johnnymk

It's about time.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/ne...7-1438772.html

NEW YORK - The NFL has told its officiating crews to start ejecting players for flagrant helmet-to-helmet hits.

The new policy was outlined Saturday in a memo from supervisor of officials Mike Pereira, which was obtained by The Associated Press. It followed two fines last weekend for what the officiating department had determined were hits against players in defenseless positions.

One fine was against Washington Redskins safety LaRon Landry, who will forfeit a game check of $16,764 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on New York Jets quarterback Kellen Clemens. The other was against Philadelphia defensive tackle LeJuan Ramsey, who was fined his game check of $21,176 for spearing Dallas' Julius Jones.

Two weeks ago, San Diego cornerback Drayton Florence was fined $15,000 for a helmet-to-helmet hit that gave Houston quarterback Matt Schaub a concussion.

"Officials will be reminded this week to pay strict attention to these rules and disqualify the fouling player if the action is judged to be flagrant," Pereira wrote in the memo sent to the 32 NFL teams. "Actions that involve flagrant helmet to helmet contact are the likely acts that will include disqualification. Our commissioner and this office remain very focused on the safety of our players."


In the memo fining Landry and Ramsey, NFL director of football operations Gene Washington said emphasis would be on hits against players in defenseless positions.

Landry previously was fined $7,500 for two unnecessary roughness violations on Oct. 21 against Arizona. Ramsey was fined $5,000 on Oct. 14 for roughing the passer against the Jets.

After Florence was fined, the Texans complained that the punishment wasn't severe enough.

"We are disappointed in the sense that we have lost our starting quarterback for at least one game after the player took the crown of his helmet and delivered an illegal blow to Matt's jaw and the fine levied is only a small fraction of the player's weekly pay," general manager Rick Smith said.

"Is that equitable? The punishment doesn't appear to fit the crime when all factors are considered."

guiseppewv

I saw this on nfl.com last night. I think that when a player hurts another player when doing something that is against the rules then they should be ejected for the game and possibly suspended until the player they hurt can return to the game.

uncledaddy

Funny, shortly after reading this, I was watching the game tonight and SF linebacker Haralson gets penalized for a helmet hit to Hasselbeck. You could see that Haralson obviously didn't intend it. Made me wonder how they determine flagrant and unintentional. And, is a fine imposed regardless?

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VTGreg

While I think it is a good move to try and limit the amount of head to head contact, I think this rule will be tough to enforce. There is so much speed in today's game that helmet to helmet contact is as much due to circumstance as intent.

We'll see what happens.

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guiseppewv

I agree with that. It will be very tough to enforce. Even if they use instant replay to aid in the enforcement it will be tough to discern intent.

InfiniteNothing

:sigh: and again we get farther from the good ole gladiator days

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