The NFL Just Passed A Controversial Rule That Totally Changes How Running Backs Play
The NFL passed a rule today that running backs can no longer lower the crowns of their helmets to make contact with a defender.
When presenting the rule, the league used this play — where Browns running back Trent Richardson blasts off an opposing player's helmet with the top of his head — as an example of what will be outlawed:
Bears running back Matt Forte pulled no punches when the rule was proposed last week. He said it changes everything in a series of tweets:
Running backs are taught at a young age to lower their pad level and not run upright. But now they have to be careful to not dip their helmets
Emmitt Smith lashed out at the change in an interview with the LA Times:
"I'm a running back and I'm running into a linebacker, you're telling me I have to keep my head up so he can take my chin off? You've absolutely lost your mind. As a running back, it's almost impossible [to not lower your head]. The first thing you do is get behind your shoulder pads. That means you're leaning forward, and the first part of contact that's going to take place is your head, regardless."
The point of the rule — like many rules passed in recent years — is to make the game safer and eliminate head injuries. But this rule is fundamentally different than NFL's other attempts to curb big hits to the head.
In previous years, the league has tried to outlaw excessive hits to the head. They've fined players for big, scary hits, and they've more aggressively penalized defensive players for hitting defenseless receivers and quarterbacks.
Those measures were designed to eliminate the one-time catastrophic collisions that make all the highlight reels. They were designed to eliminate unnecessary violent.
But this running back rule is targeting something different — necessary violence. The game of football involves thousands of small-scale violent collisions. Until now, a running back crashing into a defender with his head was considered a part of how the game is played. It was an example of the inherent violence of the sport.
This rule change is the most meaningful sign that the NFL is willing to change how the game is played to make it safer.
Running backs are enraged, but this is probably just the beginning of the NFL's attempt to carefully and surgically eliminate violence from the fabric of the game.