New rule banning lowering of the helmet

Originally posted by a49erfan77:

Originally posted by okdkid:
People will claim that players speaking out, kneeling or protesting in some fashion is why the NFL may see a dip in ratings. That's nonsense. It's 100% because the game has become one-sided. Nearly every impactful rule is written in favor of the offense.

Ratings are down more due to people cutting cable than rule changes or kneeling.

This plays a part no doubt. But if people want football they will watch football one way or another -- cable or not.

I think this rule makes it clear that you want to spend your salary cap dollars on defensive players who excel within these rules, and skimp on offensive players. These rules make it much easier for lesser offensive players to be successful.

Originally posted by a49erfan77:

Originally posted by okdkid:

People will claim that players speaking out, kneeling or protesting in some fashion is why the NFL may see a dip in ratings. That's nonsense. It's 100% because the game has become one-sided. Nearly every impactful rule is written in favor of the offense.

Ratings are down more due to people cutting cable than rule changes or kneeling.

You don't need cable to watch free over the air channels that most games are on.

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by a49erfan77:

Originally posted by okdkid:
People will claim that players speaking out, kneeling or protesting in some fashion is why the NFL may see a dip in ratings. That's nonsense. It's 100% because the game has become one-sided. Nearly every impactful rule is written in favor of the offense.

Ratings are down more due to people cutting cable than rule changes or kneeling.

You don't need cable to watch free over the air channels that most games are on.

Yes, but TV ratings across the board are down. Not just NFL.

Originally posted by okdkid:
This plays a part no doubt. But if people want football they will watch football one way or another -- cable or not.

Yes, but every year there are new ways to watch football that aren't reflected in the ratings.

NFL Redzone
streaming MNF on ESPN app
streaming SNF on NBC website
streaming TNF on Twitter
NFL GamePass
DVR services

Originally posted by a49erfan77:

Originally posted by okdkid:

This plays a part no doubt. But if people want football they will watch football one way or another -- cable or not.

Yes, but every year there are new ways to watch football that aren't reflected in the ratings.

NFL Redzone
streaming MNF on ESPN app
streaming SNF on NBC website
streaming TNF on Twitter
NFL GamePass

Attendance is also down.

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by a49erfan77:

Originally posted by okdkid:
This plays a part no doubt. But if people want football they will watch football one way or another -- cable or not.

Yes, but every year there are new ways to watch football that aren't reflected in the ratings.

NFL Redzone
streaming MNF on ESPN app
streaming SNF on NBC website
streaming TNF on Twitter
NFL GamePass

Attendance is also down.

Because that s**t is too expensive. haha

Does Marshawn Lynch make it through one NFL game under this rule? Dude lowers his helmet on every run...

I will be interested to see how often refs swallow the whistle on this new rule in order to keep the game moving.

This year could be brutal as everybody gets adjusted.

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by Heroism:
Does Marshawn Lynch make it through one NFL game under this rule? Dude lowers his helmet on every run...

EVERY run. We call it "getting trucked." I mean this is really silly. They need to stop kidding around and put flags on everyone and call it a day.

He's not the only one either. I don't even want to think about how a back is gonna get in on 4th and goal unless he's Marcus Allen like. Bye bye fbs too.

The lowering of one head is instinctive, part of our hard wiring, this will be a disaster to enforce, a reduculous, arbitrary, and capricious rule....thumbs down!

If this is the route they want to take then they should just remove all padding entirely, play in rugby style equipment, and be done with it. The result would be a faster, higher scoring game, with very few big hits.

Originally posted by okdkid:

I will be interested to see how often refs swallow the whistle on this new rule in order to keep the game moving.

This year could be brutal as everybody gets adjusted.

they'll use it when they wonna control the game.

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by a49erfan77:

Originally posted by okdkid:

This plays a part no doubt. But if people want football they will watch football one way or another -- cable or not.

Yes, but every year there are new ways to watch football that aren't reflected in the ratings.

NFL Redzone
streaming MNF on ESPN app
streaming SNF on NBC website
streaming TNF on Twitter
NFL GamePass

Attendance is also down.

Attendance is not down, that's fake news.

As for lower ratings, all tv rating are down...so, yeah, nice story bro.

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by okdkid:

I will be interested to see how often refs swallow the whistle on this new rule in order to keep the game moving.

This year could be brutal as everybody gets adjusted.

they'll use it when they wonna control the game.

The only way this rule works is if there is clear intention to do harm. The natural instinct is to dip your head and protect your face on contact, your subconscious doesn't know there is a face mask.

As a youth coach I tried to teach "heads up" tackling by having the defenders target the point of the ball with their face mask.

It's really hard, practically impossible to keep your head up through a collision.

FYI the heads up face mask to the ball eliminates arm tackles, keeps you low, makes you harder to Kyle, and causes fumbles! I recommend it to all youth coaches on the board!

It's a rule aimed at targeting. I'm sure/I hope they'll only flag obvious cases. We might be overreacting slightly.