You make the call: Pollard v. Ridley, 2013 rules

All about fear of lawsuits. Want to blame some one? Blame all the former players suing the NFL.

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Originally Posted by GOTA

I sure wouldn't want to be an official in the early days of this rule. They're going to piss a lot of people off just trying to do their jobs.

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I heard the point being made on Sirius NFLNetwork that the NFL suffers from having disbanded NFL Europe, or some other form of a developmental league. Not only does it hamper the ability to develop player and coaching talent, but the NFL also suffers from having no place to develop officials and also test hairbrain rules ideas before they were implemented at the NFL level.

The tuck rule sucked anyway. You should be responsible for holding on to the damn ball.

The only issue I see with the leading with the helmet rule is that it doesn't seem clear cut. Those are the type of rules referees get crucified for. Perhaps, they should be focusing on taking the need for judgment out of the calls, instead of adding more.

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Originally Posted by Ravenswintitle

From everything that I have heard discussed on SiriusNFL, that's the textbook example. If the player leads with the crown of his helmet and cannot see what he hits, they want to flag it. So unless I am missing something, this would be a penalty against NE

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Disagree. The penalty, per what the league was telling NFLN, is only in open space. Ridley wasn't in open space in this instance.

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Originally Posted by Shas

I heard the point being made on Sirius NFLNetwork that the NFL suffers from having disbanded NFL Europe, or some other form of a developmental league. Not only does it hamper the ability to develop player and coaching talent, but the NFL also suffers from having no place to develop officials and also test hairbrain rules ideas before they were implemented at the NFL level.

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I could see that. The college game is so different. That experience isn't enough for a NFL official.

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Originally Posted by saintmatthew

All fumbles are automatically reviewed anyway. Pulling out the red flag would be a penalty.

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I didn't think all fumbles are automatically reviewed, only touchdowns?

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Originally Posted by LukeDaniel

Disagree. The penalty, per what the league was telling NFLN, is only in open space. Ridley wasn't in open space in this instance.

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it's anything 'outside the tackle zone' and he was several yards downfield already. not sure where you heard open space or what it means

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Originally Posted by Random Thoughts

I didn't think all fumbles are automatically reviewed, only touchdowns?

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All turnovers are automatically reviewed.

To elaborate, per what Jeff Fisher said on NFLN yesterday, the penalty would only be assessed if the ball carrier (not just RB, could be a WR or TE or even a KR) was in open space, and, in the opinion of the official, lowered his helmet with the purpose of initiating contact.

So, for instance, if Anquan Boldin catches a screen pass and is one-on-one with Richard Sherman on the perimeter and lowers his helmet and barrels towards Sherman, that could be a penalty. If Frank Gore takes the carry and goes up the middle and lowers his head to try get an extra 1-2 yards, that is not, due to not being in "open field". Seems very ambiguous to me, frankly. Also, seems like the scope of this being called is quite narrow.

I guess they feel like if you are a ball carrier and in the open field, they want you to stiff arm or try to elude the tackle in another way. The incoming tackler is attempting to make a tackle and should not be put at danger by a launched helmet from the ball carrier. In that respect, it's not much different than a defenseless receiver. I don't agree with the rule, but I think that's the logic.

Wy not remove helmets and play it like rugby, very rarely do you see conscussions in It, they will then learn proper form tackling

if any of you guys has a link to the 'open space' claims I'd like to see it. Here's the definition of the rule:

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Owners voted 31-1 to approve the rule that penalizes players, namely running backs, who forcibly initiate contact with the crown of the helmet anywhere outside the tackle box.

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Jeff Fisher said it will bring the shoulder back into the game instead of the helmet... whatever that means

This is going to be a clusterfuck.