From Daniel Manning   to Madieu Williams  the trend of stripping the game of its physical nature from the defense towards the offense continues.

They set out on rightfully protecting defenseless players from being hit in the head, but what is happening in reality is the NFL is continuing to create an imbalanced rule book favoring and protecting the offensive players in play and safety. Want further evidence, note the cut block Stevie Johnson  was legally, within the NFL rule book, able to cripple Eric Berry with.

Someplace along the line, the NFL concocted that the NFL fanbase needs more scoring (I blame fantasy football here) and have decided to utilize player safety to further tilt to rule book towards the offensive production verses the defensive minded play.

If the objective was really player safety cut blocks in space would be illegal, crack back blocks would be uniformly flagged and offensive players would be garnering more fines for wicked hits placed upon defensive players hit from outside their vision parameters.

But other than upon the line with extreme hands to the face or headgear, to see a fine or flag upon the offense for intensity of a hit is extremely rare. But you can watch almost any game and see an offensive player launch themselves at full speed into a block, sometimes with the defender focused elsewhere upon the field. And they are applauded for effort, while the defenders more and more are uniformly being penalized and fined for the same activity while playing within the rules and the ever changing "emphasis" on defenseless offensive players.

This is a game built on brute physicality.. either change the game in a equal manner upon the individual units of the game in the name of safety.. or admit that you are utilizing the notion of safety to enhance the performance of the offensive units of the game for the additional revenue generated via of some misplaced sense of excitement for those that don't have the attention span to enjoy a defensive minded contest.

For years it has been an unfair rule set to protect the "glory boys" at the QB spot, however the NFL has decided apparently it needs even more scoring and have extended that concept to all offensive players under the veil of safety.

Needless to say, color me not a fan of the direction.

Originally Posted by: Pack93z 

I think some (not all) cut blocks and crack back blocks (depending how you define them) should be legal... and I think it might be hard to define what's good and what's not. Though they have with the QBs (which I'm not happy about) so I'm sure they could do it...

As for as hit from outside their vision parameters... I think that's unfair because a player could turn their head, shoulders or hips and act like it was outside their vision area...

Originally Posted by: beast 

From Daniel Manning   to Madieu Williams  the trend of stripping the game of its physical nature from the defense towards the offense continues.

They set out on rightfully protecting defenseless players from being hit in the head, but what is happening in reality is the NFL is continuing to create an imbalanced rule book favoring and protecting the offensive players in play and safety. Want further evidence, note the cut block Stevie Johnson  was legally, within the NFL rule book, able to cripple Eric Berry with.

Someplace along the line, the NFL concocted that the NFL fanbase needs more scoring (I blame fantasy football here) and have decided to utilize player safety to further tilt to rule book towards the offensive production verses the defensive minded play.

If the objective was really player safety cut blocks in space would be illegal, crack back blocks would be uniformly flagged and offensive players would be garnering more fines for wicked hits placed upon defensive players hit from outside their vision parameters.

But other than upon the line with extreme hands to the face or headgear, to see a fine or flag upon the offense for intensity of a hit is extremely rare. But you can watch almost any game and see an offensive player launch themselves at full speed into a block, sometimes with the defender focused elsewhere upon the field. And they are applauded for effort, while the defenders more and more are uniformly being penalized and fined for the same activity while playing within the rules and the ever changing "emphasis" on defenseless offensive players.

This is a game built on brute physicality.. either change the game in a equal manner upon the individual units of the game in the name of safety.. or admit that you are utilizing the notion of safety to enhance the performance of the offensive units of the game for the additional revenue generated via of some misplaced sense of excitement for those that don't have the attention span to enjoy a defensive minded contest.

For years it has been an unfair rule set to protect the "glory boys" at the QB spot, however the NFL has decided apparently it needs even more scoring and have extended that concept to all offensive players under the veil of safety.

Needless to say, color me not a fan of the direction.

Originally Posted by: Pack93z 

I miss the days before the "5 yard" illegal contact nonsense, when DBs could play bump-and-run until the ball was in the air.

IMO we'd have to worry a lot less about "launching into defenseless receivers" and such if they allowed true "coverage" again.

Originally Posted by: Wade