I'll talk about it once and we'll move on...

(Kansascity.com)

As if this isn't already a worn out topic, yes the new rules regarding head hunting are bullshit. Urlacher said it best that pretty soon they may as well just start slapping on flags and playing it that way. After the three big head shots this weekend the NFL decided to crack down. This weekend really proves that when it rains it pours, three big helmet to helmet shots, Robinson/Jackson, Harrison/Mariquois, and Merriweather/Heap.


Now if you ask me Merriweather's hit on Heap looked to be the wildest one and had the highest "bone-jar factor" Heap's just an animal and was able to recover shortly after. Had this been the only hit this weekend I believe that Merriweather would've only gotten a $10k fine instead of $50k and I definitely don't think that the rule would've been put in place.


If we're looking at Robinson on Jackson I don't think that people would be looking at it so much for the helmet on helmet, just that it was a hard hit. First of all, it wasn't helmet on helmet, he lead with his shoulder. Secondly, they both went down after the hit. While it was a pretty severe crash it was a clean hit and definitely something to expect while watching football. The fact that Dunta Robinson is being charged as much as Merriweather is pretty ridiculous and I'm a Pats fan.

The Harrison and Mariquois collision was considered by the league to be the worst hit presumably because of the $75,000 fine dealt to James Harrison. It was a hard hit but I'm not sure it was $25k harder.

The thing that's making me sickest about this story isn't the constant replay of the videos or the speculation on what can be done. It’s all of these self-righteous sports reporters talking about how the sanctity of the football game is its violence and that's why Americans love it. While, yes, violence is a perk that goes along with it, I'm not sitting at my TV screaming for some hits.

Football is America's most watched sport at the moment because of the fact that it's just more interesting than all of the others. There are only 16 games in a season and a 3 week playoff to the Superbowl. Every game matters, this isn't baseball, basketball, hockey, or much much much worse, soccer. We watch football because the story line is much more interesting the entire sport is based on watching from beginning to end. Unlike basketball, baseball, and even hockey (I leave soccer out of this because merely mentioning it puts a damper on my mood.) you basically don't have to pay attention until the end of these sports seasons because the beginning essentially doesn't matter. While some may tune in and enjoy football because it is indeed more violent, these are probably the same people who also enjoyed lighting the family cat on fire when they were children.

I think that changing this rule after this weekend is setting a bad precedent for the future. If the NFL starts changing rules on a case by case basis then we're going to end up in a whole shit mess of new rules and the game itself is going to end up changing. For the record, I'm for the 18 game season I know people are worried because it’s something we're not used to, but it's two more football games a year, there's no downside.