mesaSteeler
12-04-2009, 05:58 PM
Should the N.F.L. Bar Runners From Ramming Defenders With Helmets?
By TONI MONKOVIC
http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/should-the-nfl-bar-runners-from-ramming-defenders-with-helmets/
In Judy Battista’s article in The Times today, she reported on “preliminary conversations about whether to prohibit running backs from lowering their helmets into defenders.”
Interview excerpts:
Viking running back Adrian Peterson
“I think it’s insane to tell a runner you can’t lower your head. We’ve got 11 guys coming at us, ankles and legs, back. You get really beat up. For me, that’s one way I put the boom on them, to try to make those guys think twice before they hit me again.”
The former running back Jerome Bettis
“If you continue to try to limit and control how the game is played from a rules standpoint, then ultimately you affect the game itself. It’s no longer true football.”
Rich McKay, co-chairman of the N.F.L.’s competition committee
“You will hear sometimes people say, ‘You’re going to change the way the game is played.’ All those things are fine and need to be considered, but at the end, player safety has to carry the day. The game will be fine, but you’ve got to be sure you get it right.”
Extra point: Do you agree with Bettis? Would it no longer be football?
By TONI MONKOVIC
http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/should-the-nfl-bar-runners-from-ramming-defenders-with-helmets/
In Judy Battista’s article in The Times today, she reported on “preliminary conversations about whether to prohibit running backs from lowering their helmets into defenders.”
Interview excerpts:
Viking running back Adrian Peterson
“I think it’s insane to tell a runner you can’t lower your head. We’ve got 11 guys coming at us, ankles and legs, back. You get really beat up. For me, that’s one way I put the boom on them, to try to make those guys think twice before they hit me again.”
The former running back Jerome Bettis
“If you continue to try to limit and control how the game is played from a rules standpoint, then ultimately you affect the game itself. It’s no longer true football.”
Rich McKay, co-chairman of the N.F.L.’s competition committee
“You will hear sometimes people say, ‘You’re going to change the way the game is played.’ All those things are fine and need to be considered, but at the end, player safety has to carry the day. The game will be fine, but you’ve got to be sure you get it right.”
Extra point: Do you agree with Bettis? Would it no longer be football?