Football is finally back! And to quote Lebron James after he won his first NBA title, "It's about damn time". While the NBA offseason is always dramatic, and the World Cup was as exciting as ever this year, there's just something about sitting down and watching a football game that is unlike anything else. Despite this only being a preseason game, there is plenty of drama that has already begun to play out on the field.
As a fan of sports, I am also naturally a fan of drama and controversy. Suspense and live, unpredictable action are what originally drew me to sports and made me fall in love with live events in the first place. From the final out of a World Series to the kick off in a college football game, there is something about the atmosphere that draws me into them.
That being said, there were certainly some issues for the NFL to think about last night while kicking off their first preseason game of the year. One big issue that came to mind for me and ultimately played itself out in front of everyone was when the new "targeting rule" that the NFL reinstated this offseason came into full affect. This new rule acts very similarly to the college rule that has been around for a while now. If a defensive player lowers their head towards the offensive player and creates head to head contact, then the defensive team will be assessed a 15-yard penalty and the defensive player could potentially be ejected. Like all rules, this new one has some positives and negatives attached to it. Let's go through them:
Positives:
1. This will help improve player safety in football. Defensive players will now have to use proper form tackling rather than dropping their heads to spear players. This will help prevent severe neck and head injuries that have occurred in the past.
2. This rule does not only apply to the defensive player, but the offensive one as well. If the offensive player drops their head in an attempt to initiate head to head contact, then they will be penalized instead of the defensive player. The only caveat to this is that we have yet to see a referee actually call this. The negative side of this for the offensive side of the ball will be explained next in the negatives of this rule change.
Negatives:
1. The Quarterback sneak could potentially be in serious trouble because during a play like that, the QB often dives with their head forward thus initiating contact towards the defense. Terry McAulay, a former NFL official and current NBC analyst said in a recent interview with Dan Patrick that because "(Quarterbacks) are not lowering their head to make contact" and are instead lowering their head to "protect themselves and gain yardage", Quarterback sneaks will not be considered a form of targeting under the NFL's new rules. The idea that NFL referees will now have to interpret why a player is lowering their head leads to my next problem that I believe could be a potential issue with this rule.
2. "Intent". NFL officials are being told to read the intent of the players to determine whether the action taken by them is a penalty or not. Adding more subjectivity into a call further complicates it and being an NFL referee is already the second hardest job in sports (after being a Quarterback). Adding in more complications to the rule book could have further implications on the field.
That being said, if for the next season or two this rule is called frequently, undergoes major changes, and ultimately reduces helmet to helmet contact which leads to a safer game with less long-term injuries for players then this will be a win for the NFL and for fans of the game.
Ultimately, I am totally in favor of this rule because I believe, that despite the complications we will face in year one of this rule, this will ultimately make the game safer and reduce neck and head injuries. There can still be hard hits and big plays in football, they just will no longer need to come at the expense of players' heads and necks. I also believe that most of the kinks relating to this rule will be ironed out before the start of the regular season. This is a penalty that, in all likelihood, will be overcalled in the pre-season and fans will be upset about it, but it will be overcalled in order to make players understand what can and cannot be allowed through an overemphasizing of the rule. While this may make the pre-season unappealing to watch for some fans, we need to realize that this is a pre-season for the referees as well. Even if you are not in favor of this rule or the way it is being called, I think we can all agree that we are glad to have football back every week until the beginning of February next year.
Sources:
Cover image credit: https://www.gettyimages.com/license/1010399700
Lebron James gif: https://tenor.com/view/lebron-james-nba-finally-about-damn-time-gif-4019567
Tom Brady QB sneak photo: Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports, via Reuters
Full Interview with Terry McAulay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCq_OVsOxXc
Disclosure: I do not own any of the images or videos mentioned above.
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