49ers’ Richard Sherman skeptical of NFL’s helmet rule

Posted By on August 22, 2018

San Francisco 49ers defensive back Richard Sherman, left, watches from the sideline with defensive end DeForest Buckner (99) during the first half of the team’s NFL preseason football game against the Dallas Cowboys in Santa Clara, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

SANTA CLARA — Between the National Anthem controversy, Colin Kaepernick’s collusion case and the new, yet-to-be-understood helmet rule, the NFL has turned football the game into an afterthought just weeks before the regular season.

“What’s more NFL than that?” 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman asked reporters Wednesday in the 49ers auditorium. “That’s what the NFL is known for, doing something that takes the attention away from the game. And the game actually has been played great, but the catch rule, this helmet thing — it’s what we do.”

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This article has 32 Comments

  2. The NFL is led by a boob, and until they get rid of him, they’ll continue on their inept trajectory.

    1. You might want to add most if not all the owners into the mix. They employ the commissioner. One could say–depending on one’s perspective of course–that the owners carry much/most of the financial risk of head injury litigation into the future.

      Most fans are very angry about the rule (duh….), but they won’t be the ones ponying up cash as litigation plays out in the years ahead. Many players are displeased because of the murkiness of the rule and its problematic enforcement; plus, the rule forces change in technique–a hard thing to master when plays are lightning fast and your training has you doing it the old way. I wonder how many of those same players will be banding together once they are no longer playing to sue the NFL as their health (likely) deteriorates. More than two or three I’d think.

      Want Goodell out? Gotta get the owners to fire him.

      1. If that’s the case, why doesn’t the NFL have them sign a waiver? C’mon, any player that sues the NFL for health reasons can’t in my view, be taken seriously….

        1. I hear you. The NFLPA and NFL ownership–together–make a curious brew. Lots of money, gargantuan egos, chest thumping, and people being people.

          Waivers are often worthless when the stakes are huge. Players have sued in the past, and they will as long as there is a league…any league.

          Wonder how a sports league in North Korea would manage all this?

  3. Already completely tired of the “new helmet rule is broken” conversation. Everybody knows it, it’s not even a debate at this point. It’ll get fixed, it’s going to cause some problems in the mean time so best to just accept it and move on.

  4. Grant, did you do periscope videos about the Texans game? I enjoy watching those and didn’t see them for the last game.

  5. There is no way they will call it the way they do now. It would make the game to slow and cost advertising revenue in the long run.
    Almost all the dangerous hits they are trying to get out of the game could have already been covered under the crown of the helmet rule… how often did you see that called last year?

  6. But when you have a 225-pound man running full speed at you and you are bracing for contact, you’re at more of a vulnerability by putting your chest to the runner than you are if you get into a good football position with your head in proper position

    Not true. Rugby players are being taught more and more to tackle upright, leading with the chest, and wrapping their arms around the opponent. In league rugby especially this is beneficial as it prevents the player offloading the ball. Tackling head down, around the thighs, is great for stopping someone in their tracks but does nothing to stop them passing the ball. Clearly not an issue for nfl, but the principle of tackling upright is sound,

      1. British,
        What I find amazing is that the players being blasted got right back to their feet and continued to play.

    2. BritishNiner,
      This may apply to rugby but would not apply to the NFL.
      NFL runners run with a forward lean and drop their shoulders when entering contact. While rugby players run with a more upright stance. Simply adding a helmet changes the nature of the running style, nfl players drop their shoulders and run behind their helmet. If you tried to tackle them with your chest you would get trucked.
      – This is a highlight real but most of these show defenders who didn’t get low and behind their pads while the running back does. *note* They almost never call a running back for doing the same thing the defender does.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lWX02YtF7M
      – Here is a teaching video done by Seattle ( I know… barf) where they teach rugby tackling styles. (I think this is as good a video as there is regarding proper technique) Here you will see the head is still in front (as has to be to tackle this way) but it is up, and they are basically teaching cheek to (butt) cheek tackling, where the hips are controlled.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1etzT-Cgho

      I personally feel if the nfl really wanted to lower the number of concussions,they would get rid this style of helmet and go back to something more akin to the ones worn by rugby players or the old leatherheads. They would still have concussions and other injuries but the injury types and numbers would probably resemble rugby.

      1. Nice vids, thanks Shoup. I do take your point. However, in the vast majority of those clips you have a running back at full pelt downhill towards a defender who is either running laterally or practically stationary. The get knocked over. The runner has the momentum. If you look at the rugby clips I linked to you’ll see it’s effective means of tackling whether the runner drops his head/shoulder or not, because the tackler has equal if not greater momentum than the ball carrier. I don’t know why the same doesn’t happen in nfl (I’ll definitely bow to your superior knowledge here) but I know from playing rugby league as a semi-pro myself that if you use the right technique tackling either low or high it is effective.

        1. Part of the reason it doesn’t apply as well to the nfl is for a few reasons.
          1 . By tackling with your chest, you are giving up leverage. One of the most common sayings when teaching the sport is “the low man wins.” The added benefit to this, is you inadvertently expose your chin to the crown of his helmet.
          2. Because the tackler gives up leverage, unless he has a lot more momentum or is a much bigger and stronger, he is going to give up extra yards which may not mean much in rugby but they matter a lot in American football due to the down and distance nature of the game.
          3. and this goes back to your comment here “However, in the vast majority of those clips you have a running back at full pelt downhill towards a defender who is either running laterally or practically stationary.” This scenario happens a quite a bit, DE’s or LB’s that have outside contain, safeties that are the last line of the defense etc. Even so, if they get low and get their arms around the waist, they can still make the tackle without a problem. I can’t see any way this would be easily done with a chest talking style as they would absorb the full impact of the blow.

          I dont know how it works in rugby ( It seems to work ok but I’m guessing it has something to do with the more upright running style) but t but I know my former coaches would have reamed me for doing this and I’ve seen countless pop Warner kids get flat backed, going in for a tackle like they are about to give a bear hug. They usually give up or learn to tackle differently very quickly.

  7. The NFL is in a tough situation. They are damned if the do and damned if they don’t. If management doesn’t make the game safer the players will continue to sue, if management does make the game safer then the quality of the game diminishes and the fans will continue to leave the game in droves taking their money with them. Seeing that the players are involved in the kneeling issue it seems to me they should be involved in the rule making issues also. Its a no win situation for the entire NFL management and players alike. They better figure it out before the total collapse of the sport happens.

  8. What? no mention of Sherm calling lil cohn a small minded critic???

    Why does that not surprise me? lil cohn is nothing if not a coward. Still waiting for him to apologize to Foster for his strident calls to have the player cut and sent to jail.

  9. The rule is a mess. NFL officiating is a mess. It’s something I’ve tried very hard to simply accept over the years, because of my love for the game. However, I’m expecting NFL officiating this year to be an unmittigated disaster, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to stomach it. I’ve lowered my expectations in terms of quality of entertainment for this year’s NFL season to a minimum, and that truly bums me out.

    Is it really too much to ask for the players, not the officials, to be allowed to determine the outcome of NFL games?

    I’m stocking up on the alka seltzer an antacids ahead of week 1.

    2. I think Sherm nailed it when he said: “That’s what the NFL is known for, doing something that takes the attention away from the game.

      Every season there seems to be something hanging over the league that takes focus away from the on field product and this year it’s the implementation of an unnecessary rule. The hits they want to take out of the game were already being called. There is a rule in place to cover that. What has happened is the rules committee overreacted to the Shazier hit and subsequent injury, and are now over correcting. Florio wrote today about the wording being changed in the statement by the league yesterday and how it seems like they have in fact made a change to the rule without admitting it. I hope he’s right.

      1. I asked that question.

        Q: Do you feel the league is hurting itself by creating a controversy that takes focus away from the sport itself?

        2. I don’t believe that the league’s intent was to create controversy at all.

          The new helmet rule was about player safety and protecting their own brand against current and future concussion lawsuits.

          NFL players are going to continue to play the way they have since Pop Warner, which means that they will lean forward most of the time when tackling.

          What the league needs to do is use technology to create better equipment for its employees safety rather than change the sport.

          I guess it’s much more financially convenient to change the rules as opposed to paying money for developing better equipment.
          I could understand that mindset if the league was hurting financially, but they are far from it.

    1. Cassie,
      Interesting tidbits of the leagues underbelly.
      AL Davis was a true maverick. He never got the new stadium in LA, but his Markey Mark is getting a new stadium in sin city.
      Go figure.

  12. When blocking, the players are taught to stay low. The player blocking high will usually be at a disadvantage over the lower player. They do not have blocking in Rugby, so the dynamics of the game are different.
    .
    Football evolved from rugby, so big hits are a time honored tradition.
    .
    When running with the ball, I guess players will not be able to dive to pick up that extra yard.
    .
    The league is making a huge mistake by not letting the helmet rule be reviewable. They are dictating a new policy, so there should be some flexibility in the interpretation. Some refs will call the exact same play differently, so there needs to be a process to correct errors, to get the call right.
    .
    Maybe there needs to be a whole new helmet design. Maybe if a concussive blow is dealt to the helmet, a flag will pop up so the player can get off the field and be properly evaluated.
    .
    I am glad KS is being conservative, and hope RS plays little, because the longer time they take to let his Achilles to rehab, the better chance for a full recovery.

    1. Blocking is blocking. Tackling is tackling. Two different things. The new helmet rule relates to tackling, not blocking (genuine question)?

      The essentials are the same in both rugby and football. Give a guy an oval shaped ball and ask him to run past or through defenders.

      The different dynamic is because sometimes (but not always) in rugby the man with the ball needs to pass the ball to a team mate. You cannot pass a rugby ball when you are moving at speed with your head low. You need to be upright so your body can twist to pass the ball sideways.

      In football a runner has no expectation of passing the ball. They can put their head down, lower their body and accelerate through the tackles. Ball security is paramount.

      However, in rugby, not all players are expected to offload. ‘Forwards’ are players whose job is it to solely make yards and wear down the defence/tackles. They run downhill with the ball secure. They get their heads down as they don’t need to worry about passing.

      Allow James Graham (one of the best English players of recent times ?) to demonstrate:

      https://youtu.be/NbqTk5smIBg

      1. “The new helmet rule relates to tackling, not blocking (genuine question)?”

        It applies to both.

      2. ‘They can put their head down, lower their body, and accelerate through the tackles.’
        .
        Not any more. The Helmet Rule applies to both the offense and defense.

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