Will the NFFL(National Flag Football League) supplant the NFL(National Football League) with the changes and fines being handed down this week for excessive hits in the NFL?????
Is the NFL out and the National Flag Football League in?
Fines, but no suspensions yet…..
How can you control how hard you hit somebody? I’m going to try and hit this guy semi-hard and hit the next guy harder and then the guy after that, when I make that tackle, I’ll make it softer…..I thought you were supposed to hit the same way on every play and how do you tackle and not lead with your head, or at least face first with the face-mask planted in the opponent’s chest?
How do you tackle if you don’t lead with the head? Do you go in there sideways? They always taught us that if you try and be safe, you end up getting hurt….You’ll hurt your own self, trying to protect the next guy…..If you hesitate, then you are in trouble….
On defense, it was always go all out….Are they going to have to change the way the game of football is played and in the end, re-teach the game?????
The word for defensive players was always go all out, or you will be out, you’ll get messed up and get hurt….
How much this changes the game, we’ll have to wait and see, but if we watch close we may see flags on the side of the football players pants in the near future…..
Is there a place for velcro and lace? Could be coming soon to a youth or high school league near you:
The National Flag Football League….The NFFL
By 2015, the National Football League becomes the National Flag Football League……
Couldn’t disagree with you more Andy. The problem is DB’s in the NFL have forgotten how to tackle. Watch some games this weekend and tell me if you see a DB wrap somebody up. You won’t. They launch themselves at the runner or receiver in hopes of knocking them down. You’re kind of making fun of the league but talk to some players that played for a long time (if they can still talk) and see how they feel.
That might be the case, but they always told us to make the perfect form tackle if possible with the face/head right in the chest….Those that don’t get hurt bad are probably just lucky, but there is some truth in what I heard one former pro saying today….
He said the defensive players are just in superior shape and the offensive linemen are too lazy to get in the shape they need to be in to avoid getting hurt. He said some of the Tight Ends might be in adequate shape to take the hits or the beatdown, but most don’t and won’t….
He said the wide receivers were the worst….They don’t hit the weights and are not prepared to take the hits and they can’t block decently downfield cause they won’t put in the time in the weight room….I agree with that guy….Many of the offensive players are runnning scared out there….They don’t get in proper physical shape, sure some might, but most don’t….
You can get hurt worse in football by hitting somebody else than you can getting hit….I agree with the part about keeping the head up when you go in to make the tackle, if you go in with your head down, your are asking for trouble….You’ll get your own neck broke making the tackle….
I always learned to go in with the head, but keep the head up and bow your neck and if your neck is strong enough, you should be OK….
I only played high school and some small time college ball, but I always felt safer out there that I would in the street with a car coming….I don’t know what the driver of that car is going to do, but with football, I know what I am going to do when it comes to making the tackle…..Go in with head up and, put the face in there and bow that neck…..I knew that routine like it was clock work….I had a few people ask me back in the day, why I didn’t go up and jump out of an airplane, that would be no more dangerous than being on a football field….I know where I am at on a football field or I did in the day…..I knew every spot on that field and I didn’t know a thing about jumping out of an airplane or fighting in a war…..
If you know your territory and are properly trained to be there, you should be prepared for the worst, there are always exceptions, but those circumstances are beyond our control….Ray Lewis knows his football zone, but he might be lost in a field full of quicksand or in a lake that is too deep for his swimming skills…He knows his field(football) and he is trained for what happens there…..
I would feel safer on a football field back in some of my prime time than I ever would outside of my comfort zone….The football field was a comfort zone….
I offer a counter example to your argument that DBs are in the best shape. I give you one of the best cover guys ever, Dion Sanders sp? who was too big a puss to ever tackle anybody. He would jump on their back and hope they got tired before they scored. The bottom line is this, ACL tears are no longer the career ender they used to be, now it’s concusions. There are a lot of former players who can barely function because of the head injuries they suffered. Watch some games this weekend….there are tons of head to head collisions with no effort to wrap up. DB’s are to weak ones in my opinion. The fundamentals you keep mentioning are seldom used today. And a big 15 yard BS flag on your comment that you can get hurt worse hitting someone else than getting hit. Look at the concussions in the NFL this year. 95% are the hitees not the hitters.
I’m just wondering what everyone thought about the “individual big hits” from the weekend?? The big difference is that the NFL is such a faster game than it used to be that it’s difficult to avoid these collisions. I thought that out of Harrison’s (Steelers) hits that one was a pretty cheap shot, but the other was pretty legit. Meriweather (Patriots) was cheap shots..no doubt about those 2. But even the collision with Jackson (Eagles), while devestating because of the speed of the 2 players, I thought was a legit play. If you watch the reply, the tackler did try to put his shoulders right on the numbers, but yes the helmet did get involved, but I think it’s a result of the speed of the players…..
I always thought the game was about brutality and hitting and that is why they wore pads and helmets for protection……You know it is a rough game when you get into it, so you do know what yor are getting yourself into before you go out there.
Maybe the speed of the game has changed, but how do you slow it down? Coach ABC always said if you don’t go all out, you end up getting hit and hurt worse…..Contact has always thought to be cleaner and clearer when it is applied full speed.
Again, how do we change the speed of this game?
A very good question and does anybody have any answers?