SmashMouth

Bears running back Matt Forte is not happy that the NFL’s Competition Committee has proposed a new rule that would penalize ball carriers for lowering their helmets into tacklers.

Forte wrote on Twitter that he thinks it’s ridiculous to tell running backs that they can’t lead with the crown of their helmets. According to Forte, lowering the shoulders is a vital part of breaking tackles, and it’s physically impossible to lower your shoulders without also lowering your head.

“The proposed rule change for running backs might be the most absurd suggestion of a rule change I’ve ever heard of,” Forte wrote. “In order to lower your shoulder you obviously have to lower your head. It’s a way of protecting yourself from a tackler and a way to break tackles. You can’t change the instinctive nature of running the football.”

Forte is echoing complaints that everyone from Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith to U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. Of all the NFL’s proposed rules changes for 2013, this is the one that has been met with the harshest criticism, and that will likely be the subject of the fiercest debate at this week’s league meeting.

Matt Forte rips “absurd suggestion of a rule change” | ProFootballTalk