The Missile Defense. Using the top of the helmet as a weapon.

There's been a lot of chatter about players lowering their heads and using the top of the helmet as a weapon lately because they're altering the rule where it applies to Running Backs.

Some backs are whining about it, but two of the guys who say they never lowered their heads to drive into defensive backs are Jim Brown, and Barry Sanders. Good enough for me.

Truth to tell, I've never been a fan of the tactic. I'm old. I think football is about tackling. And spearing, which is what it is, whether done by an offensive or defensive player, is a dirty play. It's a tactic that can get both players hurt. And it's just bad fundamental football.

To that point, I was amused watching a little NFL film on the NFL net last night. They had Renaldo Nehemiah, former World Class Hurdler, and Former Niner Receiver (1982 through 1984) and a young female Hurdler looking at film of all the guys hurdling tacklers on the field over the last couple of years. It was all cool to look at, and they were judging these football players on their hurdling form. But then a question was raised: Why isn't there any film of Nehemiah hurdling over defensive players?

Nehemiah's response was; Back in those days defensive guys tackled. And I didn't want to end up with a broken lead leg. These guys today give themselves up. They take their eyes off you, lower their heads, and just launch themselves at you. If I was playing today you'd probably see a lot more hurdling. (Yup, I'm paraphrasing.)

It's bad football, and it's dangerous football. And anything the rules committee can do to take it out of the game... I'm all for it.

Another thought. I wonder how much of this sort of thing started when the rule about the ground not being able to cause a fumble went into effect?

Since the ground can't cause a fumble (nonsense) defenders had to find another way to separate ball carriers from the ball. That meant, instead of tackling a ball carrier, you had to barrel in and hit the guy like a run away locomotive. It started with shoulder shots, and somewhere along the way morphed into head shots.

Last Edited By: Kevin 03/20/13 12:18 AM. Edited 1 times.