By CHASE GARDNER
Football is a hardheaded, tough sport, but the increasingly strict contact rules are changing that.
There is nothing better than turning on the NFL Network and seeing those bone shattering hits, the kind of hits that makes the stadium groan in pain. Recently however, the contact rules are being enforced more often than necessary.
The most recent example of this was the Monday Night Football which pitted the New York Giants against the New Orleans Saints. In the third quarter, Giants quarterback Eli Manning threw to wide receiver Hakeem Nicks and as he came down with the pass he was met by Saints safety Isa Abdul-Quddus who put his shoulder into Nicks’ face. The referee called unnecessary roughness on this perfectly legal play. The penalty didn’t affect the Saints though, who won 49-24.
It’s calls like these that are taking football and changing it to where it has as many hard hits as soccer. We’ve gone from a league that when a player takes the head of a wide receiver, he gets a nickname not a fine, and that is what football is truly about. In 1978 Oakland Raider Jack Tatum paralyzed someone and was named “The Assassin”, but now if a player goes helmet to helmet (something Tatum was famous for) he gets a $10,000 fine and 15 yards.
While there is a fine line where it breaches into unsportsmanlike conduct like when Detroit Lion defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh stomped on the arm of Green Bay Packers’ Guard Evan Dietrich-Smith, which was truly unneeded. But a player not being able to live his dream of knocking the stuffing out of the opposing team is ridiculous.
The strict rule enforcement is making it impossible to play key defensive positions without fear of being flagged for Unnecessary roughness or even getting a fat fine. The commissioners are treating these grown men who know their job is dangerous, like little schoolgirls. It’s basically like telling a firefighter to not set out the flames, it might burn him. The commissioners need to take another look at these enforcements.