Going Through Changes

The game is getting slower. The excitement seems to be fading with every change. The National Football League (NFL) has been implementing different rules into the game over the last couple of years. As the years go on, the fines continue to increase, as well as inspections – just look at the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, and rule changes of how you are able to hit your opponent are continually looked at in favor of the health of athletes today.

We might as well take off the pads and give the players some flags. If we stick to the path of changing rules and increasing fines, this league is not going to be what it has built to become, and that is America’s favorite sport. They have surpassed America’s pastime of baseball. If the NFL isn’t careful, baseball will take back what is rightfully theirs.

We all know the consequences of injuries of the NFL. The one that has been most relevant has been concussions. It is a harmful game. No one should walk into the NFL and expect to come out unscarred. This is football – that is the risk of the game.

I have seen too many lousy penalties that can change the outcome of a game.

It’s 3^rd and 10, your team is down 20-14 with just a few minutes left,  if they hold them on this possession your team will have one more chance to win the game. It’s an incomplete pass! … But wait, the defensive lineman brushes his arm across the helmet of the quarterback. The referee throws a flag because a defensive player cannot make any type of contact, hard or soft, to the head of the opposing teams quarterback. The other team then goes on to kick a field goal thanks to the lousy penalty call and wins 23-14.

Now, I do not recall a situation like that ever happening, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually had.

The game today has gone through many changes on and off the field. The players are much stronger. The players are much faster. This leads to bigger, more ferocious hits. But along with that, the equipment and technology has also gotten better. The NFL gear today is better than it was in years past. Now, with the technology and our knowledge on concussions, we are able to analyze someone to make sure that they are ready to return back to the field.

I am not saying that nothing should be done about concussions in the NFL, or football in general for that matter. This is an issue that should be addressed. Instead of trying to change the game, we need to start teaching football players how to tackle correctly. This needs to start at the early level and continue throughout these young athletes’ careers – starting with pee-wee football and all the way through college. By the time these kids make it to the NFL, it will be ingrained in their mind and they won’t know any different.

It is not just coaches that can help out with this. Parents also need to make sure that their children have the right equipment and are getting the right teaching. If we make everyone aware of these things, I am sure that it will get done.

Hits like these are the hits that these youth coaches need to take action on. A hit like this should result in a suspension or, benching as some know it. The coaches need to let this kids know that hits like these are unacceptable. With kids this young, they may not be able to fully understand, so I would suggest for suspensions like this to start at the high school level. Just simply explaining to them that leading with their head is not the proper way, is just fine for kids this young.

All that needs to be done is to teach these kids, starting with the young bucks who are just now starting out in pee-wee. We need to teach these kids how to tackle properly.  Keeping your head up at all times, squaring your shoulders, making contact with your chest and shoulder pad, exploding through the body – not at the body, and wrapping the player as you tackle them. This way of tackling doesn’t just keep the players safe, but it is much more efficient. Your power, when tackling, should be coming from your hips and legs, not from ducking your head down.

We have reached a point where the NFL thinks that it needs to apply different rules every season. Enough is enough. Stop changing rules and start teaching the correct way to tackle. What rule is next? Are they going to take kickoff returns out completely, and just stop the ball at the 20-yard line after every score? No more rule changes! Please! If we simply just teach these kids early and often it will become ingrained. The players will not have to think about how they will tackle, they will know. It will become natural to them.