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| Photo courtesy of profootballtalk.nbcsports.com |
We've all heard it. All the rule changes and the new equipment protecting offensive players has gotten the NFL nicknamed "the No Fun League." Are all these rules really ruining the game, or are they seriously taking care of its players? You can take care of offensive players as far as injuries go, but how do you protect them, and the defensive players who are trying to win the game? James Harrison isn't the first to be fined for an overly aggressive hit, but he is one of the few who get the publicity for it. Should we be promoting such conduct by the NFL?
Now, don't get me wrong, I love seeing those bone crushing hits. My favorite teams are the ones who have their highlight reals dominated by huge hits put on by their intimidating defense. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens are perfect examples of this. However, there comes a time when the NFL has to come up with rules to keep its players safe. However, most of these rule changes are coming from teams' front offices who are paying quarterbacks millions of dollars to be the faces of their franchise, only to get injured on a bone crushing hit by a linebacker like James Harrison. Now with the rules on a defenseless receiver, there is such a grey area between when a reciever is catching a ball, and when he has just gotten posession of it and is heading up field, that a split second's hesitation can lose you the ball game.
With all the rules concerning the protection of receivers from hits, it comes to the question of judgement calls, which are often contiminated by views of how hard the hit was. James Harrison's hit on Mohammad Massaqoui, in my personal opinion, was clean as Massaqoui was heading up field and had already touched the ball. If Harrison had waited a split second, Massaquoi could have made a move and headed straight up field on the Steelers. The question of what's fair or isn't is a call that shouldn't be made by a ref at the time because he saw a hard hit. The NHL has a call to Toronto made everytime there is a questionable call. this is such a great system because it allows for not only a review, but a discussion of it by those who created the rules.
James Harrison has been specifically targeted by the NFL. Many fans have been noticing it, and even linebacker Terrell Suggs, who plays on a rival team to the Steelers, has spoken out against it. If you google "James Harrison hit," you will see links to at least three different fines that have been put on him for hits on quarterbacks and receivers. Yes, Harrison is known to put enormous hits on players and has had some dirty plays, but there comes a point where you just have to let the players play. When every game a player plays in a flag is thrown for any sort of unnecessary roughness, something is wrong with the refereeing. Penalties are there to keep the sportsmanship of a game intact, and when you start picking on one player, you erase what you started to prevent.
Now I know a lot of people with disagree with me, and say that every player's welfare is more important than a game, but each individual player agreed to and understood all of the consequences of playing in the NFL, including bone crushing hits by a defensive enforcer like James Harrison. It's a tough call, and I would hate to ever have to make it, but you can't single one player out like the league has done to Harrison. Once you start doing that, you really have become the No Fun League.
