NFL changes rules on violent hits.

If its just fines I’m not worried. The steelers will still adjust and they will still win, just like they did after the mel blount rule was put into place in the 70s. Thats what great teams do and I think we have a great group of guys together.

But if you take away draft picks thats just insane. How can you justify that? That’s unprecedented isn’t it? Either way I don’t think it changes how the Steelers will win. But it may change how the game is played, they’re trying to make the teams with the hard nose aggressive style become bad teams. Its kind of rigging the game don’t you think?

Let’s just put them all in dresses. Then I found this one that I think Deebo would agree with “

Yes, I get satisfaction out of hitting a guy and seeing him lie there a while.”

I think our Punter can handle himself out there he doesn’t need any rules to protect him

The masses like to see high scoring, passing oriented teams, this is opening the NFL to the wider audience. I know that in the UK people complain the NFL is slow paced (our football is 45 minutes without more than a 30 second break) the NFL is trying to make it so that the NFL appeals to more than the current fans.

That said, I think this move directly affects the very best teams in the league, traditionally anyway. If you look at the teams that have had the most sustained success it has been the defense, power teams, not the passing teams who rely on a QB for 15 years then spend 15 years looking for the replacement.

It just makes me look forward more and more to the great Steelers – Ravens games, and all the other brutal defensive battles that hopefully will continue to grace our screens on a Sunday.

Can a big ol’ lineman “graze” a helmet with his 20 pound ham-like hand, and without being “forcible”, still break a nose? We’ll find out next time the Steelers play the Ravens; oh, wait, it’s already happened? And you say there was no flag or fine?

I don’t think the receiver rule will have a negative effect. If the guy is unable to dodge you, hit him right in the chest, put your helmet down. I like this rule and the addition of QB’s, Punters and the extension of the Hines Ward rule you see at the end. It wasn’t illegal, now it is.

Hopefully there’s some consistency there.

As for the QB helmet force rule, like that too. Fining franchises, no real problem there, players are going to play, if the coaches get in trouble from the owner, there’s some more pressure.

The draft picks thing is ridiculous.

The first rule is the tough one. I haven’t seen the actual wording, but from various sources it looks to be just strengthening the penalty for blows to the head of a defenseless player, (getting kicked out of the game is possible) but other places they don’t bring up the defenseless player angle at all, and it seems like a flat no launching and getting helmet to helmet contact rule. Hopefully the actual rule makes sense.

Currently there is no union, and that’s not just a dog an pony show. Upshaw was forced to put the union back together after the last work stoppage with a clause in every CBA since that the players have the right to dissolve the union. Smith now has come to the same conclusion as Upshaw did 20 years ago – the players are better off without a union. This is a HUGE deal if they decide to keep it that way and it benefits the players in this:

1) there could be no draft. Every player from college is free to negotiate with any team. This practice has always been a bit dodgy. What other profession besides pro sports has such a thing? You excel in college for your future career, and then somebody who hasn’t even paid you a nickel gets to decide for you where you live and who you work for.
2) no cap limits or any free agency rules. These are only governed by the individual contracts. If the contract is written to keep you or pay a penalty then you’ll stay, but at the end of the contract you absolutely would have the right to go someplace else.

In short, there’s nothing to keep an owner from making a guaranteed contract. There’s nothing to keep the #1 talent from a college class from signing with his favorite team instead of being shipped to some God forsaken place.

If there is no union, then it will be almost impossible for the owners to impose all of their collusive practices because they will be held accountable to the individual states laws that they reside in. There will be no rules stating that such and such player must stay because he’s “tagged” – tagging someone and forcing them to remain in one place would be illegal. The players would fall under the same laws that would keep a company from forcing you to stay instead of taking a pay raise with a competitor.

I’m sure this will get ugly. I’d say it’s 50-50 that there will be a season now. But I will say this, I still side strongly with the players. The owners are playing hard ball to squeeze them, but this entire thing could easily backfire and change the future of the league. This may be a blessing in disguise if your a Steeler fan that is very popular and would have a very large cash base (especially if they were able to have their own TV contract). Sure it would stink for many teams and the parity in the league would wash out, but it could also lead to having some GREAT teams in the future instead of a lot of GOOD teams. I’d feel different if I wasn’t a Steeler fan in the 70’s, but I miss that quality of football since free agency started with a salary cap.

I’ve been watching the NFL for over 30 years and the rules have constantly been evolving the entire time. Can you imagine if the Internet existed in the late 70’s when the NFL announced that they were going to outlaw bump and run coverage? People would have lost their minds. What about in the early 80’s when they started to enforce the “in the grasp” rule for quarterbacks? If facebook had a “dislike” button, it would have had millions of dislikes. Can you imagine the negative comments on message boards and blogs in 1985 when the NFL announced that they would be using instant replay? How harsh do you think the comments would have been during the 5-years of that flawed original instant replay system?

What if the Internet and sports talk radio was around in 1978 when the NFL increased its regular season from 14 to 16 games? I’m sure the outroar what have been great, but today, there is no memory of any sort of outcry. I just think it’s a lot of overreaction.

When you read these new player-safety rules on paper or no NFL.com or something, it makes a legal tackle seem almost impossible. However, when a game is moving at a high-rate of speed, there will be hard hits, there will be brutal games, and there will still be passion. Do you really think the officials will call 15-yard penalties on every play? Do you really think the game will be reduced to flag-football? Do you really think players will stop trying to hit hard? I don’t think any of that will happen.

I’m sure there will be some interpretations of the new rules that leave the fans screaming and crying, but that’s been happening in sports since the beginning of time.

At the end of the day, it will still be football.

receiver to run freely through the secondary is a pretty significance change to the fundamentals of football Yes, it did change how the game was played, and that was over 30 years ago. Football is still doing well.

I don’t think the NFL will constantly strip teams of draft choics, do you really think they will?

In 1972, the league moved the hash-marks closer together to try and increase passing, and the NFL went on to have one of its better rushing seasons. The NFL has been trying to favor passing and make it more of a finesse game for decades, but guess what? The players keep getting bigger and stronger and no matter how many rules are made, it will still be the most physical sport. I think we’re worried because it’s May and we have very little else to discuss.

I see the NFL being kind of like Metallica.

Metallica had a great underground run, and gained a huge fanbase. Same with football. Disco was to baseball, as West Coast metal was to football.

Metallica wanted to change their image, and start making real money. They didn’t care how many fans they lost, because they gained a monstrous new crop.

Anyone else see the parallel? I know it’s a bit stupid, but I still remember when Lars Ulrich started with his lawsuits, and all the 30-something “old school” metal fans started burning Metallica merchandise, swearing they hated the band now.

I can see the same thing happening to the NFL. They don’t care if they piss off all the old hardcore fans. They’re getting old and will die soon anyway, right? Let’s have a kinder, gentler NFL to raise the kids on.

Sorry for the ramblin’ rant. Lightning struck my brain, and I had to get it out before it did irreparable damage.

I see the biggest issue in the spectrum of interpretation by the official. Until a play can be reviewed to see if a penalty should have been issued; we’re going to see a lot more yellow flags fall against us than for us….and I don’t see anyone urging the NFL to add any “penalty challenges” to the list.

I believe it’s likely we’ll see a lot more knee & hip injuries as a result of this, too. I don’t blame Harrison a bit for calling it like he sees it.