiver in the torso fairly harmlessly as he bumped him out. But that will be a foul under the new rule because the defender’s head was down and made contact. It will take a long time to get used to.
“The doctors in our training camp in Dallas said when the player looks at the ground, your antennae should go up,” Boger said.
In other words, a foul will be called if a player lowers his head so that his eyes are facing the ground and initiates contact with his helmet against an opponent. The helmet won’t have to make contact with a specific body part to draw a foul. The point is to protect the player using his helmet as a weapon just as much as the player absorbing the hit.
The intent sounds clear enough, but not every example was obvious, and this preseason, there will probably be plenty of flags thrown for this infraction that baffle anyone watching — or playing in — the games.
“It’s kind of tough for us to take our heads out of it as much as possible,” Giants linebacker Alec Ogletree said Thursday. “I understand why they are trying to do it, but at the same time it’s definitely something I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of impact it has.”
Violating the helmet rule will draw a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down if it is committed by a defensive player. Players also can be ejected for their violation, either by the on-field officials or the league officials monitoring from NFL headquarters in New York.
Again, a well-intentioned rule change, but if defenders have to practically do the limbo to make a tackle, something seems off.
THE CATCH RULE, FORWARD PROGRESS AND MORE
The NFL amended its disastrous catch rule to eliminate the “going to the ground” element that ruined several games in 2017 and confused everyone associated with the sport. Side-judge Jonah Monroe had a perfect way to explain how, for the on-field officials, the new rule is an improvement: “What is intuitive as a catch, is now a catch.” ... Boger said that fans should expect to see more flags on illegal contact because that’s a “big point of emphasis” from the league. Defenders will not be allowed to make contact with receivers more than five yards past the line of scrimmage, and though that’s been a rule/emphasis in the past, the league lapsed on enforcing it, but now they’re determined to crack down again. Good news for Odell Beckham Jr., then … NFL referees also are being instructed to blow their whistles quickly and decisively to end plays when forward progress for the ball carrier stops. Though that’s been an emphasis in the past, officials let plays drag on too long in recent years, so the league is demanding prompt whistles. Something tells me this will be a major problem when a referee blows a play dead too early … Here’s a strange one: any runner, including quarterbacks, who dives and gives himself up will be called down immediately, and defenders will not be allowed to hit him. Previously this only applied to quarterbacks who slid feet-first, but now QBs can dive headfirst and receive the same protection, as can any runner out on the field by diving head-first.