The rules are there to stop helmet to helmet hits. There is a big area below the head but above the knee.It used to be an unspoken rule in the NFL to not go low and hit players around the knees.
However I have heard a few players this year saying that they are going to start hitting receivers low in order to avoid getting fined for higher hits. They acknowledge that it increases the chance of injury, but they feel like they don't have much choice.
The rules are there to stop helmet to helmet hits. There is a big area below the head but above the knee.
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Cheapshot IMO. Epitome of a "defenseless player." You just never know which refs are going to call what, correctly or incorrectly.
From a 14-14 game to a rout. Dallas' defense is horrendous, one of the worst I have ever witnessed in my thirty years of watching NFL games. Have no idea why Garrett stopped running Murray - he was on pace for 200 yards by mid-second quarter.
Take away the helmets and we won't see defenders aiming for legs nor going high for the knockout/highlight film hits. I've always felt that way, never understood why the league went to helmets from the start. I hated wearing a helmet when I played in Texas youth leagues. Always had more fun playing tackle the man or backyard/pickup games. We saw real tackling then, just like rugby. The helmet has long given players a sense of invincibility.
Agreed, some of the tackling in the NFL is terrible. I dont want to do away with big hits but some players really need to focus on basic wrap up tackling.Take away the helmets and we won't see defenders aiming for legs nor going high for the knockout/highlight film hits. I've always felt that way, never understood why the league went to helmets from the start. I hated wearing a helmet when I played in Texas youth leagues. Always had more fun playing tackle the man or backyard/pickup games. We saw real tackling then, just like rugby. The helmet has long given players a sense of invincibility.
Not at all - a defenseless player is one classed as in the act of catching a ball for example. That was a great block in my opinion.
Side note: I've never understood the league's allowance of blocks/hits below the knees and I foresee a rule change coming. This will give another advantage to offensive players but I can understand the reasoning.
Anyhow, the defenseless player rule was expanded to cover defensive players and offensive players-turned-defensive players during a possession change (i.e. turnover). The rule was complained because offensive players were making blindside blocks while the defender's attention is focused on the player with the ball. Refs call some, don't call others (see the Golden Tate blindside launch on Sean Lee last season, clearly an illegal block by definition of many rules yet Dallas got a flag when Carter "pushed" Wilson out of bounds, and Tate pranced around like the jackass he is, though later fined for the illegal hit). The league also made it illegal for crack-back blocks, i.e. blindside blocks on the legs.
http://static.nfl.com/static/content/public/image/rulebook/pdfs/15_2012_Player_Conduct.pdf
Article 7 Players in a Defenseless Posture. It is a foul if a player initiates unnecessary contact against a player who is in a defenseless posture.
(a) Players in a defenseless posture are:
(8) A player who receives a “blindside” block when the blocker is moving toward or parallel to his own endline and approaches the opponent from behind or from the side
The Niners are looking solid - up 17-0 against the Bucs. Niners D is looking as good as usual, Kaepernick just had a 52 yard TD pass to Davis.
Like a completely freaking different team without Gronk.
Ugh! Don't remind me!And that fecking idiot Hernandez.
Quiet day from the resident Pats fans... They're like Liverpool fans - flood the boards when winning, strangely absent when losing.
St Louis defense is mauling New Orleans right now. Impressive stuff.
Have you not noticed you get very little reaction to stuff like this.
Even from the people that comment during the game and get emotional.