- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
As we all know American football is a violent sport. It’s one of the reasons we love it so much, right?
I remember becoming a fan of the NFL when I was about nine years old and even then I’d always prefer to see the big hits more than touchdowns.
If you were to ask me what’s more exciting, an offensive shoot-out or a tight defensive battle? I’ll answer with the latter.
To me there is nothing like seeing a big hit on a wide receiver catching the ball over the middle, or a linebacker flattening a running back looking for a hole.
Seeing it week-in-week-out had me hooked on the NFL as I was growing up, and to this day I still enjoy watching those teams with great defences.
But in the last few years I’ve been asking myself: is the NFL becoming too soft? We’ve seen the NFL make several rule changes that favour offences and encourage high scoring games, which of course is to make the NFL appeal to a wider audience.
Now I get that, I really do. However to a fan like myself who has followed the NFL almost religiously for over 25 years, I wonder if the NFL is moving away from the very reason I feel in love with it to begin with.
We see players fined thousands of dollars on a weekly basis for what the NFL considers to be ‘illegal’ hits. Now correct me if I’m wrong but we never saw this 10 years ago?
Of course now the issue of player concussions has become more and more common in recent seasons and no doubt the NFL is trying to protect itself from potential lawsuits.
However I’m glad to say that these fines the NFL dishes out doesn’t seem to stop defensive players laying big hits when the opportunity arises and I for one hope this continues.
A hot topic recently is the protection quarterbacks are getting. It seems a defensive player can’t even touch a quarterback seconds after he releases the ball without drawing a penalty, and in some case a large fine.
An example of this was the recent hit on New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees by San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks.
Now, was it warranted? The rules say yes but for me I was actually shocked at the call, although maybe not as much as former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who offered to pay half of Brooks’ fine, an offer Brooks has since declined.
If you was to ask me straight up, if quarterbacks protected too much by the NFL, my answer would be a resounding yes.
The era of smash mouth defensive football is being eradicated in favour of what some are calling ‘flag football’. Which is a statement that strikes as a little over the top in all honesty, but I can see where those people are coming from.
An often asked question is where exactly can you hit the quarterback? Can you hit him high? Nope. Can you hit him low? Nope. Can you hit him in the middle?
Well yes but it seems to be depending on when he is it and how he is it. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?
With the NFL becoming a much faster game in recent years, it’s a tough ask to expect defenders to think about where they are hitting an opponent when he is flying at you at a considerable speed in most cases.
The NFL is now preaching safety and how important player safety is in today’s NFL, but I bet they don’t mind picking up these fines that are dished out to players on a weekly basis.
American football is a violent sport, people are going to get hurt and no matter what the NFL does that isn’t going to change.
Well unless they want to change the way the game is played altogether?
Hey, supercoach? Choose your own ultimate NFL team and compete with other players for cash prizes in daily competitions on any match. If you’re after the best odds on the NFL, PlayUp is your best bet. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.