This past week, I entered into a conversation with
my dad about the Frost poem, “The Road Less Traveled.” Whereas I extolled the narrator’s virtue for
being willing to try something new and cut against the proverbial grain, my
father emphasized a different point. For
him, the narrator does nothing exemplary, he just picks a road. Which road doesn’t matter because it’s all
arbitrary, and we as narrators never know if we’re choosing the proper
road. I rarely if ever read poetry with
any kind of discerning eye, but those are two radically different
interpretations. It made me wonder…in
situations where the morally “right” path is clouded, do we just make a random,
happy-go-lucky decision and hope for the best?
I have a feeling the NFL, in all its marketing
wisdom, might be wishing they had taken a different road over the past few
years. Lawsuits about concussions
spawned research projects and, before too long, on-field penalties. The most subjective foul call in football,
hitting a defenseless receiver, came directly out of the NFL’s concern for its
players. You don’t have to lead with
your helmet anymore…any contact with the head merits a 15 yard penalty. Heaven forbid the quarterback pay some
consequence for leading his receiver over the middle. He is, after all, an offensive player, the
darling and main beneficiary of any NFL policy since pass interference. The outrage from players and fans was
immediately evident on this policy and many feared for the game.
Well, once you use player safety as a justification,
there’s no real stopping that train without some concerted effort. A low hit on Dolphins tight end Dustin Keller
blew out his knee this preseason, resulting in a season ending injury. While Adrian Peterson’s 2012 performance (and
RGIII’s 2013 performance, I bet) show knee injuries can be overcome, they can
be extremely debilitating. And many
receivers, most notably Tony Gonzalez, are now turning the player safety excuse
on its head. For these outspoken
critics, the NFL’s head-hunting policies have shifted the main zone of contact
to the lower half of the body, as Keller’s injury showed. D.J. Swearinger, the offender in this case,
admitted afterwards that he went low on Keller to avoid a fine from the league
for a high hit.
In addition, Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams
had his knee rolled up by a 49ers offensive lineman who went low on a block
when Williams did not see him. The NFL
deemed that a legal hit, much to the chagrin and, in some cases, absolute ire
of Vikings players. Thankfully, Williams
did not tear any ligaments but did hyperextend his knee.
I think we may have hit the point where the NFL has
to accept that football is an inherently violent sport and that any attempt to
make it constantly safer will suffer from interpretation and subjectivity
issues. Two players get injured in
exhibition games and all of a sudden the league says it will look into rule
changes. If two players next year break
arms because of shoulders to the elbow, will the “strike zone” on an opponent’s
body shrink that much further?
I will admit that I can see the Vikings’ case. It strikes me as ridiculous that Swearinger
might be branded dirty but a low block, directed at the knees, is deemed
legal. Defensive players can, and do,
have their knees blown out on low blocks.
As of now, a run blocker can chop at the knees of a defender. If the NFL wants to take a consistent tack,
eliminate all knee-to-knee hits.
But consistency doesn’t seem to be the league’s
strong suit. As of now, there are no
concrete guidelines for hits on defenseless receivers, leaving the impression
of rules for the sake of rules. Over
regulating where defenders can strike opponents will not have the desired
effect. Ryan Clark, the Steelers safety
who has virulently attacked the NFL’s safety policy over the years, pointed out
that defenders will have serious issues stopping offense if they can’t hit
low. Said Clark, "If they decide to change this rule they might as well put flags
[on players] because then you give a guy like myself, who's 200 pounds, a
two-foot area to stop a guy who's 240, 250 running at full speed, and that's
going to be kind of hard to do."
The game, already so skewed towards offense, will continue moving that
way.
So the league, strongly committed
to their conception of player safety, now finds itself in a bind. The players certainly don’t want more of
their members to experience concussions, but I’d be willing to bet they also
want fewer broken bones and torn ligaments.
If the NFL gives the impression that it accepts knee injuries in order
to prevent head-related lawsuits down the road, the NFLPA will raise a
stink. And, from an equitable
standpoint, they should. No one in the
union wants to see more former players losing cognitive ability, but they also
likely don’t want to see any former players in wheelchairs at age 50
either. For them, once the league wanted
to make the game “safer” for players, everything might be fair game.
Many want to sound the death knell
of football these days, and while the impulse can be hard to suppress there
remains a long way to go before such dark days as that. But, the NFL has been caught in its own
web. In attempting to protect against
lawsuits (the real impetus for the head injury rules), it now looks like the
floodgates might have been opened. The
league started trying to police a violent game and has boxed itself into a
corner.
Bit #1: Numbered days for the NCAA
As seen above, I am reticent to
mark any institution for premature retirement.
Loaded rhetoric about the end of sports entities should be avoided, as
inertia has yet to really penetrate the idle nature of the sports
establishment.
That said, the recent announcement
by the NCAA that there is no evidence implicating Johnny Manziel points to the
end of the NCAA. Manziel, long suspected
and even investigated in relation to a free autograph signing, will sit out the
first half of Texas A&M’s season opener.
With the suspension, the book is closed on this matter.
There are problems with this
outcome, none bigger than the mixed messages being sent by the NCAA. After holing up with Manziel for six full
hours and finding no evidence, why suspend the kid at all? By NCAA rules, he made a secondary violation
by unwittingly signing autographs for brokers who would profit from his John
Hancock. A first half suspension for the
game against C-USA opponent Rice achieves almost nothing. So, is he being punished for the violation or
just for being at all implicated? I have
to wonder if an investigation that turned up so little really merits any kind
of suspension.
Bit #2: NFL’s Settlement on Concussions
Aha! In a time when the days of the NFL look so
numbered to many, it would seem the league is just as healthy now as it ever
has been. On Thursday, the league
announced a settlement with the legions of former players suing the league in
connection to concussion-related injuries.
The plaintiffs estimated the damages at somewhere near $2 billion, a
gargantuan sum that might also spur insurers to leave the NFL to its own
devices. Without insurance, the business
part of football would never run properly or even be worth it.
In stark contrast to the figures
given by players, the NFL settled for $765 million. A full $675 million will go to former players
suffering cognitive impairment with $85 going to baseline medical exams and
further research into concussion prevention.
A $9.5 billion business will only have to pay $382 million over the
first three years and the remainder over a further 17 years. Given the likely inflation of NFL revenues
over time, this is a steal.
Bit #3: Defensive Player Will Never Win the Heisman Again
In the lead-up to yesterday’s
college football openers, the media practically salivated over the chance to
watch Jadeveon Clowney, the defensive end for South Carolina and presumptive
top pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. Many
thought Clowney was pushing for the Heisman and might actually break a
disturbing trend. No pure defensive player has ever won the
Heisman.
Charles Woodson did win the award
in 1997 as a cornerback, but I’m unwilling to call him a “pure” defensive
player. Woodson had eight interceptions
that year, some of which are truly highlight reel material, but his special
teams play, particularly at key points, sealed the award for him. He beat out Peyton Manning, who threw for
almost 4000 yards, 36 TDs, and only 11 interceptions. What separates Woodson, however, is he never
had a bad game. He played well in every
game of that season.
That’s the ultimate curse of the
Heisman…one bad game can sink your chances.
By now, the award has become so offensively biased that defensive
players need to play out of their skulls week in and week out to win. Hugh Green, the last defensive player to come
in second, had 17 sacks in a season and averaged 10.3 tackles per game…and
still lost to a running back.
Point is, a game with no sacks last
night means Clowney has likely no chance this year. Too bad, but that looks to be the way of
it. I’m thinking that barring a culture
shock at the Heisman Foundation, there isn’t going to be a defensive winner
ever.
Bit #4: What happened to UConn Football?
During my first year of UVA, I went to a football
game against UConn. During that game,
with UConn driving down the field, we looked toast before two fumbles swung the
game for the Hoos late in the 4th quarter. It was a great feeling (one yet to be
repeated by UVA football I should add), but UConn looked good in that
game. They looked even better two years
later, winning the Big East and advancing to the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. Despite a loss in that game, the program
looked to be on the way up.
Since then, nothing has gone right for anyone. Coach Randy Edsall jumped ship for Maryland,
where has won six games in two seasons and stands one bad season away from
being fired. UConn recruited Paul
Pasqualoni from Syracuse to chair their program who has yet to lead the Huskies
back to a bowl. Even worse, he has lost
to the MAC’s Western Michigan two years in a row. But the worst moment came last night, when
UConn lost to FCS opponent Towson by a lopsided 33-18 score. Yuck
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