NFL’S NEW HELMET FOUL CONTINUES TO CAUSE CONFUSION
League competition committee now allows ‘incidental’ helmet contact, but no replay
To the surprise of almost no one, the NFL’s new “heads-up” rule has confused almost everyone.
It got to the point where the league’s competition committee members Wednesday had to conduct a conference call to figure out whether they need to clarify or fix the NFL’s latest selfcreated mess.
Turned out all they did was further confuse the issue.
The new rule, proposed by the competition committee and hastily passed by owners in March, is simple and reads as follows:
“It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.”
Many among the ranks of current and former players, excoaches and media alike predicted disaster. That is, couldn’t flags for hard, head-down contact be thrown on virtually every play?
No, vowed NFL senior vicepresident of officiating Al Riveron and competition committee chairman Rich McKay, while walking reporters through the new rule at the May owners meeting in Atlanta.
Riveron said the most important words in the new rule are “to initiate contact.” That is to purposefully lower one’s head to hit an opponent.
“Lowering the head is not alone a foul,” Riveron said. “It’s not going to be an ejection fest, I guarantee you.”
Indeed, it hasn’t been midway through the pre-season schedule. In 33 games, reports say, 50 helmet-rule flags have been thrown. All but 10 infractions were committed by defenders.
The intent of the rule is all well and good — for safety’s sake. We all saw what happened to Pittsburgh linebacker Ryan Shazier last fall when he made a jarring tackle with his head down; he’s still relearning how to walk properly.
But many players and coaches have admitted to being vexed at how all incidental helmet contact can be avoided, such as when a ball-carrier at the last moment changes his body position so a tackler’s helmet now slams into him.
Also, why can’t video replay be used to verify such a steep penalty — 15 yards or even an ejection if deemed excessive?
The NFL’s executive vicepresident of football operations, ex-player Troy Vincent, released a statement at the conclusion of Wednesday’s conference call: “The committee resolved that there will be no changes to the rule as approved by clubs this spring, which includes no additional use of instant replay. The committee also determined that inadvertent or incidental contact with the helmet and/or face mask is not a foul.”
As others quickly pointed out, that second sentence seems at odds with the first. How can there be no change to the rule if there is a change, namely to exclude inadvertent or incidental contact?
“As all adjust to (the) new rule,” Vincent said, “we will continue to provide video feedback and examples of fouls and incorrect calls to coaches, players and officials over the next two weeks and throughout the season as this new rule is implemented.”
Some reports have said officials are deliberately erring on the side of throwing a flag, so as to compel better, faster compliance. But sometimes the flags have been unwarranted.
Each time that’s the case, for the remainder of this month and especially during the regular season, fans, media and members of penalized teams are gonna go bananas. To reiterate, this is selfinflicted bad publicity — alas, the NFL’s specialty this decade. BLOW TO DALLAS
Sixth-year Dallas Cowboys centre Travis Frederick announced in a statement Wednesday “after a very extensive examination and discovery process over the past few weeks, I have been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, which is an auto-immune disease.”
Frederick said he has received two medical treatments and feels stronger as a result.
“I will continue these treatments over the next few days,” he said.
“I am very optimistic about my condition and the immediate future, as I have been told that the illness was detected at a fairly early stage. My doctors have told me that it is not possible to determine a timetable for a return to the field right now, but I am hopeful that I will be able to play as soon as possible.” SHADY HURT
Buffalo RB LeSean “Shady” McCoy is battling groin and hip injuries and is “day to day,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said.
As for his quarterbacks, McDermott confirmed an ESPN report that A.J. McCarron did not suffer a hairline fracture of his collarbone, as was reported Friday night.
Meantime, McDermott said rookie Josh Allen will not only start Sunday’s home pre-season game against Cincinnati, but take first-team reps all this week in practices.
“We really wanted for (Allen) to go through a routine of what it would be like for a normal regular season week dealing with the potential distractions and all that goes with the quarterback position and learning how to balance that,” McDermott said. ROSEN’S THUMB SORE
Arizona Cardinals rookie QB Josh Rosen didn’t practise Wednesday because of a thumb injury, head coach Steve Wilks told reporters. The No. 10 overall pick jammed his thumb on another player’s helmet during Monday’s practice. Wilks said he hopes Rosen can play Sunday against Dallas. Veteran Sam Bradford has started both of Arizona’s pre-season games so far. PATRIOTS CUT BRITT
New England has cut receiver Kenny Britt. The 10th-year veteran suffered a nasty hamstring injury during June mini-camp and hadn’t been able to practise fully since. MACK PURSUIT
The New York Daily News reported the New York Jets are among a slew of teams making trade offers to the Oakland Raiders for linebacker Khalil Mack, who has refused to report to training camp.