It's football not don't hit me too hard there tackler i dont see you coming. So a player could run around with his eyes closed and everytime he's hit the hitter is punished?! exaggeration, yes but seriously if you are playing football especially pro football you know the possibility of every play being your last. Up next, choreographed (spelling) boxing...

While the NFL is at it, why doesn't the NHL remove it as well?

Pathetic really.

/loves big hits from the behind

These people 'elected' to play a violent, vicious game, in which their careers can be ended on one play.. and they play it for hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions.. they have insurance, retirement/injury annuities, etc.. I have to imagine that 'real' football players from long ago are just laughing at this.

Unless you're standing still and looking up in the air and the ball is x number of yards away and you have no chance at the play, then ok.. penalize the player.. but if he's moving toward the ball, he's fair game. It's just like driving a car.. do you not look at your surroundings when 2ton hummers are cruising to run you over in your '85 Honda Civic?

Pulleeeeese...

Leonid -

I think you meant Brian Dawkins, the safety. If you watch a replay of it, it was a perfectly legal hit, Vick's mind was either showboating him into the endzone and wasn't paying attention or simply underestimated Dawkins' striking power. Vick still maintains it was the hardest he's ever been hit.

/go birds

Also under discussion this week is the specific "horse collar" tackle by Cowboys safety Roy Williams that broke the leg of Eagles receiver Terrell Owens. Williams injured four players with that specific technique,

Would love to be such a bad motherfarker that the NFL had to pass rules specifically to stop you from hurting people.

...they have insurance, retirement/injury annuities, etc.. I have to imagine that 'real' football players from long ago are just laughing at this.

I think Mike Webster, the old center for the Steelers, would disagree with you. Wait, no, he died from complications brought on by too many shots to the head. So I guess he wouldn't. Sad story.

Well, maybe after Roy injured player #1, and player #2 with his smart and legal play (he's not a big guy - and WRs keep getting bigger - look at T.O. ffs), maybe #s 3 and 4 should have stayed the fark away.

Don't you ever, ever farking confuse Roy with Romo again.

Ronnie Lott and Roy Williams play the game right - they make you fear the fact that they go out there 100% all the time.

Romo and LT played dirty.

That being said, at least Romo was exciting, in a train wreck sort of way.

Put a helmet on! Put a helmet on!

//get it?

I'm an Eagles season-ticket holder -- I was there for the Williams on Owens play. Williams reached out and pulled Owens down by the top of the shoulder pads. Perfectly legal play and the best option for Williams considering a huge, fast reciever was getting into high gear to run away. Owens came down wrong on the leg -- fortunes of the game, not a "cheap shot."

WHINER WHINER WHINER Terell Owens can suck a fat one with you and your sorry ass eagles

I don't know a whole lot about the rules in football, but I thought you weren't allowed to hit or tackle anyone unless he had the ball.

/confused

I still love the pic from the endzone where T.O. is standing on the star of the Cowboys helmet and #31 is just walking out of frame.

Classic karma.

it makes sense to a certain extent. This wouldn't end the vicious, blood hurling hits we all love and admire, it would end the blindside, disgusting cheapshots that the usual bunch of bullies love administering to 140 lb female kickers and punters and even quarterbacks after a play has gone well past them or their back is completely turned.

It's already illegal to block someone in the back, what's the difference if they can't see you coming or don't expect it?

So no more cheap shots from pussies who can't play a man's game?

The difference is that there is an expectation that you should keep your head on a swivel, but there is no expectation that you have eyes in the back of your head.

mentallo -

you'd love TO on your team. don't be jealous.

On the related topic, i'm not bitter about #31 "horse collaring" him down. that kind of stop happens all the time & it was unfortunate what happened. but you know what? he made one of the fastest, unexpected recoveries in NFL history and played as if he wasn't injured when he returned... when my "sorry ass eagles" played in the super bowl. forget deion branch, 81 was superbowl MVP.

I say we let them beat the crap out of each other to the point where they all have brain and spinal cord damage.

I mean, come on, these people aren't worth anything outside of football. Let them do the only thing they'll ever be good at without restrictions.

/not kidding
//hates sports

The first thing you learn in football is to keep your head on a swivel and go until the whistle blows. You have to be alert and protect yourself from bad things like this happening to you. It's just part of the game. I don't see how they will be able to implement this in any practical way. My guess it will only be used in extraordinary circumstances.

QBs need to wear dresses so the other players can easily adentify them.

TennesseeTuxedo

Oh be quiet Mr. Couch

No Fun League, strikes again. Tatagliabooboo needs to retire.

WTF you should be able to block anybody, anywhere, and most of all, at any intencity as long as it's not in the back or below the belt once out of the tackle box after the first hit, that's already a rule, but we get some wining dipshiats with misdirected anger, the anger should be at Sapp hitting this guy from alllmost behind, like right on the side up high at a high speed and FLATTENED him.

Oh man is it nice to totally RAIL an ignorant tard. I was a tackle and when i had to do a backside block, i run out 15 yards to the saftey who is about to break down to tackle or walking up to see the end of the play and PLOW he's on his ass from nowhere and our halfback heads to paydirt because of it, it's great lol

If i ever was blocking in punt return, I'd have my sights on that white meat punter, but the worst part about them is, when you expect to hit them hard, it's like hitting a sack of feathers, very light feathers lol, and half the time they'll start falling down before you get to them lol

GO BILLS!

/at last, sissy BLEDSOE is gone.

Let the players play and the crowd be entertained.

It's our own modern day gladiatorial combat, so let us have our smidge of the ultra violence already.

Diabolic

But the Bills will never win the superbowl as long as the CSM is alive.

MARK MY WORDS BIATCH A scrambling QB will never ever win the super bowl biatch. You know why its the prototypical pocket passer that gets the job done do take mcnabb and shove him up your ass.

Diabolic? why does your buffalo (actually a bison) have a big red bar running through him? looks silly

I wonder what Terry Tate Office Linebaker would say?

/wooooo pain train!!!

hmmmmmmmm.............these are good points.......

more sissified? already fantastically sissy - buncha pudgy guys running around in 200 lbs of body armor. Play stops every play so fatasses can get a breather. Surprised they don't have a field of mattresses to play on.

/oh wait they do

I think it represents this picture:



year after year after year......

There's a difference between a blindside tackle and tackling someone who wasn't at all related to the freaking play. I agree Sapp shouldn't have whacked Clifton the way he did, but that's more due to the fact that Clifton was on the other side of the field as the action.

There's no reason to bash into the punter after the ball is gone. That's what is called in layman's terms "being an asshat."

Oh, wait, forgot to say I don't care about football but I felt you all should know that I don't care.

/just so you all know, i don't care
//too many hockey threads

Rugby has always been harder
This just makes pro football into even more of a farce
Just LET THE MEN PLAY farkIN FOOTBALL

TFA aside, are people here really calling for a return to the days of ineffective safety equipment? leather helmets and all that?

really?

Wait, they are safing an "unsuspecting player" would be one not connected to the play. I think I might agree with this, now that I understand what they mean.

If it doesn't happen, it's not the end of the world, of course.

Dumbass submitter didn't RTFA. I was at the Bengals game where Foster delivered the cheap shot to Tony Williams. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the play, and was nowhere near the play. Even some Broncos players admitted afterwards that it was a cheap shot.

mcnabb aint a scrambler.

vick is a scrambler.

your team isn't getting the job done. i'd worry about your own before you critique mine. that's all i got.

jeez we need some hockey up in this piece.

/go birds, lets go flyers

***The best way to reduce injuries would be to remove all the damn protective gear and padding they wear. People don't hit nearly as hard when they don't have a protective layer around them.***

Actually, before the protective equipment (and certain rule changes) football players died so often that Teddy Roosevelt threatened to make the entire sport illegal.

This is a problem easily cured. Leave the rule as it is. But, add a little to it such as: If the hit is ruled illegal by the ref's, the offender has to sit out as long as the victim of the hit. Even if it is the rest of the game, or the rest of the season.If the offender is a 2nd year pro that puts a career ending hit on a 35 year old pro....Mcdonald's is always hiring. I do like the idea of limiting padding.

/bringing back leather helmets might help too :)

2005-03-16 08:50:25 PM mentallo69

Um, McNabb doesn't scramble.

Where are all the Packers fans complaining about Sapp's (then) legal hit?

These guys wanted for questioning.

P.S. - Not a sports fan, but c'mooooonnn...

aww just make it flag football, or two hand tap

Sounds very James Bond. Y'know, tap the guy on the shoulder and punch him in the face when he turns around.

Hockey players are still allowed to hit, right? Assuming of course they're permitted to plan again at some point.

Seriously, how can anyone watch a sport that has 5 seconds of action then 30 seconds of John Madden rambling incoherently? That's if there isn't a scheduled TV timeout, unscheduled timeout, replay situation or injury.

In other news, NFL officials will vote on whether or not to have all player's uniforms covered with bubble-wrap.

please just speed up the game, 60 minute takes four plus hours to play, they show you anything remotely interesting six times. more replays all the time still don't get the call right. wish they were on strike.

I hate football.

mentallo69

Do yourself a favor and shut up. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about and are simply angry at a talented set of players that have found a way to own at what they do.

You're probably a Browns fan or something. It's ok, Jeff Garcia will shine his light on you.