Is the Nfl Rule Book Too Strict free essay sample

Instead receivers run around the football field freely, paying no attention to the defenders because they aren’t allowed to hit a defenseless receiver. Football games shouldn’t have strict defensive rules because players don’t have to be as tough, defenses have to play slower, and it changers the result of the game. When football first started as a sport, teams were being built around a tough, solid defense that would take pride in hitting players so hard that the ball would get pried loose causing a turnover. Now teams are forgetting about the hard hitting players and are drafting all-star receivers and deep throwing quarterbacks. Part of this is because of the media and part of it is because of the rulebook (Easterbrook). More and more people are starting to watch the NFL and because of that organizations are starting to care more about their fans than ever before. The best way to please these fans is to have high scoring, intense, fun to watch games. This is what causes teams to draft all of these star offensive players, and focus more about scoring than defending. If the NFL decided to get rid of some of the strict defensive rules, then teams would be more likely to draft hard hitting defensive players. Which could possibly cause fans to appreciate defenses more. If the rules were less strict and fans cared about defenses, coaches would have to change the way they draft. When the game was first created players didn’t have the best protection. For a helmet all they had was a piece of leather and a chin strap. they didn’t even have face masks (Blackistone). Football was created to be a hard hitting game where toughness is the most mportant attribute to a player. Besides focusing on talent, size, and strength, coaches would have to account for how tough a player is and how much of a beating he can withstand (Combs). If coaches went back to that mentality the game would be played more like the creator intended it to be. The biggest example of this is receivers. Receivers used to only run routes leading away from the center of the fie ld unless if they were tough, had a great amount of courage, and an unbelievable desire to win the game (Froats). Now any receiver can run through the middle without any fear at all. They know that if they get hit by a linebacker the offense gets an automatic 15 yards and a first down. The rules today get rid of all the courage and toughness in receivers. Football is supposed to be a physical sport and no matter how many rules are put into place injuries are still going to happen. The best way to prevent the injuries is to draft tougher players to go across the middle. Through the history of the NFL there have been many rules put into place don’t allow defenses to play up to their full speed. One of these rules is the helmet to helmet rule. Helmet to helmet hits are arguably the most devastating hits in the NFL. The helmet to helmet rule is a great rule and has protected many players from serious injuries, but the rule is overused. There have been numerous times where a defender has put a clean hit on a receiver or running back and the referees threw a flag for helmet to helmet. For example Kam Chancellor of the Seattle Seahawks put a perfect hit on Vernon Davis of the San Francisco 49ers and was flagged for a personal foul. This put the 49ers 15 yards closer to Seattles end zone. The only light on this controversial call is that Chancellor wasn’t fined for the hit. This meant that the league officials closely looked at the play and determined that the hit was legal even though the referees threw a flag. Luckily that call didn’t change the course of the game, but next time it very well could. Many of the other defensive rules that are put into place are named after certain infamous players. These players include Mel Blount, Deacon Jones, and Rodney Harrison. Mel Blount was a cornerback known for harassing receivers up and down the field. His size, speed, and physicality overpowered every receiver that line up against him. Mel Blount was 6’ 3† and 205 pounds (â€Å"Mel Blount†). Nowadays players with that kind of build go on to play wide receiver, because they are able to jump up and get the ball out of the air before the cornerback. Midway through Blount’s career, the NFL had to change it’s rulebook. They added the Mel Blount rule. This rule stated that a cornerback could only make contact with a receiver up to five yards after the line of scrimmage. After this rule was put into place, the average height of cornerbacks has been dropping due to the need for speed instead of size and physicality. The Deacon Jones rule states that a player can’t slap an opponents head. Jones was a defensive tackle that head slapped the offensive linemen to get to the quarterback faster. This was a great tactic to shake off blockers. The head slap has no downside for offensive players and could be easily avoid by blocking the defenders slap. Defending the slap would be similar to blocking a swim move which is perfectly legal in the current NFL rulebook. Even with no downside this defensive tactic was still outlawed by the NFL. Finally is Rodney Harrison. Harrison was known for destroying any offensive player that came close to him. This caused offensive players to only go near him if they had a strong enough desire to win the game. After seeing all of the hits Harrison was putting on players, the NFL decided to make the game a lot safer by closely monitoring every hard hitting play. It’s because of these rules that there are less and less of those types of players on every NFL team. Without them the NFL isn’t the same. Making calls on a bang bang play is tough, but there is another way to make these calls. Referees should be able to review a play and then decide on whether or not to deal a penalty to the guilty team. This would allow players to play at full speed with the knowledge that the right call will be made. Without the reviews players have to concentrate on the ball carriers head and try to avoid it while trying to knock the football loose. Doing all of these things at once slows players down causing the result of the game to be inaccurate of a teams true potential (â€Å"Are These fines really slowing down the amount of serious injuries? ). If a team isn’t playing up to it’s true potential, then the final result of a game can be inaccurate. There are many players who are known for their big hits and ability to cause turnovers. With these rules in the game players have to change the whole entire way they play. When players are young they are taught to put their helmet on the ball and cause turnovers. Their whole life they are trying to hit opponents as hard as th ey can to free the football. They are raised knowing that being physical was a part of the game. Now players sometimes having no option but to let a receiver catch a ball and then hopefully punch it loose. If the NFL keeps continuing to put in rules to protect the player part of the game will be lost. Football is supposed to be a physical, hard hitting game. With these new rules that will all change. Offenses will take advantage of all these new rules and start running many routes across the middle daring linebackers to hit the receivers. Football used to be a game where the motto was defenses win championships, but now defenses mean almost nothing. Teams are starting to be built around high flying offenses. Receivers are running 4. 3s and are skinny and fragile. quarterbacks are being looked down upon for only throwing for 200 yards in a game. If a running back scores a touchdown it’s a great day for him. The tough defense and powerhouse running games are being forgotten. The attribute of strength that the game was built around is being forgotten. Old records are being shattered and players are being paid higher than ever. Sometimes change is good, but If the NFL keeps putting more defensive rules into place who knows where the game will end up.