The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NFL takes action with helmet rule Shazier’s injury and 291 concussions lead to ‘significant change’ in tackling.
This week’s NFL owners’ meeting
ORLANDO, FLA. — wrapped up with a controversy swirling around a new helmet-to-helmet rule Wednesday. The next league meeting will be held May 21-23 in Atlanta, with the sale of the Carolina Panthers likely voted on and a possible tour of some facilities for Super Bowl LIII, which will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Feb. 3, 2019.
“We’re excited about the Super Bowl coming to Atlanta,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday.
The frightening Ryan Shazier injury and the 291 NFL concussions last season — including two for Falcons running back Devonta Freeman and one each for right tackle Ryan Schraeder and running back Tevin Coleman — led to the passage of the new rule against players lowering their helmet. The owners made it a 15-yard penalty for any player to lower his head to initiate a hit with the helmet.
Falcons president Rich McKay, chair of the com-
petition committee, called it “a significant change” and noted the head-lowering style of play was a “technique too dangerous for the player doing it and the player being hit.”
Owners did not call for automatic ejection on those plays. In college football, a player penalized for targeting is ejected if a replay affirms the violation.
Dr. Allen Sills, NFL chief medical officer, issued a “call to action” at the scouting combine in February. The league said they had input from the player’s union, the NFLPA, to help with the concussion and helmet-to-helmet problem.
“Our focus is how to take the head out of the game and make sure we’re using the helmet as protection, and it’s not being used as a weapon,” Goodell said.
Falcons coach Dan Quinn and Seattle coach Pete Carroll have been teaching a rugby-style tackling method that keeps the head out of the play for at least the past seven years. Other teams will likely have to follow the Falcons and Seahawks.
“There’s still a great deal of communication and education that still needs to take place,” Goodell said. “We’ll be doing that over the next 90 days including going to each club, having players, coaches, medical staff, all hands on deck at each club to go through the changes.”
The owners are supportive of the change. “We’ve done so much research and investigation on what creates the real concussive plays in the NFL,” Eagles owner Jeff Lurie said, “and it became obvious that so many of the plays are through the lowering of the helmet and using the helmet as a weapon.”
The league also eliminated the requirement a team that scores a winning touchdown at the end of regulation kick the extra point or go for a two-point conversion.
The NFL’s May meetings in Atlanta may include discussions of changes to the league’s national anthem policy and the awarding of the 2019 and 2020 drafts to two of the five finalist cities. The league is also planning on how to celebrate its 100year anniversary.
Falcons looking for SB volunteers: Staging the nation’s largest sports spectacle requires a lot of help, as was underscored Wednesday when Atlanta’s 2019 Super Bowl host committee began its search for up to 10,000 volunteers. The committee kicked off its volunteer program, dubbed Team ATL, by officially opening the online application process. Face-to-face interviews and background checks will be required before applicants can join the event’s volunteer force.
Super Bowl LIII will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Feb. 3 and will be preceded by 10 days of related events that organizers expect to draw combined crowds of more than 1 million. The volunteers “will become the face of Atlanta” by serving as city ambassadors during that 10-day stretch, said Brett Daniels, the host committee’s chief operating officer. “These individuals will be the ones at the airport greeting our guests. They’ll be the ones (the guests) see in Centennial Olympic Park and around the Georgia World Congress Center. They’ll be in the hotel lobbies giving directions, helping out, being a smiling friendly face.”
The volunteers will assist with various events staged by the host committee and the NFL, such as Super Bowl Live, a series of concerts, fireworks shows and other activities expected to be held in the park. They’ll also be visible on street corners, in and around MARTA stations and other places where visitors might need assistance, Daniels said. What the volunteers will not do, it should be pointed out, is work inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday.
“That is one of the things we want to make sure people are aware of — this is not a game-day stadium role,” Daniels said. And no, volunteers won’t get access to Super Bowl tickets.
People interested in joining the volunteer force can begin the process by applying online at ATLSuperBowl53. com/volunteer/. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old when submitting their application, must commit to working a minimum of three shifts ranging from four to six hours each and will receive a custom-designed uniform that will be unveiled later this year.