Big Hitters a thing of the past?

Just watched a segment on the NFL Network, ex-players were discussing how the Rules Committee is putting more and more restrictions on violent hits. I'm all for protecting the players but is taking away the players' instinct a good idea. Could someone like Ronnie Lott make it through a season without being suspended? Is the Big Hitter being taken out of the game?

big hits have always been a part of the game. they're ruining it with all these rules. It's all good though, we lost Goldson anyway, so this rule helps us now.

They're just going to lower their target and we'll see a lot more season ending knee injuries... but hey at least it's not brain trauma, am i rite?

Originally posted by ChazBoner:
big hits have always been a part of the game. they're ruining it with all these rules. It's all good though, we lost Goldson anyway, so this rule helps us now.

The trend towards penalizing these kinds of hits probably has at least something to do with why the Niners didn't aggressively try to retain Goldson. That's his game - the enforcer - and that kind of play is being penalized out of existence. They need cover guys.

Originally posted by GNielsen:
The trend towards penalizing these kinds of hits probably has at least something to do with why the Niners didn't aggressively try to retain Goldson. That's his game - the enforcer - and that kind of play is being penalized out of existence. They need cover guys.

F

Maybe teams will concentrate on offense knowing the days of hard hitting defense are long gone. I've always felt the Arena Football League is what the game is evolving into. Fans right on the field, the expense and upkeep of billion dollar stadiums gone, slick arenas with 20,000 seat capacity. Forty game schedules and kids loving it. Football has become too violent for the masses, just as the gladiators in ancient Rome had their day, the NFL as we know it may slowly disappear. The sign post will be when high schools start dropping the program. I can see in the immediate future the 49ers stopping an opponent with a hard hit and the refs throwing a flag and there goes the game and the season.

Originally posted by RishikeshA:
F

Maybe teams will concentrate on offense knowing the days of hard hitting defense are long gone. I've always felt the Arena Football League is what the game is evolving into. Fans right on the field, the expense and upkeep of billion dollar stadiums gone, slick arenas with 20,000 seat capacity. Forty game schedules and kids loving it. Football has become too violent for the masses, just as the gladiators in ancient Rome had their day, the NFL as we know it may slowly disappear. The sign post will be when high schools start dropping the program. I can see in the immediate future the 49ers stopping an opponent with a hard hit and the refs throwing a flag and there goes the game and the season.

Bingo. There are already movements afoot by what you could say are NY Times "Intelligentsia" types to ban tackle football at all levels...but they're not stupid, they know that if they go after youth / high-school football then they will essentially begin to starve the talent that college and the NFL needs. They'd love nothing more to ban tackle football and have these kids play soccer.

These are the people who need to protect us mouth-breathing rubes from ourselves, because we're just too damn stupid to know any better. They do it under the guise of "safety", hence the hyseria over concussions. And while there may be some who truly think head injuries in football are an epidemic so the sport needs to be banned, I believe the underlying theme is simple hatred of a game that is male-dominated, doesn't make exceptions for the not-so-talented or the weak, a game that is violent and for the tough, and worst of all a game that is militaristic and uniquely American.

not allowed to nip the QB's facemask
phased out hard hitting safety.....
phasing out power backs.......
rules indirectly promoting pass oriented offenses......

yup. agree w/ arena league post above....

I think you guys are over-reacting. This is not going to be the end of the game because the game is a multibillion dollar industry. They'll just keep tweaking it. It's not going to turn into Arena-league with 20K fans because the huge NFL corporate stadiums are money makers. There were power backs in the old days. There were running games. What happened is that helmets got so high-tech that players started using them as weapons. The biggest change I could imagine at all levels including High School would be going back to softer helmets and on the pro level, maybe even phasing out face guards. Guys would have to tackle the old-fashioned way, more like you see in rugby. Yes, that will change the game, but the structure would remain the same.

Originally posted by GNielsen:
I think you guys are over-reacting. This is not going to be the end of the game because the game is a multibillion dollar industry. They'll just keep tweaking it. It's not going to turn into Arena-league with 20K fans because the huge NFL corporate stadiums are money makers. There were power backs in the old days. There were running games. What happened is that helmets got so high-tech that players started using them as weapons. The biggest change I could imagine at all levels including High School would be going back to softer helmets and on the pro level, maybe even phasing out face guards. Guys would have to tackle the old-fashioned way, more like you see in rugby. Yes, that will change the game, but the structure would remain the same.

i've heard this somewhere else too. pads/helmet are actually a false sense of security. i agree with that.

all these safety regulations won't end the game, but it is ruin the physicality of it for some. bottom line is violence sells, but not enough to cover the lawsuits......

Originally posted by 49erfeeeever808:
i've heard this somewhere else too. pads/helmet are actually a false sense of security. i agree with that.

all these safety regulations won't end the game, but it is ruin the physicality of it for some. bottom line is violence sells, but not enough to cover the lawsuits......

If you watch film of games played in the 30's through the 50's, you see a lot of arm tackling, shoulder tackling and dragging guys down. There's no spearing. There is absolutely no launching through the air at ball carriers. Is that exciting stuff? Sure. But, I'd rather lose the launching type tackles than the entire game.

Next time you're at a game or watching on TV pay close attention to the kickoff, no linemen, the biggest guy is about Larry Grants' size. I never missed a kickoff when attending a game, you could hear the hitting in the upper decks. The oldest play in football history, the wedge, is a memory. Suits that never played the game are making the rules. I guess the bottom line is lawsuits. The game is mutating and we can't do anything about it. Getting rid of Goldson makes sense, he'll be looked upon as somebody from a bygone era in short time.

Originally posted by GNielsen:

Originally posted by 49erfeeeever808:
i've heard this somewhere else too. pads/helmet are actually a false sense of security. i agree with that.

all these safety regulations won't end the game, but it is ruin the physicality of it for some. bottom line is violence sells, but not enough to cover the lawsuits......

If you watch film of games played in the 30's through the 50's, you see a lot of arm tackling, shoulder tackling and dragging guys down. There's no spearing. There is absolutely no launching through the air at ball carriers. Is that exciting stuff? Sure. But, I'd rather lose the launching type tackles than the entire game.

i agree. i just don't like how there are a lot of discrepancies in the new rules.

Originally posted by RishikeshA:
Next time you're at a game or watching on TV pay close attention to the kickoff, no linemen, the biggest guy is about Larry Grants' size. I never missed a kickoff when attending a game, you could hear the hitting in the upper decks. The oldest play in football history, the wedge, is a memory. Suits that never played the game are making the rules. I guess the bottom line is lawsuits. The game is mutating and we can't do anything about it. Getting rid of Goldson makes sense, he'll be looked upon as somebody from a bygone era in short time.

that hit he put on doucet got a red flag put on him big time.... especially since it was a primetime game.

good thing we picked up Dahl. He doesn't make hits, he absorbs them like a sponge.

Originally posted by niners_guy:
They're just going to lower their target and we'll see a lot more season ending knee injuries... but hey at least it's not brain trauma, am i rite?

Ryan Clark was on that segment and he was talking about how when he tackled Dwayne Bowe he had to think before he tackled him, so he went low (because of the player safety rules) and Bowe's knee hit Clark's head and Clark got a concussion on that play.

These rule changes are dumb, there will always be injuries and concussions no matter what. It's ruining the game and making it less entertaining.
I miss when players could do this and not get penalized






Godson was fined for this: